Helsinki
LAT Post
Well having gone to bed last night at 7::30PM...and Linda at 9:00PM we both were up and ready to go at 5:00AM. We decided to head down stairs early at 7:30 but check out the hotel sauna on the way, It is on our floor and very nice so Linda thinks we should not be here in Finland without taking a sauna...this is the land of two million saunas...so they take it very seriously, We met our group for a lovely breakfast in the hotel then our tour guide showed up early for out tour around the city. Paulo was from Portugal and is married to a Finn, but is extremely knowledgeable about the history of this country, He took us to many sites and stopped whenever we wanted to take a picture. We discovered later that the things we visited are the top ten things to see in Finland. Probably the most amazing was a church totally made out of rock, and it had a copper dome that is huge..really amazing and very simple but elegant in the inside. We enjoyed the tour very much and thought it was well worth our time and money. Paulo dropped us off at a wonderful chocolate store where i bought some licorice that is very tasty. We then headed for lunch .. followed by a trip through the local exclusive shopping store, it reminded me of Harrods in London...very upscale. By now it was late afternoon so we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon libation. I than came back to the room for a power nap...half an hour was all i needed (I followed Mary Lou's lead on >power napping>!! We had a late dinner including some good chuckles and then Linda and I went for our sauna...which was quite enjoyable. Tomorrow we have another tour planned and following that more shopping.
LMR Post
Finnish school children learn three languages in school. Finnish first, Swedish second and English third. Street signs in Helsinki are in Finnish and Swedish. All have lots of letters as you will see when the pictures get posted. We hired a driver today to take us out for three hours to see the sights of the city. Saw nine of the top ten today and last one tomorrow that we saw from a distance today.
Had to go to the ATM again today for more EUROs. I have underestimated how quickly they spend.
Didn't get to moms restaurant doing it tomorrow. Patsy received a stuffed lamb in her room today and has unfortunately blamed the whole thing on the residents of this room!
Went shopping today at Stockman's department store. We bought lots of Finnish chocolate and licorice,
After dinner went to the sauna! Really cleaned out the pores.
Ferry ride and more shopping tomorrow. Patsy and Mary Lou are packing our lunch for the trip using food from the morning breakfast buffet....!
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