Sokos Flamingo Vantaa

... at Innisfree. They married soon after and have been near Helsinki for about 6 years. Their daughters are Olivia (7)and Sofi (5). Their flat was quite small in Am. standards, but they were cosy in a one bedroom flat. Their neighborhood is filled with 4 storey apartment buildings and I had a terrible time telling them apart and finding my way home. There are playgrounds, bike paths, ponds and trees nearby so it's very pleasant. Everything is within a walk ...

... to check out the harbour, cathedral and central district. A couple of drinks then in a very quiet bar and back to the stadium... Wednesday it was a 3 o clock train to St Petersburg...A free beer and a packet of peanuts went down nicely.... we sat laughing an old man in the seat ahead of us who shouted out he'd take anything if it was for free...lol.. So the Russians let us in anyway and between the train journey and the hour time difference we arrived in to st Petersburg just before 11.

... of a service, and snuck in at the back to watch for a while. The inside of the church was quite ornate, with huge religious murals all over the walls, and a high vaulted ceiling. People were standing about listening to the preacher and watching a procession of priests coming in and out of a room behind the alter, wearing all sorts of strange and amazing things on their heads. The whole affair was backed by an amazing choir, who reflected their pitch perfect ...

... but with less dead sailors. As the weather started to turn bad again and I got sick of Kirill taking macro shots of knots from three millimetres away, we set off to find somewhere to rest (get drunk) before the next leg. Luckily, we were miraculously saved from the impending rain storm by the one site that every Englishman abroad hopes and prays for - a Newcastle Brown Ale sign. And so we wound down the last couple of hours with ...

... in Swedish--the Land of Women. This was morphed into our current Finland. Another theory comes from French, in which "Fin" means "end." Hence, Finland would be, literally, End-land, the end of the world. A couple Finns chuckled to hear that their country was thought of as such. In part because of their insulated location and language, the Finnish people have retained what appears to me to be a strong sense of history and identity. What's interesting is that because the language ...

Sujuipa kivuttomasti. Ei mulla lentopelkoa ole ollut (tai kohtahan sen näkee), mutta lentokentät ovat tuntuneet vähän pelottavilta kaikkine "vähintään tuntia etukäteen paikalla" -sääntöineen, jotka eivät sovi kauhean hyvin yhteen kroonisen myöhästelyni kanssa. Ja sitten vielä nämä uudet käsimatkatavararajoitukset. Kaikki tuntuu kuitenkin toimineen ihan ...

... And of course Russians are embracing tourism as well. Accessing our money through ATM's was easier than I thought and every where were souvenir shops selling everything Russian including matryoshki (nesting dolls) to entice poor old soft tourist babushkas (Grandmas). All the good brand name shops were also present in the city precincts although like New York the shops are on the street level of huge buildings and the shops ...

... Nous passons la semaine en ville les soirees avec Marie et surment un soir dans un pub avec Jere son copain ( Prononce Yere ) A date on a appris a sacre en finnois et se commander une biere ... bien assez. La famille ici est tres accueillante et le climat est beaucoup plus accueillant qu'en Islande. Sinon... Samedi nous allons a Suomenlinna (SouOmenline-na) une ville fortifie au milieu de la mer et dimanche nous allons a Purko ou Porko ... je ...

... For the past two-three months we've been running around getting vaccination shots and finally also a reasonable malaria medication plan. Palo's been planning where to go and what to see and I've been giving my Yes or No's. Trip starts in India and we have some kind of plan made out, but hopefully (says I, not Palo) we ...

... EU is the best thing that has happened to Europe so far. By the way, the EU is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. After we collect our luggage, we hurry towards the exit. Mari is excited. On the other side, Pia (the girl whose teeth I operated) and her daughter Jasmin are waiting for us. The moment we see each other, all the excitement is released in happiness. Everbody hugs ...