Stayat Helsinki Parliament

30 Nov 09
I had set one alarm for early morning mainly cause I wanted to go outside and see the day start off but it was too dark still and nobody was coming with me.

Anyways, I couldn't hold myself much. I woke up, and as part of the morning refreshments, used the jacuzzi shower in the cabin bathroom. And, I was dressed, ready by 5:20am

Then, I went back to my ...

... a half we were dropped off at the main square and I went to get on the boat to the island of Suomenlinna, it is the fort island protecting Helsinki. I also took my bus neighbor Stan. He was with the Florida Panthers NHL hockey team as a front office guy. They are in Finland for exhibition games and their season opener verses the Blackhawks. Anyways we went and got a great history lesson about the island and we ...

... after the game. The mood in the camp was a lot higher than the last time. The players didn't seem wholly satisfied with how they played, but were very happy with the result. They said that they made it harder than they needed to, but came together well as a team to bring the scoreline back to a winning one.
It was Kaz's 50th cap for the match, so scoring made it a special one for her, and for Mick and Marie who were very proud of her (as usual).
We shared a taxi ...

... br>:)

Another thing: I've had amazingly, fantastic weather on this trip!! Little to no rain in fact!! Finland is not known for it's sunshine...but neither is Korea at this time of year... Before I left, I said a little prayer, and put an order in with God for some sunshine...knowing perfectly well that good weather on my trip to Finland was probably not high on God's to-do list. But! He must ...

... the heavy Stockholm traffic to the freeway. It took us about 75 minutes to reach Sigtuna located on the shore of Lake Mälaren. Historians believe that it is one of Sweden’s oldest towns. It supposedly has been inhabited for more than 1,000 years. The town includes the remains of an old church that the Dominicans built in the 13th Century. Other than the remains, there is not much to see in ...

... and much respected art and culture. To this day, some think Russia should give back Karelia, as the region's people are ethnically, culturally, and linguistically much closer to Finland than to Russia. All of which is to say that this region and its people have seen their share of strife over the last century. We had driven straight east to the Russian border to visit Katri's other set of grandparents. These two live near Helsinki, but keep a summer house ...

... once. And the ice pool was a different story. I learned there was a ledge you jump from and then run as fast as you can out. Im sure many people have had heart failures in there. A little boy started to talk to me about my travels, and I soon learned he talked fluent Swedish, Finish, and the best English I had heard so far, at 12 years old. He was also learning Russian at home, and had travelled much of Europe on his own money. He really was ...

... flight so no opportunity to move. David has offered to swap seats later & we might do that. We tried sharing one headset to watch a Tourist presentation about Helsinki, but that wasn't really satisfactory. More later. Now - Helsinki - Scandic Marski Hotel 7.40 pm Finland time (2.40 am Sydney time) I can't believe how much has happened in the last 24 hours (well 31 hours I guess if you add on the time difference). Firstly let me finish describing ...

... forte militar. Tive a oportunidade de visitar uma biblioteca universitária em Helsinki. Inacreditavelmente bonita, limpa, moderna, bem iluminada e principalmente sem controle. É uma biblioteca sem catracas, onde é possível entrar e sair sem ser incomodado usufruindo da estrutura ...