OK... I tried doing this 2 day ago but the server at the place I was using blew the page away when I tried to publish it... lost all the work. So I am doing just quick short entries to get this up to date.
It's hard to concentrate right now. I'm in the hallway of Sheila's Hostel in Cork, Ireland and the children are in a Friday night party mood.
Helsinki: arrived on time by overnight ferry (Silja Line at http://www.silja.com/english/... very nice) on May 23rd. Met a young Finnish woman on the ferry... she was one of the people in my cabin and we had supper and drinks together. I left her in the bar for awhile to go to the spa for a treatment. I will call her when I return to Stockholm where she now lives and works.
Got a nice room in a hotel right on the tourist tram line. This made it easy to get to all the museums, etc. Went to the train station to check on trains to St. Petersburg... easy to get there but hard and time consuming and costly to get a visa. Travelling to St. Petersburg did not happen. Was also told that accommodation was near impossile to get there because of the 300 years celebrations. So off on a trolley tour of town.
First stop was the Temppeliaukio (Rock Church - http://www.hel.fi/tourism/html/english/artikkelit/artikkelit/temppeliaukio.html). A relly interesting place. it is a modern church built into the side of a rock hill in the middle of town. Only the front entrance gives it away for this is the only modern looking part. For more info see the website.
Other places visited: Hakasalmi Summer House/Manor; Natural History Musum; National Museum of Finland; organ concert at the Rock Church; Tennispalatsi (Tennis Place) for Museum of Culture and Helsinki City Art Museum; Tennispalatsi to see The Matrix Reloaded; Kauppatori Market; Uspenski Cathedral; Senate Square; Finland Museum of Industrial Design; Helsinki City Museum. PHEW!
If you want to know more it is all on the internet at http://www.hel.fi/tourism ... Helsinki is a very plugged in city as Finland is the home of Linux and Nokia is one of their largest manufactured exports.
Took the overnight ferry back to Stockholm. Again a nice ride with a massage in the spa to break up the evening. Arrived in Stockholm on time. Spent the afternoon in the Vasamuseet (http://www.vasamuseet.se/) before going to Marike's (woman met at the Yoga Retreat in Bahamas) flat to meet her. She greeted me with open arms and I got settled in.
That's it for now... the children (20-somethings) are getting out of hand and I want to retreat to my room.
Posted by gailene at June 13, 2003 06:13 PM