Tonight we are back in Helsinki, Finland. We are on top of
the world here! Well, almost. When’s the last time you looked at a map? Here in
Finland we are practically neighbors with Santa. Oh and Santa, if you have just
sat down with your pipe, your large plate of pancakes that Mrs. Claus always
fixes for you and your laptop to enjoy our blog, well….I might recommend you do
something different with your time. Maybe go buy some nicotine gum or eat a
nice green salad? I just think you might fashion Mike’s stocking with coal is
you continue reading. If you insist on continuing anyway, let me just mention
that Max, Madison and I did not even try a bite of the sautéed reindeer. Yes,
you read this correctly, tonight at dinner Mike indulged in a local Finnish
food-sautéed reindeer. And he thoroughly enjoyed it. Wonh woh.
This will be our last blog from this trip. Madison has
suggested we do the round-robin format we have done in the past bringing you
through our last two days in Europe-yesterday in Barcelona and today in
Helsinki. So here we go…
Madison: By the time I woke up yesterday our ship had docked
in Barcelona-our final destination. We said our good-byes to the ship and
headed on our way. When we got to the taxi stop, let me tell you there was a
line! We had to wait about a half an hour just to get a taxi. We finally got on
the taxi and arrived at our hotel. We couldn’t check in yet, but we locked up
our bags, headed up the block and began our day in Barcelona with… Starbucks.
Aimee: Yes, Starbucks. Hang our heads in shame. We also went
to McDonalds later in the day, but just to use the bathroom. Oh and now that I
think of it we went to another Starbucks again-just another bathroom stop that
time. We knew that our energy was low after 12 days of touring and cruising. We
wanted to see Barcelona, but didn’t have that same traveler’s oomph that we
started with so we decided on taking a tour bus around town. It was one of
those “Hop on Hop off” buses that you see in every major city. It did the
trick. We saw amazing places like the church of the Sagrada Familia designed by
Gaudi, the former Olympic stadium, the old gothic quarter (where our hotel is),
La Rambla (which we walked later) the waterfront, many beautiful churches etc.
etc.
Mike: We toured a church called Santa Maria del Mar. I liked
that the church was a hidden gem and we got this great tour. We even got to go
out on the roof. We stood at the very top and had view of all of Barcelona.
Max: We went to a cathedral that was very funky. It looked
cool and it was cool. For example, it had a lot of turns and a lot of things
coming out of it. It is very, very hard to describe. At one part there were a
bunch of spike type things and they had fruit on top. People have been working
on it for around 130 years and it still isn’t finished. They only run on money
donations.
Madison: Now to dinner. We were looking for some places to
eat and couldn’t find anything because most things were seafood and dad is
really the only seafood fan in our family. We decided to just look around and
find a place we would like. We ended up at a restaurant called Bernie’s Diner-yes,
you may realize that’s in English. This is because it is an American restaurant
with hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, chicken fingers, etc. Sure we may not
have eaten someplace traditional, but the food was really good. After dinner we
headed to a place we had been eyeing for dessert. We got a little lost on the
way, (editor’s note: that’s a matter of opinion), but when we looked at the hot
chocolate we knew it was worth it.
Aimee: Have you ever made chocolate pudding on the stovetop?
Maybe you stuck a spoon in for one little taste as it was cooking? Well that’s
what this hot chocolate was like. It was hot, thick, and beyone delicious. What
a luxury. It comes with churros, but that put me over the edge. The churros
were unnecessary in my opinion, but Max and Maddee might disagree.
After a day and night in Barcelona we flew to Helsinki. We
stayed overnight at this great hotel called the Glo Art. We highly recommend it
if you ever find yourself in Helsinki.
Max: It is my favorite hotel that we have ever been to. We
have two rooms put together one room for the kids and one room for the adults.
The kids room has sixteen lights and the adult’s room has 12 lights. They are
both very big for hotel rooms. The kids’ room has two separate beds, twin sized
and the adult’s room has a queen size bed. They both have TVs with mirror
entertainment centers where the TVS sit upon. The kids’ bathroom is very large.
The adults’ bathroom has two parts – a bathroom, bathroom and a door leading
into a shower. I’m probably boring you guys with facts, let’s hope Madison
doesn’t…
Madison: When we first checked in to our hotel the lobby
looked like a cathedral with pretty painting on the ceilings and old arches.
When we got to our room, however, I was very surprised. Almost opposite to the
cathedral idea were two very modern rooms, right in front of my eyes. There are
mirrors surrounding the TVS, adjustable lights, lights under the beds, so many
cool features. The only problem is that you have to insert your room card to
have the electricity work. So if someone has to go to the bathroom and the
other person wants to explore there’s a problem.
We are really glad we got to spend eight hours exploring
Helsinki on the front end of our trip, because this time, even though we have more
hours here, we are pooped and it is rainy. So we have taken the opportunity to
lay low.
It’s now 11:15 am on August 1st and we need to
make our way back to the airport where we will board a plane to NYC followed by
another plane to Seattle. We will fly for over 15 hours not counting our
layover time. We will still somehow manage to land in Seattle on August 1st
though our internal clocks will say that it’s already the 2nd. All
of this in trivial as long as we have
safe and (fingers crossed) smooth flights.
Thanks for experiencing our travels with us. We will get
pictures up at some point hopefully soon.
