Helsinki, Finland

August 13th,

Wake up, shower, and get ready to leave the room. We are all pretty tired today from going to bed a little later than we should have. Krysten and I are checking the room and ready to leave when I find Anneka’s camera and her room key. I check under the beds and my pillow to make sure I have everything. Was about to check under all pillows but figured the girls did that. Get on the bus and hand Anneka her camera. She is a forgetful one. I wanted to sit next to Emma, but Scott already took the seat, so I sat next to my other bus buddy, Derek. Everyone was pretty tired and I took pictures of them sleeping. We had awhile before Helsinki came about.

We arrive in Helsinki and first go to the Olympic stadium. We set up for lunch and quickly eat. After we devour our food we walk towards the stadium and Joey provides us with some history and facts. We are then allowed 15 mins to walk around. Emma and I want to go up the tower so we walk a little faster to the building. We get in and there is an elevator, ask the guy how long it takes...20 second. Ok we have 7 mins go. It is max 4 people at a time, but Helen wants to come in so we squeeze her, Claire, Rob, Emma, and me in. It is not that tight but we are definitely not comfortable.

At the top there are some good views, but we try to hurry with a snapshot here and there. We run down to the elevator and back to the bus. Pretty silly how fast we had to move, glad we went up for the 2 Euros.

Next stop is Sibelius Monument. This monument was made of over 600 hollow steel pipes, was created to capture the essences of the music of Sibelius. Regardless of not really knowing much about Sibelius, it was a fascinating monument.

Before we go to camp we have one more stop, the Temppeliaukio Church, made of solid rock. The Church of the Rock only has natural light or candles to brighten it. Also used for concerts because it provides wonderful acoustics.

Go to the campsite and it is a bit out of town. We are just going there to drop off our bags and then heading back to the city center. We only have a few hours before the bus pick up at 7:30p, tonight there is a party called “anything goes” it is for Friday the 13th. Many of the girls talked about being black cats. This seemed easy enough. On the bus we grabbed the sign up sheet and figured that if there was a larger cabin we should take it as they tend to have the showers and bathrooms attached. Rash, Anneka, Emma, and Krysten all sign up for the room. When we arrive at camp it is exactly that. Tonight I am sleeping in the double bed and by myself! Lots of room, Rash said she would sleep on the couch.

We immediately head back to town. Here we do not want to travel in a big group and Anneka is trying to form dinner plans with 12 people, I say we will see. Then people start walking really fast for the ferry to try and go to the fortress. Some people need to find an ATM and then we can go on the ferry. We were just trying to have Derek, Emma, Krysten, and Scott together. This seems like a big enough group. So we go to the ATM and then buy the ferry ticket. The people that were trying to hurry there are all on the ferry with us. Jason, Rash, Leticia, and Marcus.

Off we go and the island map looks bigger than it is. We walk around, take pictures on cannons and then we go to the other end. There is a brewery there and we are hoping that there is enough time to have a pint. We check to see where the ferry is. It is not here, it is back in the middle of the island, 5 mins away. We only have 5 mins til it leaves. We start jetting back as we don’t really want to stay on another half hour and then have the ferry ride for 15 mins. Marcus is running and I tell him to make them hold it. He is slowing down so I run faster. They see me coming and stop leaving. We thank them.

In town we walk up to the Cathedral and stop to find a place to eat. Derek has his LP and navigating for us. We head towards the main square to find something. While walking I suggest we go into the tourist info to see what they say, many people are getting hungry and crabby. They suggest a place called Zetor. We walk there and it takes about 10 mins. Can’t seem to locate it exactly and a local helps us out, she actually walks us to the restaurant. Pretty sweet lady. The decor inside was total Hoosier, pretty funny. They served traditional Finnish meals, reindeer and fish. I ordered the Herring and some people got the reindeer, both were amazing. I was more satisfied with the fish. We had a couple of beers and I am stuffed.

Walk back to the bus and they take us to camp. Emma and I open up the other bottle of wine and we sit outside to figure out what we are doing about this dress up party. We really are not in the mood to be cats. We think maybe the 3 blind mice, but nobody has white. Then Joey says someone can be me. I look at him and see he is wearing a blue polo, jeans, and sandals. I said I can do that. His hat was big enough for my hair to fit in and just put on his necklace and sunglasses. He carries a messenger bag so I am set for a purse. I was ready in 5 mins. Rash decided to be our cook, Marissa. Emma and Krysten decide to switch and be one another. The have two completely different styles so it was pretty funny. Then we met up with everyone and there are some really random things going on. Some people in lederhosens, the Scotsman as a Scotsman, and then the cook as a “naughty chef”.

We went out that night and took the bus to town. It became jammed backed as everyone going out that night took the bus. When we arrived we weren’t sure where to go, we tried to see if the place we ate dinner at was lively, but it was dead. There was an Australian bar that everyone went to so I ended up there. It was fine, but started to get packed. I was so tired and pretty drunk and fell asleep in the cab. Jane said they tried to get me up and out for a while. Then I remember going to our cabin and Rash insisted on making our beds. Emma and I had everything on there from earlier and she threw it on the ground. I was peeved and told her to just leave it. When she didn’t listen I let it her be. Anneka came back and was yelling for a bucket and puked. Gross. I passed out and Rash took care of her.