Blogs from Uusimaa, Finland, Europe - page 5

Gestern bin ich mit der Faehre planmaessig und an vielen kleinen Inseln vorbei in der Umgebung von Helsinki angekommen. Mit Bus und U-Bahn habe ich problemlos die Innenstadt und dort mein Hotel erreicht. Nachdem ich dort mein Gepaeck gelassen habe, bin ich am Ufer entlang zum Mannerheim Mueseum, welches aber leider nur von Freitags bis Sonntag geoeffnet ist. Das ist natuerlich sehr praktisch. In der Naehe konnte ich immerhin hinter hohen Mauern die US-Botschaft und weitere diplomatische Vertretungen sehen. Danach bin ich zum alten Hafen und war dort in der Markthalle mit vielen interessanten kulinarischen Spezialitaeten, am Markt davor und von dort zur russischen Kirche (Uspenskin Katedraali). Diese ist sehr sehenswert und ein Relikt der russischen Herrschaft ueber Finnland. Anschliessend bin ich zum Dom von Helsinki (Tuomiokirkko) der innen eher etwas schlichter gehalten aber von aussen ... read more

This time,while in Finland, I spent a lovely day in this charming town called Porvoo. Porvoo is located 50 km east of helsinki from the city center. Finland has been for centuries under the Swedish Empire, roughly 700 years, until the 18th century and after came the influence of the Russian ,for about a century, until Finland got the indepence in the 1918. My favourite side of this town is the old city which was founded in the 13th century and is the second oldest city in Finland with beautiful stone made streets and tiny wooden houses. Today a lot of souvenirs shops line the marvellous stone streets and many tourists are attracted here. The sightseeing of Porvoo are those stunning red wooden homes just facing the river with boats anchored next to the concrete step. ... read more

We pulled into a cloudy Helsinki, Finland at approximately 8am and were fully disembarked by 9:30am. At the ferry terminal, we caught a taxi to take us to our nearby hotel, Glo Hotel Kluvvi, just off Helsinki's main pedestrian thoroughfare, the Esplanadi. I had figured that at this point in the trip, we would all be tired of sharing the same room in such close proximity. So for our final destination, we all got our own separate rooms! It was still too early in the morning to check in so we dropped our bags at the hotel and set out to explore. We walked over to the nearby Helsinki Cathedral, one of the most visited sites in Helsinki. This Lutheran church is well known for it's tall green dome which is very distinctive in Helsinki's skyline. ... read more

Monday 6 July: Well the big news in this part of the world is that the Greek citizens have resoundingly voted “No”.. That means they do not accept the austerity measures that are required for them to get their credit extended. So that means the banks are basically out of euros and, unless a new deal is negotiated very soon, the country is for all intents and purposes bankrupt. If that happens then they may well have no choice but to leave the Eurozone. All very interesting and we’ll keep an eye on what happens. Another sunny day but the wind was out in force and it was a cold one! Temperature dropped to about 10 in the wind, but out of the wind it was much more pleasant. We caught the ferry to Suomenlinna which ... read more

An update to let you know about our great day on Thursday and our shambolic day courtesy of FinnAir on Friday. IF I have internet access in Akaslompolo I’ll post some photos of Thursday and do updates as per normal. But if you don’t see a blog for a few days then don’t panic! I’ll update everything next weekend when we get back to Helsinki. Thursday 25 June: A little bit of a sleep-in and then Zachary went and played with the dogs for a while. He really enjoyed throwing them the ball and was able to get them to listen to him. He definitely is a “dog-person”. We then headed for the Givskud Zoo and Safari Park. We parked in the first parking lot and from there walked a loop to see elephants, buffalo, and ... read more