[From Beth] Today, Juhani and Helena introduced us to their friends Tarja and Kaarlo, who brought us to their island off the coast of Vaasa. The Island is shaped like a skull, and called Nalkasaari (Starvation Island) after a local legend of a group of women who were left there to die. The creepy factor […]
Art Shows and Archipelagos
[From Beth] Vaasa is known as an arts community, and this week hosted its Evening of the Arts, which seemed a little like Boise’s defunct Curb Cup except all the bands were spread out enough so one could listen to them individually. Of course they were also singing in Finnish. The crowds were lively and […]
Share this:
Eating our way through Finland
[From Beth] On Tuesday, we toured around Oulu on foot and stopped at a Finnish buffet for lunch. While we’re in the company of both Colin and Saara, the next meal is never far from our thoughts. Fortunately, the Finns enjoy no fewer than five meals a day, lunch is typically the biggest. On this […]
Zombies and Reindeer
[From Beth] Sunday didn’t start out as well as we’d hoped. Colin’s stomach woke him up after nearly 12 hours of much needed sleep. Poor kid had had fewer than 18 meals in the last 24 hours and needed sustenance NOW, which meant that we cave in on our normal standards and eat at McDonalds. […]
On our way to see Santa…
[from Mike] At about 10am on Sunday, Mountain time, we’ll be boarding an overnight train with sleeper-cars that will take us from Helsinki to Rovanemei in the northern region or Lapland. This will be pretty cool – especially for the boys because Rovanemei is just inside the the Arctic Circle (no, we’re not talking about […]
Estonia, new and old
[From Beth] Today we had an early start, with a flight from Bremen, Germany, to Tallinn, Estonia, and a ferry ride back into Helsinki. We had hoped to stow the luggage for a few hours and walk around Old Town again, but the process of getting a shuttle from the airport to the harbor took […]
Share this:
On the move, mit bier ….
[From Beth] Serious travel day today, which when you’re on a train, is so much more comfortable for all involved than cramped in a little car, hopped up on Dramamine and Dr. Pepper. First, we had a few hours this morning to tool around Amsterdam more. We looked at the line for the Anne Frank […]
Ambling through Amsterdam
[From Beth and Mike] Today we were able to rally early for our three-hour train ride into Amsterdam. Upon arriving, we bought the kids pre-lunch snacks (see how we’re learning?) and then were able to tackle the how-to-find-street-signs and whether-to-take-the-tram-bus-metro-or-canal-bus questions without breaking into fist-a-cuffs before an official lunch. We had lunch kitty-corner from Westerkerk, […]
Bruxelles, beef and beerskis
[From Beth & Mike] This morning we elected to take a later train to Belgium than expected since all of us appeared to need the extra sleep. When we arrived, we had the benefit of Saara and Mike’s exceptional navigational skills to get us from the train, through the subway, to our hotel without mishap […]
Share this:
Where they packed all the cathedrals into one place ….
[From Beth] So after a two hour flight from Tallin, Estonia, to Bremen, Germany, followed by a tram ride from the airport to the train station and a two hour train ride through the picturesque countryside, we arrived in Cologne (Koln), Germany. Mike stepped out into the sunlight and said something smart like “I wonder […]