Bali Bound

Day 10 What with today being a bit of a boring travel day (I don't even get highway scenery out the window, but Greenland is decidedly NOT green) I figured I could share some of my random observations on this trip so far.  I was a little unimpressed that my free airport shuttle got me to the airport 5 hours early.  I was apparently the last person to leave.  It did mean a few hours of waiting for the check in counter to open and then a leisurely lunch before the flight.  Also, the Helsinki airport is a strange place.  They have very little seating.  I guess they expect you'll just camp out at a restaurant and wait it out there.  And the bathrooms have birds and nature playing in the background.  At first I thought it was some one's cell phone, but no.   Finlandia Hall This morning I went for a bit of a walk to Helsinki's Finlandia Hall.  It's an event venue for lack of better terms.  But quite striking compared to the...

Day 9 Old town Tallinn As lovely as Helsinki has been, I'm off on the day trip Tallinn, Estonia, officially country #5.  I think there is a chance of rain, but I'm prepared with my trusty umbrella.  It's the last full touring day with the bus tour already.  Tomorrow is the big travel day, which means back to Reykjavik for me.  This tour included an add on to Russia, which did intrigue me a little.  I decided against it as I was a little concerned it would be like the London add on that I did where we were on our own other than a trip to the airport and a city tour.  And I felt like maybe Russia wasn't the best place to visit on my own.  And it sounds like there are a lot of hurdles to jump to visit.  I think about 10 people were continuing on. Tallinn was a great day trip.  It's a beautiful city with much of its old town still preserved.  The reality of the ferry schedules did mean that we spent more time on the ferry there and ...

Day 8 Helsinki Good morning open waters.  The ferry is about 3 hours away from Helsinki and all I can see is ships on the horizon.   I can count at least 5 from cabin window right now.  I get the impression there is a lot of shipping and ferrying people on the Baltic sea. It is exciting coming into port and seeing Helsinki.  We've definitely left Scandinavia behind.  It's a subtle difference, but it's there.  Buildings are a little more functional than attractive, but this does change when you get away from the ferry terminal.  It's still has more of a working class feel sort of city. Since we arrived around 10 am we have no hotel rooms, so we are heading straight into our city tour.  As always on this trip, we were greeted with an overcast day.  I'm starting to miss the sun and warmth of spring at home.  Speaking of home, the ferry had a small NHL section, including hats from the Toronto Maple Leafs.  It seemed an odd ch...

Day 7 House in Skansen Is time ever flying by all of a sudden!  It's still a little surreal that I'm actually here in Sweden.  But I am and the city is a great place to visit.  It does feel like I had a lot of time here and I have really.  Rather than having an afternoon to myself I've had almost 2 full days aside from the city tour.  I was a little concerned that I might have a lot of free time to fill.  Because while I haven't had a lot of time in many of the places, I do feel like I've seen the vast majority of things while I was there.  And an extra day and some in the cities would be a little dull unless you left the city.  My backup plan was to bring a book over to the park but today's weather isn't so much sitting in the park reading weather sadly. Street of old building in Skansen But I do have an actual plan for today.  I'm going to visit Skansen.  The best way to describe it is to call it Sweden's version of Fort E...

The trip to Tallinn was a really good day.  The ferry back was quite chaotic.  It seems as though there is some sort of floorball competition going on in Scandinavia as there were tons of sports teams dragging huge bags around and that's what they were telling people they were playing.  We saw a few teams on our overnight ferry as well. But I am in the airport in Helsinki which means that my official tour is over and it's just me for the next 2 nights.  I do have time to explore tonight as the sun doesn't set until 11 so it will be nice and bright for awhile after I get there .  Which is good because my days are filled with planned adventures. Also, I will be really happy to be able to blog on a proper computer.  The tablet likes to make up words sometimes...

 I am currently on the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.  It is a little farther than I expected, about 2 hours.  But mind you, 2 hours in any direction from Edmonton will get you in farmland.  You could go see the egg in Vegreville. The Baltic Sea is a busy place.  This will be my 4th visit on the water.  Although a few of those trips were in the harbour area. The overnight ferry was an interesting experience.  And if it was anything like a real cruise I don't think I would be interested in going in an actual cruise.  There was stuff to do, had a few shops and restaurants and the cabin wasn't too bad.  But I found it a little boring and there was nowhere to go explore! Helsinki is a lovely city.  I do think I've seen pretty much everything by now.  Had a delicious dinner at a Mexican restaurant last night.  Mexican food in helsinki felt like a strange find but I went with it. I find it hard to believe that I am off to Icelan...

Yes, it is holiday time again.  And yes, it has only been 6 weeks or so.  Just the way things worked out this year.  And happily, by the time I get home spring should be fully here and that will be fabulous. I am heading on another bus tour.  There is really something about the bus tour that I enjoy.  It's well organized, I see a lot and I put in little effort and have a good time. Scandinavia will be 6 countries (I hope) in a little under 2 weeks.  Yikes! I start out in Copenhagen, Denmark; travel to Oslo, Norway; head to Stockholm, Sweden; take an overnight ferry cruise to Helsinki, Finland; a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia; and a stopover courtesy of Icelandair in Reykjavik, Iceland on the way home. I have high hopes for this trip.  It'll be a lot of adventure and I think a nice mix of city with a bit of nature.  And I should get a bit more of a break from my fellow passengers with more free time in the cities. Stay tuned for the adven...