Santa Barbara Week Two

We're loving the beautiful weather here in Santa Barbara. Even though we had a "heat wave" this week (temps shot up to 86 on Wednesday!), we couldn't tell any difference -- the days have been breezy and the evenings are even a little chilly. Such a nice change of pace from the record-breaking highs in Phoenix right now.

On Friday evening we packed up some snacks and tried to attend an open-air screening of a Wallace and Gromit movie. There were signs posted on the grass warning "No Non-natural fiber blankets allowed". (It's to protect the grass). Unfortunately we had only brought a fleece blanket that was lined with plastic, so we thought we'd go ahead and be rule-breakers for just this once. But crime doesn't pay -- we got caught by one of the "blanket police" and were asked to remove it. I guess we were lucky they didn't confiscate it! Here is a "before" mugshot:

And here is our "punishment" -- an almost-as-comfy spot that we claimed on the nearby wall. It was only a few feet further back, so we could still see the screen just fine.

Over the weekend we took a couple of Architecture Walking Tours which are offered by the city. A massive earthquake in 1925 is largely responsible for the uniform Spanish-style look of the buildings in Santa Barbara. After the earthquake destroyed most of the downtown area, the town rebuilt with a very strict aesthetic (wrought iron, white walls, and red tile roofs) that continues to this day. The Saturday tour took us to mostly pre-1925 buildings, while the Sunday tour focused more on the newer buildings. I preferred the Saturday tour and I especially liked the Meridian Studios complex, which contains one of the oldest buildings in town, the Lugo Adobe built in 1830.

We also visited the Presidio historic park, which includes the remnants of the fort built here by Spain in 1782.

Over the weekend we also roamed around the brewpubs and wineries in the "Funk Zone" which is an area of town that is clearly NOT subject to the strict Architecture Review Board.

We love being in the heart of town where we can easily walk to dinner or a pub or a wine tasting room. We heard some funky jazz at the Carr Winery:

We went to an all-you-can-eat taco buffet in El Paseo's open-air restaurant on -- what else? -- Taco Tuesday:

But we don't go out for *every* meal. The Farmer's Market always seems to have some yummy ingredients so we've managed to scrape together a nice meal or two at home, too.

Santa Barbara Week One

Arizona is face-meltingly hot this time of year, so we made a hasty escape to Santa Barbara for a few weeks. We got an Airbnb rental in an area that would be walkable to Stearns Wharf, restaurants, shops, and bars.

Upon arrival the apartment needed a good cleaning (and a thorough spray of Raid to evict some ants), but other than that it is pretty great. Kevin will have a great view of Mission Creek (and a sliver of a view of the ocean) while working at the desk upstairs. The duplex doesn't have air conditioning, but it's not really needed since temps are in the 70's and there is usually a breeze. One drawback is that we are near two (!!) construction sites, a busy hotel, and the train station so there is a lot of traffic and noise on our street. But we could see the construction in the listing photos (see below), so it wasn't really a huge surprise.

Another drawback is that there are no dedicated parking spaces with this rental -- just street parking. We spent a good amount of time puzzling over the many different parking signs in the area. We *think* we have it figured out - we will just need to move the car around a couple times a week to avoid being in the street sweeping zone.

But we love that we are just a block from the beach, and the cool weather here is perfect for taking a nice long walk every morning. We are getting way more than 10,000 steps each day that's for sure!

It's good that we're getting plenty of exercise, because one of the first things we did in town was to take a walking/food tour, which was a great way to get our bearings. There are tons of restaurants in this town. I doubt we will have time to hit them all, but we will certainly do our best!

The food tour included stops at several downtown area restaurants and a couple wine tasting rooms: Grassini Vineyards and Cebada.

We have also discovered that Santa Barbara is a great place to get a pint -- there are tons of pubs and brewhouses within a couple-block radius of us. So far one of our favorite places has been a spot aptly named "The Brewhouse". Cheers!

Trip Finale in Finland

After taking the ferry back from Tallinn, we arrived in Helsinki for the final day of our trip.

Uspenski Eastern Orthodox Cathedral

We probably didn't give Helsinki the time it deserved -- we were literally here for only 24 hours before catching our plane home.  But we did our best to see what we could in that short amount of time.

Yayoi Kusama's installation "Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees"

The Finnair Skywheel dominates the waterfront.  One of the cars is actually a sauna (it's the wooden one in the upper right).  Very Finnish.

Nearby, the Allas Sea Pool complex was a very popular spot.  It had just opened the week before and there was a long line to get admission into the pool.

