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!).

Archipelago Daytrip to Sandhamn

Yesterday we took a relaxing all-day cruise to the outer archipelago islands. We stopped for a two hour walk around the small island of Sandhamn.

There's a small town on the island but only about 100 people live there year-round.  While researching for the trip I discovered that there's a fictional Swedish TV series called The Sandhamn Murders.  It looks kind of like Murder She Wrote, only set on a tiny Swedish island.  There are four seasons of it -- we will have to watch it when we find the time!

I thought the landscape was very pretty with lots of pine trees and small wooden cabins -- parts of it almost looked like somewhere in Northern Arizona to me.

We were only on the island just long enough to explore some of the forest trails and the beach, and then back on the boat to Stockholm.  It was a nice relaxing break from the bustling city!

The Art of the Subway

Stockholm's underground T-bana has been called the longest art gallery in the world.  There are around 100 subway stations in the city and more than 90 of them have some kind of permanent public art installation.

Rådhuset - made to look like a cave

The photos are a little dark, but the Kungsträdgården station is an artistic interpretation of an archaeological dig.

It also reflects the red, green, and white colors found in the King's garden park above the station.

The city offers a free English guided tour of the subway art; all you need is an SL transit ticket.

Guide Marie showing us the workmen's silhouettes in T-Centralen

Due to time constraints the tour only included T-Centralen, Kungsträdgården, and Rådhuset.  But we did a little more exploring on our own:

Solna Centrum - a forest landscape with bright red sky

Rainbows and bright colors are found at Stadion

Disco lighting on the escalators at Tekniska Högskolan

My personal favorite was Tensta, on the blue line.  I loved the bright colors, animal murals, and messages of peace and love written on the walls.

Gröna Lund Amusement Park

Djurgården is one of our favorite places in the city.  Not only is it a park, with museums and attractions like Skansen and the ABBA museum, but it also has a fun little amusement park called Gröna Lund.

It's not as big or as pretty as Tivoli in Copenhagen but Gröna Lund makes up for its lack of size with a creative use of space, with twisting intertwined roller coaster tracks and vertical thrills like the aptly-named "Insane" ride in the photo above.  Sometimes it's hard to see where one coaster ends and the next one begins.

Gröna Lund is also one of Stockholm's concert venues, and it's nice that the concert is included in the price of admission to the park.  This summer's lineup has included diverse acts like Lionel Richie, the Dropkick Murphys, Whitesnake, and Madness as well as many Swedish and European acts we'd never heard of.  When we saw the concert schedule for August, we only knew one of the names - Iggy Pop - so we made sure to go on that day.  He didn't put on a shirt, but he did put on a great show.

Although it's primarily an amusement park, Gröna Lund is actually a pretty good venue for seeing a concert.  We hung out all the way in the back of the crowd (sadly my mosh-pit days are over...) and still had a pretty good view of the stage.

Being in the back also gave us the advantage of getting out the exit and onto the ferry before most of the crowd.  We also managed to get a nice view of the park all lit up before it closed for the night!