Helsinki

We are enjoying our time in Helsinki and as we prepare to leave tomorrow morning, I want to share some of our adventures so far. Jon and I have done a lot of exploring, both on our own and with our group. The fish market is wonderful, full of produce including beautiful berries, and also fish. It is right downtown by the harbor and is similar to Pike Place in Seattle. There are many craft booths as well as food (cooked, like crepes and salmon, and raw). We have been to the market twice and had lunch there both times. Yesterday we took the 3T trolley all around it's one hour circular route. It went past the opera house, soccer field, amusement park, many residential areas, and was quite interesting. We got off near the Church in the Rock, a beautiful Lutheran church made by blasting out granite. When I get my photos downloaded, I will try to post one or two of the church. Next door to our hotel is Kampii, a huge mall, multi floored, with a bus depot and metro station at the bottom. There is also a grocery store and I decided that I wanted to get a couple of pastries to have for dessert/snacks. I decided I could go over and get them myself. Our hotel enables us to use the elevator at one end of the building to enter a tunnel system that leads right into the mall. So I took that, wishing a bit that I had breadcrumbs to leave to find my way back to the elevator. I was able to get to the grocery store and after wandering around a bit, found the bakery area. I happily bagged two rolls and walked to the check out line. When it was my turn, the friendly clerk said that I had to go back to where I'd got them and weigh (?!) them. She tried to explain how to do that, but our communication broke down a bit. It might have been my terror at this new and unexpected development. I went back, found the scale but could not figure it out. I was confronted by many double digit numbers, one of which I was supposed to push - but which one? I asked two young women if they spoke English and if they could help me. Kindly, they said yes to both questions. They weighed my first roll and out popped a sticker that looked like the ones the butchers put on our meat packages back home. I watched and was able to do the second one myself. Happily I returned to the same cashier, who congratulated me on my success! I paid and left, clutching my purchases triumphantly. I retraced my steps, was able to find the elevator, inserted my key card and made it back to our room (#202). I was pleased that I was able to accomplish the communication, navigation and cultural interaction all by myself! Today we went on a 3 hour whole group bus tour of Helsinki. It was interesting and well done. We made another stop at the Church of the Rock and the market, but also at the Senate Square with its statue of Alexander II of Russia (Russia ruled Finland for hundreds of years) and its immense, beautiful Lutheran cathedral, the Sibelius memorial in honor of Jean Sibelius who is Finland's most recognized composer, and saw the Olympic stadium from the 1952 Olympics and the Upenski Orthodox Church from the outside. We ended at the Market and most of us opted to get out there and have lunch and wander back at our own pace. Jon and I walked the two blocks back to the Orthodox church and went in. It of course reminded us of the beautiful churches we'd seen a few years ago in Moscow and St. Petersburg (which is only about 125 miles away!). There is something intensely spiritual in these soaring spaces filled with icons and lit candles but no pews. As we began to walk back, we met up with our new friends Marilyn and Bob and all walked back together. Tonight the four of us plus June, Bud and their daughter Debbie are going to Zetor, the restaurant Jon and I enjoyed our first dinner here. It is made like a barn and has tractors and other implements typical of Finnish farms as it's decor. Many Finns eat there and it is good food, reasonably priced (for Finland). Tomorrow we have to have our bags to be checked outside our doors at 8 am and we leave for the airport at 8:45. We fly to Ivalo, pronounced EE-val-oh, in Lapland and begin our Sami culture experience. We are looking forward it!

Well, we're here! In Helsinki! We had a smooth but long air experience and arrived at our hotel a bit after midnight. We finally got to bed after 1:00 am and then took a while to go to sleep, but got 7 hours before waking. We have already met several interesting folks, fellow tourists and native Finlanders. On our taxi ride from the airport, we shared a mini van with a Japanese couple who were also tourists. When Jon told them that we were from Seattle, the man immediately said "Ichiro!". There followed a broken conversation (almost no common language) where both sides really tried to communicate. Also in the taxi was a young woman who was Hungarian. She is beginning a Masters program in Helsinki and had one week to find lodging other than the hostel she was using at the moment. Her English was excellent because she had spent 2 years in Baltimore doing part of her BA work and then another year in Providence, RI working. There was also a young man from India who was part of a tourism promotion campaign who also spoke great English!

Today we have taken our time and tried to acclimate. The hotel is very nice and everyone is very helpful. We are trying to get our bodies on Helsinki time, which is 10 hours earlier than Seattle time, but after walking down to the market, window shopping, and having lunch, we are back in our room ready for a nap. Laurie, you were right about those berries! What wonderful stalls full of delicious-looking berries! Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries both farm produced AND the smaller wild ones, plus others. Pete and Tammy, they were just like the berries we picked on the tundra in Alaska! I found the handmade wool Finnish sweater I was looking for so I'll be plenty warm from now on! Susan, I didn't get as good a price as you did but close! There is plenty to keep us busy but we are leaving some things for the guided city tour that we will take with the Grand Circle group. They arrive tomorrow. The weather here is very Seattle-like. It's about 68 degrees and partly cloudy-more sun this morning than now-and very pleasant. All and all, a great beginning!

Hi Everyone! Two weeks from today we leave! Amazing, since it is a dream about to come true! We have our itinerary fairly set now, at least in large blocks. We purposely don't want to get too detailed since when we're traveling independently we want to have the freedom to "mosey" as Jon says. Here is the basic outline.

August 23 - fly from Seattle to Helsinki via London

August 26 - join the GCT (Grand Circle Travel) tour entitled "Norwegian Fjords and Lapland"

September 9 - fly to Paris to begin our month's stay in an apartment

October 8 - pick up our leased car and begin travel to Germany, Poland, Czech Rep. and Vienna

November 9 - fly to Jerusalem to join the GCT tour "Ancient Egypt and the Nile River", which includes time in Israel and Jordan

December 4 - fly to Barcelona and begin independent travel in Spain and Portugal, including 2 weeks in an apartment in Granada (Dec. 14-28). We pick up our leased car when we leave Madrid on Dec. 13

January 7 - begin time in Portugal

January 22 - return to Spain

February 3 - fly to London to begin independent travel in Great Britain

February 26 - take the ferry to Dublin and begin time in Ireland

March 10 - fly to Rome and begin independent travel in Italy, including 2 weeks in an apartment in Lucca in Tuscany (April 1-14) and a side trip to the Dalmatian Coast

April 23-fly to Athens to join OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) tour "Treasures of the Aegean: Greek Island Cruise, Athens and Istanbul" including a post tour in Turkey

May 13-fly to Stockholm and begin independent travel in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands

June 6-in Amsterdam, join GCT tour "Grand European River Cruise" which follows the Rhine and Danube rivers, ending up in Bucharest.

July 3-fly to Marseilles and pick up leased car then travel to Sablet, Provence to begin 5 weeks stay in an apartment. During this time, we will visit Switzerland for a week.

August 7-fly home from Marseilles.

As you can see, we'll be busy but we're hoping the pacing is reasonable. If we get tired, we'll just stop for a while! We are taking a carry on suitcase each and what Jon calls "the mother bag" which we will be checking and will contain the extra clothes etc. that are not vital to the next part of our trip.

I'll post another entry either just before we leave or from Helsinki! Bye for now.