So this past week we had a week off to explore the countries: Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia. At first I was not looking forward to packing and hauling around luggage but the sites, people, culture, and experience helped me overcome my premature judgment. We first took a night train to Saint Petersburg. That experience was a lot better than the last one. Then from there we went on a tour bus to leave Russia and pass through the Finnish border. Customs took forever (like 2-3 hours)! I was getting really ansy not to mention car sick as I am always car sick. The police checked our information on the bus and we had about 50 people on the bus with the American teachers. A lot of teachers were amazed to find out that Dr. Pepper is sold in Finland. Haha. I don't really care for either. I'm just content with the delicious juice.
I actually don't drink any of these brands. The first one means, "Yes" juice. Haha. Anyways the juice is soooo good because it doesn't have so much sugar in them. Anyways that was a tangent... After we crossed the border we looked around Finland. Took a cruise over to Sweden. In Sweden (my favorite of all the countries) we stayed in a beautiful hotel. They served a free breakfast with everything you could imagine: Swedish meatballs, eggs, toast, cereal, fruits, vegetables, fish, potatoes, milk, coffee, bagels, donuts.... oh it was so good! Mostly because it was free. Also there was an Ikea right across the street from our hotel. We peeked in there and thought we would never be able to get out of there. It was like a maze to get out. We also went to a children's museum on the Island of Museums. The children's museum was beautiful. It was kind of like a storyland. The children got to pretend to be the main characters in the story as they climbed in and out of little houses castles, rockets, farms, bakeries, shops, and pirate boats. Hopefully one day I can take my children to go see this place because all the children there looked so happy and they actually were learning at the same time. Later that night we made a run to "Panda Express" it actually wasn't really like any American Panda Express. It was a knock off. However the food was great even though it wasn't real Chinese Food. After our time was spent in Sweden, we took another cruise back to Finland. We shopped and looked around. Very touristy. However, Melissa (my roomate) and I got to go to the Finland Temple which was beautiful as always. The temple wasn't surrounded by flowers like I am used to seeing in the states. The Finland Temple was hidden among a little forest. However, it was still very beautiful. From Finland we went on a Ferry to Estonia. Estonia is probably the 2nd country I liked most because it has so much history there. The buildings are beautiful and you feel like someone from the medieval times just strolling down the streets. We actually ate at a medieval restaurant. It was a real medieval restaurant. One of the girls ordered the Neptune's feast not thinking that most of that meal would consist of fish. She got pretty much raw fish. The fish was staring at her so she hid it in her napkin and the waitress took the napkin and found the fish. Haha. There were musicians playing real authentic medieval instruments and the whole restaurant was lit by candlelight. I tried wild boar for the first time. It was actually not that bad. We also used the restrooms. After Estonia we went to Riga, Latvia. There wasn't much to do in Latvia. We just strolled around and looked at the little markets and things. That was pretty much the end of our weeklong trip. It was very fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything!
I actually don't drink any of these brands. The first one means, "Yes" juice. Haha. Anyways the juice is soooo good because it doesn't have so much sugar in them. Anyways that was a tangent... After we crossed the border we looked around Finland. Took a cruise over to Sweden. In Sweden (my favorite of all the countries) we stayed in a beautiful hotel. They served a free breakfast with everything you could imagine: Swedish meatballs, eggs, toast, cereal, fruits, vegetables, fish, potatoes, milk, coffee, bagels, donuts.... oh it was so good! Mostly because it was free. Also there was an Ikea right across the street from our hotel. We peeked in there and thought we would never be able to get out of there. It was like a maze to get out. We also went to a children's museum on the Island of Museums. The children's museum was beautiful. It was kind of like a storyland. The children got to pretend to be the main characters in the story as they climbed in and out of little houses castles, rockets, farms, bakeries, shops, and pirate boats. Hopefully one day I can take my children to go see this place because all the children there looked so happy and they actually were learning at the same time. Later that night we made a run to "Panda Express" it actually wasn't really like any American Panda Express. It was a knock off. However the food was great even though it wasn't real Chinese Food. After our time was spent in Sweden, we took another cruise back to Finland. We shopped and looked around. Very touristy. However, Melissa (my roomate) and I got to go to the Finland Temple which was beautiful as always. The temple wasn't surrounded by flowers like I am used to seeing in the states. The Finland Temple was hidden among a little forest. However, it was still very beautiful. From Finland we went on a Ferry to Estonia. Estonia is probably the 2nd country I liked most because it has so much history there. The buildings are beautiful and you feel like someone from the medieval times just strolling down the streets. We actually ate at a medieval restaurant. It was a real medieval restaurant. One of the girls ordered the Neptune's feast not thinking that most of that meal would consist of fish. She got pretty much raw fish. The fish was staring at her so she hid it in her napkin and the waitress took the napkin and found the fish. Haha. There were musicians playing real authentic medieval instruments and the whole restaurant was lit by candlelight. I tried wild boar for the first time. It was actually not that bad. We also used the restrooms. After Estonia we went to Riga, Latvia. There wasn't much to do in Latvia. We just strolled around and looked at the little markets and things. That was pretty much the end of our weeklong trip. It was very fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything!
Sweden... I'm going to go there with Nik so he can show me around his native country. Sweden really has the most to do out of the Scandinavian countries. Too bad that you didn't get to go see all the cool things in Sweden like the Ishotellet!
ReplyDelete