I miss my cat

Pink Granite Sculpture of woman with cat in Turku, Finland.

Tallinn, Estonia

The 8 am high speed catamaran ferry from Helsinki, Finland takes us to Tallin, Estonia.  We walk across an unusual ferry terminal with many concrete steps going up and down. It must be some left over  “R” thing. Estonia is rebuilding itself after being controlled by Russia for 60 years. That’s an interesting story for another time.

We enter the Medieval city through an ancient stone gateway.  Wandering around the smooth cobblestoned streets and alleyways, we find our way to St. Olav’s church.  

 We choose to climb the torturous narrow stone stairway up to the top of the tower. Annika is waiting. She is the guide who directs tourists to walk around the tower one way.

She is the first Estonian person I’ve ever met.  She is so nice. I am a little freaked because of the height and the unusual fencing on the copper roof. After two minutes of chit chatting with her, I realize we have something important in common; our husbands were born in Pennsylvania!  

Looking out over the rooftops, it’s fun to imagine what life was like all those hundreds of years ago. Descending the steps combatting the upward bound tourists, is a challenge. Seeing all the people coming up, we are glad we got there early!

The red, yellow, and orange colors of the town give a fairytale feel as we find our way up and down the different parts of the city. Finally we sit on the white sheepskin covered wooden chairs for a coffee in the town square – good coffee.

After climbing up through another gateway to the upper town, we find more churches and gorgeous views. This place is enchanting. We find a stairway descending on the outside wall. We need to get back to the town square to meet our cousins.

This is a pre-arranged meeting that actually happens all because of our cat! We need someone to help take care of Montana so when we ask David he tells us they will be in Tallin on the same day as we are! What a coincidence.

We find David and Clea Fairchild in Tallinn! We enjoy a great lunch at Olde Hansa Gild; elk jerky, lentils, lantau, cabbage, mushrooms, rabbit, and other yummy Medieval type foods – like Irish coffee and fruit cake balls.

Tallinn is a great place to wander with cousins.

Orange Day in Helsinki

I wake up thinking of wearing a plain black dress today, then say to myself;
"Oh, I feel like orange today. I want to wear my black & white stripe dress with the one solid orange stripe!"
I do not usually wear orange, so this is a little bit strange - that I even own this dress.

When we arrive in the underground dining room of this castle-like hotel, I notice a woman with an orange shirt, then a kid with an orange sweatshirt, then another lady with an orange top, a man with a striped polo shirt, OMG, a mother with a full length orange and white striped dress. It seems like easily one third of the sixty or so people milling around the breakfast buffet have orange on today!

When we meet a friend in the lobby who is guiding us to the Helsinki University Hospital, she has orange jeans and a Marrimekko top with orange design.

When we meet our colleague at the Ear Hospital, she is wearing a cotton orange sweater!

All day as we take buses and the metro around Helsinki, it seems like a today is a self-declared "Wear Orange Day"!

hei from Helsinki

Just can't keep Jim off the water

In Helsinki it is overcast and yes, we have some summer showers. We get our rain slickers and head down to the harbor to find a place to eat. We want to see the lindaline fast ferry “Merlin”. As we look over at the big red catamaran, I say to Jim;

“What’s that small green boat tied up to that rather large yacht?”

Jim exclaims;

“That’s the King of Norway’s 8 meter!”

HRH is an Olympic sailor and is coming to Helsinki for the 8 Meter World’s.

 We see the captain of a dining cruise boat standing outside her yacht. 

 She encourages us to take the dinner cruise. Jim says; Let's go!

 3 million saunas in Finland for the populaiton of 5 million! Here is one in the Helsinki Archipelago

 Onboard,we see these mother-daughter tourists from Milan, Italy - We meet them as we disembark - what fun people!
This morning we find them at the table beside us at breakfast at our hotel!