Scandic Oulu

Introduced to downtown with a drunk guy urinating in the middle of main street at 4PM alongside his patient friends....with the unsurprised locals passing by. Had a good time being shoved all over the place on a Saturday night in the chilly city with great nightlife. <br><br>So all you get here is a picture taken at 3AM or so, almost as bright as day.<br>

... government has passed a law to allow Finnish University to start charging fees to foreign students but it will not be implemented so soon </li></ul><br><br>Call it fate but I unknowingly managed to catch them on the last day of summer as tomorrow will see flocks of people heading for the midsummer parties across the country or retreat to their summer houses. . Everyone in the Uni was clearing their work. <br>So there went my option to visit Jyvasvla but ...

Today we took a cruise through an archipelago of twenty thousand islands to Aland Finland. It was an early start so we had a huge buffet breakfast on board followed by another as much as you can eat lunch. The scenery is magnificent as well! There is free internet connection on board , handy, as we cannot access it out in the woods!!

... Superior Double Room. Initially the reservation was for 10 nights but we later decided to shorten the planned stay by a couple of nights just to give us more room to plan the rest of the trip (we can always book extra nights in Seoul should we decide to stay there longer). (to be continued if I'm happy with this travel blog service...)

1. Weaving the Incantation 2. A Servant 3. Born From Fire 4. Towards and Against 5. The Smoke 6. Better Unborn 7. Veil of Sin (Ei ennen soitettu, ikinä) 8. Silver Bride 9. Two Moon 10. Cares 11. In the Beginning 12. Silent Waters 13. Alone ----- 14. The Way 15. House of Sleep 16. Black Winter Day 

After what seems like the longest day of travel ever (maybe because it was actually almost 2 days?!) I finally arrived in Oulu. The entire journey was good, no major disasters, though I spent a fair amount of time worrying that there would be, lol! The flight from Vancouver to London was long, but I managed to sleep a bit. Probably would have slept better in one of the 1st class pods that they so nicely advertised on the ...

... to Lulea, but with a nice sandy beach and recreation area. We stayed there in two cabins, walking distance to the beach. As the sun almost set, we gathered on the beach enjoying the slight breeze and sparkling waves. The sun hovered over the horizon, giving us what seemed like an eternal sunset of blushing tangerine. In the morning we went to Oulu's center square to enjoy a lively farmer's market. We saw fresh produce, baked goods, vendors frying up potatoes, long ...

... t stay to listen to the rest of the discussions and presentations... it seems that there is never enough time to listen, especially when it is most needed. still, in many ways finland has got it going on as far as being environmentally and socially conscious and progressive, and it was really interesting to hear a president speaking who really seemed like she knew what she was saying... ;)

... at her friend appartment looking at the warm weather that still reminded me of Indian summer back home. I used the computer to scan some travel idea.... andNorway started getting in my mind but I cant see why or I dont know if I would still. Later by the end of the afternoon we walked downtown to have a peek of Oulu and to shop some things (a black marker for me). As we were horribly hungry and looking for something we stopped by Subway and ...

I don't remember exactly what days I did things, but in the last week I went to services a few times with Steve and Judy to listen to Eric Jurmu speak, went out to dinner one evening with Eric and Maggie, went sledding one day with Stiina and her family then later to services and then to haps, and went to Gabe and Arja's to say 'bye to them and the kids.