Blogs from Uusimaa, Finland, Europe - page 7

Well, school is out for summer! I am glad to have a few weeks to relish the beauty of summer in Scandinavia before a grand tour of the US that starts on Sunday. A former co-teacher from Denver arrived the weekend before my school ended. As it was her first visit to Scandinavia, we decided to maximize her two weeks and check out a few destinations to give her a taste of the region. We took advantage of the timing of this event called Distortion. Not sure really if it falls under the category of a festival or what, but during the week, the party takes over certain streets in Copenhagen for an evening. Jenny and I stopped in on, well really danced the night away at, the final night of the event. It was great ... read more

Helsinki, Finland--Thursday, May 29, 2014 This morning we watched out our window as the ship made its way past forests, towns, seaside resorts and into the port of Helsinki and docked at a pier. We had expected it to dock where we had previously seen cruise ships berthed, that was way closer to downtown. Unfortunately, where we now were, was quite a ways from the center of town, and we hadn’t booked a tour since we counted on just walking off the ship and browsing along the wharf as we had done before or possibly catching public transportation and taking in the large Suomenlinna Maritime Fortress. Sigh! However, after the cold, wet and long day we had the day before, and the fact that it is raining hard again today, we welcomed a downish day and ... read more

This morning we started at the Uspenski Eastern Orthodox Cathedral that we walked around below yesterday morning on our way to the harbour. From up on the rocky outcrop that the cathedral sits on we could see across to the other big, white cathedral. From not knowing where it was now we can see it from everywhere! After photographing the cathedral in disappointingly dull conditions we wandered down to the Market Square where we purchased some reindeer antler souvenirs and a birch wood 'puzzle' trivet that has been jigsawed into four pieces so that it can be used as one trivet or four coasters. Very nifty indeed. From down near the harbour we walked back to Mannerheimintie to catch the tram to Kansallimuseo, the Finnish National Museum. Before gaining its independence in 1918 Finland had a ... read more

With our Lapland adventure drawing to a close we re-packed our bags after breakfast before putting all of our gear on for one last foray out onto the lake on the cross-country skis. We headed downstairs to put on some ski boots and then off outside to collect the skis and poles. Once we had clicked our boots into the bindings we shooshed off to see how Sophia's igloo was standing up to the weather. It was still there ... I wonder how much longer it will last? There were only patches of cloud today which meant that the sunlight from below the horizon was reflecting off the patchy clouds resulting in spectacular pink cloud formations. We took heaps of photos without really knowing whether or not the compact cameras could do justice to the show ... read more

Breakfast with a view again this morning - it really is beautiful looking out through Elizabeth's Christmas angels over the snow-covered rooftops and the quaint little church on the hill nearby. It's just a shame that it has to be below zero to have snow!! At least it is not quiet as cold this morning - only minus two. We chatted with our lovely hostess Elizabeth for a while and then returned to our apartment to finish packing and head off. Yay, our last time down the four flights of stairs. The stairs haven't been a problem although a bit more challenging this morning with our bags but, easier taking them back down than hauling them up the stairs two days ago! We caught the bus to Kunsträdgården and then the train to T-Centralen thinking that ... read more