Ferry Ride to Finland: Homesick for Canada
The alarm goes early – 5:30. For a change, it wakes me. The coffee is ready-to-go, and although I am not interested in food, I have my cereal with yogurt and a banana. At 6:00, I make sure Greg is awake, and by 6:30 we have...
Crossing Finnish Borders
Helsinki is draped in low-lying, grey clouds this morning and a cool, continuous rain is falling as we head downstairs for breakfast at 9:00. There is chaos (in a Finnish way!) in the breakfast room as clearly every hotel...
Day-Tripping to Tallinn, Estonia
The residual hangover from the night before gives us a natural impulse to start our morning late today. We plan to take the hour and a half ferry ride to the medieval town of Tallinn in Estonia this afternoon but we don’t...
From Land and Sea: The Beauty of Helsinki
I am visiting Helsinki’s south harbour, where the steel-gray waters of the Gulf of Finland lap the rocky shore, setting sail on a tour of the offshore archipelago, studded with over 300 Scots pine, Norway spruce and...
Happy to Be in Finland Again!
I am so happy to be in Finland again! I traveled here 4 years ago with my mother, and we visited southern Finland before we went on to St. Petersburg. I was impressed with Finland – beautiful, clean, birch and pine-covered...
We Can’t Afford the Beer in Helsinki!
Wednesday, July 7th, 2004: Helsinki, Finland Kouvola to Helsinki: 137 kilometres The drive from Kouvola to Helsinki is an easy one – the only stop we make is to take photos of one of the brilliant yellow mustard...
The Land of the Midnight Sun
Friday, July 9th, 2004: Kemi, Finland N 65 E 024 Helsinki to Kemi: 713 kilometres Logistics and ferry schedules have forced us to do the long drive north through Finland, over the Gulf of Bothnia, down through Sweden and...
Change of Plans: ‘Turn West at Umea’
Saturday, July 10th, 2004: Dorotea, Sweden N 64 E 016 Kemi to Dorotea: 631 kilometres The weather is at least with us today as we spend another big day of driving. The sun is out and is a steady beacon as we head south and...