Sokos Arina 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.

So all you get here is a picture taken at 3AM or so, almost as bright as day.

... to visit Jyvasvla but perhaps it was a good thing because I was tired of the traveling and it was important not to miss my flight tomorrow.


In the late afternoon I went to Tietomma, the science center at Oulu. It was interesting and interactive and there was room for exploration by both adults and kids! =). All those physics laws and principles I had learned of are well-manifested in the displays and games provided. But the highlight was at the ...

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!!

Four days until the trip starts. We have flight tickets purchased from Helsinki directly to Seoul and the hotel has been reserved in Seoul for the first 7 nights. We chose Hotel Shilla Seoul mainly based on the good reviews it has received on sites such as TripAdvisor (#2 of 200 hotels in Seoul). We got a great deal from Hotels.com for ...

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 

... back in coach (is it really necessary to rub it in like that?), but I did get a blanket, pillow, and eye mask which is better than nothing. and the seat beside me was empty, so I got a little bit of extra room :) Since the first flight was delayed an hour I was worried that I wouldn't have time to make my connecting flight. but not to worry, I wasn't even listed on the "time critical" transfer board, so I didn't have to ...

... of salmon, smaller whole fish, and kebabs. From what we've seen, Scandinavia seems to be big on kebabs, and their take on Greek salad is pretty unusual to me. I tried one in Stockholm and got a surprise to see it included a hefty layer of peas and corn. After walking from vendor to vendor, we settled down with a beverage and a good opportunity to people watch. I had an iced café latte, and Kyle had a Coke, of course. We spotted lots of babies in strollers with sun ...

... youtube.com/watch?v=e98PEx6b aiA. you see, conan bears an uncanny resemblance to the president of finland, Tarja Halonen, who spoke at the forum. it was actually pretty cool to hear the leader of the country speak, it was the first time i had been in the same room as a world leader (okay, so finland isn't exactly a world power, but still, it was great that she came!) - unfortunately she ...

August 1 We woke up quite early and I prepared myself and some lunch while Laura woke up in a bad mood again so I ignore it. Then we left Tampere and she said again to catch a bus and then I complied and we ride the bus until the highway out of town. We waited there for about an hour and more which was quite annoying for both of us until finally a young guy took us and brought us to a tank station along the way to Jyvaskyla. From there it's been pretty ...

On New Year's Eve, I went with Maaret to her roommate's parents' home and with some of her group of friends we went to watch to fireworks downtown. I stayed there the nights of the 31st and 1st with Maaret- then went back to Steve and Judy's when she had to leave to go back to the Opisto.