I'm not sure if this was unusual or if it's just something that happens regularly in Finland, but there was a team of synchronized swimmers doing a routine in the pool.  We just caught the tail end of it.

Then we enjoyed some beers and a great view of the Helsinki harbor area.

I think this wistfully sad statue pretty well sums up our feelings about leaving this beautiful corner of the world.

The name of the statue is "Havis Amanda"

We will certainly miss the bustling cities, friendly people, and awe-inspiring natural beauty of the Nordic countries that we've visited on this trip.  While we are looking forward to coming home after our long journey, we'll treasure all the wonderful memories we've made here.

Touring in Tallinn

We didn't have much time in Tallinn -- just a little over two days -- so we made the most of it by taking a guided walking tour, then walking around on our own, and even taking those dreaded Hop-on Hop-off buses.  We are used to "slow travel" so this was a whirlwind tour for us!  We learned a lot about Tallinn's impressive history, and had a chance to see most of the main tourist attractions despite only being here a brief time.

Here are some highlights:

Tallin's 14-century town wall is 3 meters thick in some places

Here we are at the Great Coastal Gate

View of a tower through the twisty trees

Creepy monk sculptures in the Danish King's Garden

Kevin loading a torpedo on the submarine "Lembit" at the Seaplane Museum

Paks Margareeta, a massive 16th-century defensive tower affectionately known as "Fat Margaret"

Saint Catherine's Passage

A skyline view with the spires of St. Olaf's church and the Church of the Holy Ghost

Tallinn, Estonia

The old city of Tallinn is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe.  A 12th century wall encircles the old town, and towers of various shapes and sizes can be seen in every direction.

We arrived just in time for dinner, so in keeping with the whole middle ages theme we went to a place called "Ill Draakon".  The service and menu is modeled on the alehouses of yore.  Here is the counter where you order food:

They serve ale (well, obviously...), soup, pasty pies and ox ribs.  Or should I say "ox rib" since one is plenty.  It looked like something straight out of The Flintstones.

The food was excellent!  Those enormous crocks that look like vases are our beer mugs.  The only utensils available were sharp knives and skewers.  Very medieval.

The whole town is just taking the theme and running with it.  We came across this guy in the town square as well...

"Bring out your dead!"

We didn't have much time for exploring today, but we did take a short walk to see the Toompea Hill area topped by the domes of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

As it got dark, we walked back to the hotel.  Tallinn is very pretty at night, too.

City Hall Square at dusk

Farewell to Stockholm

Well we have had a wonderful time here in Stockholm but now it is unfortunately time to say goodbye.  Or as they say here, "Hej då"!  We went to the overlook at the Gondolen restaurant to have one last look at the city.

We are leaving via overnight ferry to Helsinki, then catching a connecting ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.  Our cabin on the ferry was pretty spacious and had some free drinks in the fridge.  Here's to you, Sweden -- skål!

As we left town we went out on the aft deck.  We just had time to take a few snapshots before it started pouring rain on us.  Maybe that was Stockholm's way of saying it was sad to see us go...

We did have some nice views of the archipelago at dusk after the rain cleared up.  We really enjoyed our visit and the friendly and kind Swedish people we met while we were here.  Hopefully we can come back someday!

Walks at Waldemarsudde and on Skeppsholmen

During our time in Stockholm, we've tried to do one or two "touristy" things each day.  But every once in  a while we need some down time to recharge our batteries.  So instead of visiting museums we go for long walks and look for nice parks and gardens.

Today we sought out one of the nicest gardens in Stockholm, Waldemarsudde (Cape Waldemar), which was the former home of Prince Eugen on the island of Djurgården.  After his death in 1947, he left the house and grounds to the state to be used as a museum and park.

Prince Eugen was an artist and art collector.  His collection of paintings (and many of his own works) are displayed in the house but several large sculptures can be found in the garden, including a copy of Rodin's The Thinker.

I have to admit that yesterday was bit of a recharge day, too!  We slept a little late and spent most of the day catching up on emails and surfing the internet, haha!  But we didn't want to completely waste the day, so we took some time for a nice walk around the small island of Skeppsholmen in the center of town.  Permanently moored beside the island is the af Chapman, a former Swedish naval ship that is now a hostel.  It looks like a pretty cool place to stay.

From the island we had great views of the Palace and Storkyrkan.

And a pretty good view of the Södermalm neighborhood, our home-away-from-home (at least for a few more days!).