July 6, 2009 - Finnish Trip

It is the last day - but it has been a very good trip. We decided to not try to cram in a trip to Estonia. I think after 10 days we are both tired. If we see Tallin we would like to see it a little more enthusiastically. Instead, we headed to downtown Helsinki to the Cafe Eckberg, which was mentioned on our tour. They have been open for over 4 generations and are well known for their pastries. We enjoyed a buffet lunch followed by dessert - Tom had chocolate cake and I had something traditionally Finnish - made with mashed potatoes and chocolate (but very good).

After lunch we walked back to Stockmann's and did a little tour of the store. They sell Marimekko dog beds even (since Tuuli ate his last bed I figured he didn't need a Marimekko bed - and we would have had no way to get it home). About 3 pm we decided to head back to the hotel to begin the organizing/packing process, check in to our flight, get our boarding passes ready to just relax. It will be the last sauna night for a while.

Tomorrow we leave Helsinki at 9:10 am and get to Minneapolis about 3:30 pm. I believe we arrive in Hibbing about 7 - so we should be walking in the door at home no later than 8:00 pm if everything goes according to plan. It has been a good trip and I have many ideas for next time.

July 5, 2009 - Finland Trip

Today was Plan B day and we learned several lessons: (1) Do not try to come back from Estonia on a Sunday evening after a festival and (2) a plan B is always a good thing. We arrived at the port to buy tickets for the fast boat to Estonia. Good news was there were seats available on the 12 pm boat. Bad news is that there were none coming back to Helsinki after 3 pm. Since it is a 1.5 hour boat ride, we thought there would not be enough time in Tallin to do anything worthwhile. We opted for plan B - which was Sally having a very good cup of Finnish coffee while we contemplated our next move. We decided it would be a good day to see the National Museum, since it looked like rain. It was a wonderful afternoon. This is a picture of Tom in front of the entrance to the Museum - the bear is the National symbol. My second favorite picture of the day is the hour glasses on the pulpit - even in older times people timed the sermons. The third picture is a picture looking down at the port - with some very beautiful wooden sailboats.

On our way to the National Museum we were visited by the tram police. You never really have to show your ticket on the tram or train - it is an honor system - BUT there are tram police who get on and off the trams and check tickets. If you are caught without a valid ticket you not only pay the fare, but also a hefty fine. After the National Museum, we headed back to the Cathedral of Helsinki for a tour of the inside. From there we headed to the Orthodox Church, which was closed, but the view of the outside was beautiful. We stopped and checked menus for several cafes - cafes are not restaraunts - they serve primarily beer, wine, coffee, and pastries/desserts. We ended up having dinner at our favorite spot - Kapelli - and tonight tried the sauna smoked reindeer (Very Good!), mushroom salad, and Karelian pastries with mushroom soup and dessert. Tomorrow we may attempt Tallin again - or maybe we will save that for next time!

July 4, 200

Today we headed for Porvoo on the steamer JL Runeburg - the trip takes about 3-1/2 hours and you getg to see the coast of the Baltic, with its many islands and summer cabins. It was a little windy, but a good day for a boating event. Before we left, we stopped in market square for a box of fresh raspberries - they were delicious!

Once we got to Porvoo, we toured the Old Town, visited the Cathedral (and saw the end of a wedding). had some ice cream (the licorice ice cream is really good), then finished touring the town and headed back to Helsinki by bus. The bus trip takes about an hour. We hopped on the tram and arrived back at the hotel in time for dinner, and a sauna. I think tomorrow we are heading for Estonia - weather permitting - on the "fast boat".

Finland - July 3, 2009

It turned out to be another beautiful day in Finland! It was overcast this morning when we got up, so we decided to take the Helsinki bus tour. I would recommend this to anyone visiting Helsinki - it gives you a good tour of the city, gives you some history, and makes stops at the Temppeliaukio Church, which was built directly into the rock. It is beautiful and the acoustics are the best in the world. The other picture stop was at the Sebelius Monument (the other picture in the blog today). It only rained a little when we were on the bus.

After the bus tour, we returned to Market Square for some lunch - at Stockman's Department Store - the biggest in Scandinavia. If you can't get it at Stockman's you don't need it. We ate in the 8th floor cafeteria - they also have a cafe and a deli and complete grocery store. We also managed to find 2 Marimekko shops where Sally did well on sales. We decided since the day turned so beautiful, we would stop back at the Market and pick up some goodies for breakfast. We made arrangments for a tour to Porvoo tomorrow - up on the steamboat and back on the bus. We are hoping for good weather and another busy day!

July 1 & 2 - Finland Trip 2009

I have been having some issues with internet access and my computer - last night I gave up and decided to just take a sauna instead. We had an excellent day. We attended the conference until right after lunch, then headed out to do some exploring. We needed to meet some friends at the Hotel Arthur at 3 pm, so we took the tram to the main station, and set out for a walk from there. We managed to land ourselves in the Botanical Gardens of Helsinki University - a beautiful spot in the middle of the city.



After a very quick walk through part of the gardens we headed to the Hotel to pick up Shirley and Duane. From there we walked to Market Square - right on the water - where we did a little shopping and picked up a few suovenirs. Dinner was at a restaraunt near the Square named Kappeli - a great art deco place where we enjoyed fresh elk and mashed rooted vegetables, followed by blueberry pie. The grilled liver and onions that Shirley had looked really good too. We managed to catch the 7b tram home and ended the day with a sauna.

Today (Thurs). was a good day - even though we over slept and missed the Helsinki guided tour. We decided instead to go back to Market Square and have some breakfast - then catch the ferry to the fortress called Suomenlinna. It was a hot day - lots of sun and great walking around the museum, island, and fortress property. We cooled off by pretending to shoot cannons from the bunkers.

Our return ferry to Helsinki was not full and the ride cooled us off. We landed in Market Square and decided to do a bit of shopping. I found some small souvenirs at the Iittala shop and at Aarika - great deals and good momentos. Supper was at Kappeli again - we decided to end the day with the grilled liver followed by dessert - berry soup and ice cream for Tom and strawberry sorbet with chocolate cake for Sally. We caught the 7b back to the hotel and are heading for the sauna. PS Finnish beer is really pretty good - almost as good as the coffee - or maybe better.



Tom pretending to shoot the cannon at the Russians.....

Finnish Trip June 2009

Presentation Day - June 30th
Today was a successful presentation day - Sally did her poster presentation, then Sally & Shirley did their scientific demonstration - and modified by "going live". It went well and there were many compliments to the presentation. We should have full times jobs attending conferences just doing presentations.

Duane and Shirley joined us for a celebratory dinner at the hotel and we made plans for heading downtown Helsinki tomorrow. All in all a very successful day!

Finland Photos -

A small selection of photos - Tom at his poster, the ladies' sauna, home for the next 11 days, the conference center, and arrival at the airport.