{finland, days 1-3}

here comes the finland trip report. i bet you are all dying to know everything about our trip. well, whether you are or not, you're still getting a report. :)

i took over 1500 photos but don't worry, i won't post them all. and as usual - our personal photos will be in our private family blog.

our travel time was about 20 hours all together. crazy, eh?

these first three photos are from our drive to calgary. we used air miles for couple of the tickets and couldn't fly straight from our city. this meant extra three hours to our trip both ways. so it goes.

things you take pictures of... :)

found these during our stop-over in amsterdam. what cruel people those hollanders are! they even have garbage cans for their pets. :D

arriving in finland...

my in-laws came with us so we needed an enormous taxi to take us to my sister's place. thank goodness we had booked our flights before christmas as the luggage rules changed. we were able to bring two suitcases each. the new rules allow only one per person. we used every kilogram possible on the way back home.

we ate sweet potato casserole and meatballs that evening and chatted. we all felt very jet lagged.
weather in finland has been record breaking hot and humid this summer.

this meant sweaty days and poorly slept nights. add jet lag to that and you know how our first couple of days went. (so good to see my sister + family again though!)

day two:

sienna woke up at 3am the first night. me and her played barbies and she ate breakfast. i got to go back to "sleep" at around 7 am. woke up at noon again.

i ate five karjalanpiirakka "karelian pies" for breakfast! :)

we went to a nearby mall to look around. didn't have energy to do much else yet.

i bought some marimekko unikko notepads, some finnish music cd's and magazines.

emma = espoo museum of modern art

the public transportation in finland is great. canadian version doesn't come even close.

during the whole trip, it was so surreal to see my in-laws in buses, trains and metros. it was just too weird. :)

biking is also very popular in finland. bike paths everywhere.

my niece and i had ton of fun saying "kun pieraisee, se lemuaa" in a french accent. that sentence says "when you fart, it stinks" :D but it sounds so elegant and french. :D

we ate salmon and potatoes that evening. i went for a long evening walk with my niece.

day three:

sienna was sick so she slept most of the day. in the evening we went to a nearby playground.

the playground had this awesome zipline and we all took turns with it. loved it!!! we went back many times to enjoy it.

ferns and blueberry bushes cover the forest floors. finland is so green and lush. we found some blueberries right there next to the playground.

once again i went for a long evening walk with my niece and from a hill, saw our church's new temple. the one and only in finland.

i tried to take all sorts of pictures during our trip in case someone is interested to see what finland looks like.