Finland and Estonia

Helsinki market

Tallinn Russian Orthodox Church

me inside Fat Margaret (tower)

The last stop on our trip was Finland. We flew into Tampere because it was the only city in Finland that RyanAir flew to and then rented a car and drove two hours to Helsinki where my mom was staying. Getting to drive through Finland was great! The more we travel the more we realize how great it is to get out of the big cities and see the countryside. Finland reminded us a lot of the East Coast in the fall. Remember this was in August and it felt like fall already! But the countryside was beautiful. Lots of trees and lakes.
We got to Helsinki and mom showed us the sites in about two hours. Finland's capital city is actually pretty small - I can't imagine what the other cities are like. I'm guessing Finland is a mostly rural country :-)
Anyway the next day we decided to take a two hour ferry ride to Tallinn, Estonia since we had already seen everything there was to see in Helsinki. Tallinn is a pretty well preserved medieval city. There were a lot of old towers, walls and buildings to see. I especially enjoyed the Russian orthodox church, both here and in Helsinki. Its something that we don't often get to see.
Maybe the best part about Tallinn was eating at Old Hansa an 'authentic' medieval restaurant. Everyone who worked there wore medieval clothing and tried to speak how someone in medieval times would speak. The served us medieval dishes and I even saw one customer eating with wooden cutlery. Although we didn't get that chance. We did drink spiced wine and beer out of wooden cups if I remember right. or maybe it was stone. Anyway my favorite part was the bathroom! The toliet was made to look like a latrine and it was completely lit by candles. The sink was hooked up so it looked like you were pouring water out of a pitcher. Very cool.
The next day mom left and Mike and I spent the morning at the market in the harbor checking out the local crafts and goods. We then took a scenic route back to Tampere. Stopping there for a meal at Hessburger - Finland's McDonalds. Tampere actually seemed more hopping than Helsinki - probably because of all the college kids. But we didn't get the chance to explore much.

And that ends our whirlwind trip through Spain, Finland and Estonia! We feel so lucky to be able to have all of these wonderful experiences!

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Barcelona

Sagrada Familia

can't resist books in English - a rarity where we live!

Mike and one of Gaudi's masterpieces

So, finally to Barcelona. Its almost been two months since we've been there! I really thought I was going to be better at this, anyway...

Barcelona was amazing. I just thought it was going to be another big European city - nothing new - so I wasn't expecting much but I was very pleasantly surprised! Barcelona is a huge city but it has so much character and Spanish flavor. The architecture was amazing. Mike was particularly impressed by all of the buildings by Gaudi. I particularly liked the Sagrada Familia - the cathedral by Gaudi that still is not finished. The outside was incredibly different and interesting. I can only imagine what the inside looked like because it was way too expensive for us!
We were only there for a short period of time so we took a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour to see as much of the city as possible. My favorite part of the tour was hopping off at the beach! Barcelona's beaches were beautiful and the water was incredible. Unfortunately there were a lot of unsavory characters hanging around so Mike and I didn't get in the water at the same time. Some one had to stay behind and protect out stuff!
At night we headed to the Montjuic fountains for a really cool water show. The show lasted about 10 minutes and each time we saw it the music was different. Once they played the themes to Star Wars, Titanic and a couple other movies that I now forget since it was so long ago.

After Barcelona we caught a flight back to Frankfurt -Hahn and then another flight to Finland to meet my mom on a business trip. This is the last leg of our journey!

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