From the land of almost eternal sun
Thursday afternoon we picked up Herra O'Neal from the airport, ending his Finnish adventure. He brought us all some thoughtful eastern European trinkets, but most importantly, he survived nearly 22 hours of travel that day and brought himself. We missed him quite an uncomfortable bit.
Daddy and I did a fantastically free job of communicating while he was gone, using IM instead of trying to figure out the nuances and rate systems of international calling. So I knew a bit about where he was and what he was up to, but once he got home and downloaded all his pictures, it was nice to have visuals to go along with those stories.
Daddy fretted about staying at a plush hotel that was far away from the conference because the preferred, closer inn had no more room. Turns out, once he got there, this closer place had space for him after all. Oh, and did I mention it was a hostel? Yes, HOSTEL. It's that cheery buttercup-yellow thing on the left, here on Hietaniemenkatu street.
The view from his window. The sea is just over that brick red building. Well, less so "sea" than the Gulf of Finland, which feeds into the Baltic Sea.
The first night in town, Daddy and his grad student Ashley ate a Finnish version of Chinese food at a huge marketplace (read: MALL) that was a quick stroll from their hostel.
Here's Daddy in front of the number one tourist attraction in Helsinki...a Lutheran church.
Stately and gorgeous, yes, but it would seem that these Finns aren't so much the party types. For example, the number two tourist attraction in Helsinki? An Eastern Orthodox church. That red thing behind Ashley.
Daddy did get to visit something else old and important -- an island fortress that's cool enough to call itself a UNESCO heritage site.
That goateed dude is of course not Daddy, but rather Daddy's new friend Dan from the University of Wisconsin. Dan has a 1-year-old girl, so he and Daddy moaned and groaned together about how horrible it was to be away from their children so that they could fly halfway around the world for free. Boo-freakin'-hoo, me thinks. Oh yes, and speaking of island fortress-plus-people Daddy knows, there's Daddy's Russian-guy collaborator, in the army-green jacket, in front of some sort of military vessel docked at this island.
Everyone took a sunset ferry back to Helsinki. Daddy took about a bazillion pictures of the city against the sky. Go Lutheran church!
Daddy and I did a fantastically free job of communicating while he was gone, using IM instead of trying to figure out the nuances and rate systems of international calling. So I knew a bit about where he was and what he was up to, but once he got home and downloaded all his pictures, it was nice to have visuals to go along with those stories.
Daddy fretted about staying at a plush hotel that was far away from the conference because the preferred, closer inn had no more room. Turns out, once he got there, this closer place had space for him after all. Oh, and did I mention it was a hostel? Yes, HOSTEL. It's that cheery buttercup-yellow thing on the left, here on Hietaniemenkatu street.
The view from his window. The sea is just over that brick red building. Well, less so "sea" than the Gulf of Finland, which feeds into the Baltic Sea.
The first night in town, Daddy and his grad student Ashley ate a Finnish version of Chinese food at a huge marketplace (read: MALL) that was a quick stroll from their hostel.
Here's Daddy in front of the number one tourist attraction in Helsinki...a Lutheran church.
Stately and gorgeous, yes, but it would seem that these Finns aren't so much the party types. For example, the number two tourist attraction in Helsinki? An Eastern Orthodox church. That red thing behind Ashley.
Daddy did get to visit something else old and important -- an island fortress that's cool enough to call itself a UNESCO heritage site.
That goateed dude is of course not Daddy, but rather Daddy's new friend Dan from the University of Wisconsin. Dan has a 1-year-old girl, so he and Daddy moaned and groaned together about how horrible it was to be away from their children so that they could fly halfway around the world for free. Boo-freakin'-hoo, me thinks. Oh yes, and speaking of island fortress-plus-people Daddy knows, there's Daddy's Russian-guy collaborator, in the army-green jacket, in front of some sort of military vessel docked at this island.
Everyone took a sunset ferry back to Helsinki. Daddy took about a bazillion pictures of the city against the sky. Go Lutheran church!
posted by Claire at 3:30 PM
1 Comments:
Beautiful pictures! Thanks for osting them Claire! And Thanks for taking them Mike! We're glad you traveled safely to and from HelStinky;-) I'm sure it was a once-in-a lifetime experience--only maybe not just once for you.
Claire -- thanks for the link to explain the churches to us--So impressed--Lutherans! - Mom
Post a Comment
<< Home