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Sorry its taken so long (again) for me to update my blog. I am almost a month behind now, and these past weeks were filled to the brim. I am going to hit the high points so if you want more details, you will have to get them from me in person. So here goes (again)!
Sunday morning dawned in Jyvaskyla and I was finally (yay!) on my way to meet Rick. After some complications, I finally reached Helsinki and had enough time to hang out more time in this beautiful city. And it was an absolutely gorgrous day. The highlight was watching a woman, her poddle and two cats preforming a street show. Before I knew I had to to get on the bus to the airport. I was a bit anxious about getting to my flight on time but check in and security were a breeze. I did a little tax free shopping and then got on the plane to Copenhagen.
I arrived in Copenhagen Airport about 20 minutes before Rick's flight from London was due to arrive. I had some difficulty figuring out where he was going to be and the terminal was incredibly crowded. After some deduction, I finally figured out. I got to Rick's gate just as the plane was pulling in. I cannot even tell you how happy I was to see him! We finally made to the baggage claim area and have to ask four different people where I could find my luggage. We were both wiped and decided to take a taxi to the hostel. Once there, we settled in and began discussing what to do for dinner. We eventually asked the receptionist at our hostel and she recommended a chinese restaurant in the main part of town. The food was good but I think it helped that we were both starving. We were so exhausted that we were dead asleep before 9.30pm.
The next morning we were up and walking into town about 10am. After a visit to the Useit office (a young person's tourist office), we took the Rick Steve's sef guided walking tour of the old city of Copenhagen. Copenhagen is such a beautiful city. The central vein of the Old Town is the Stroget, which is the largest (and oldest I think) pedestrianized street in the world. In our five days there, we walked down this street at least two dozen times. The cobble stoned streets that run off this main thourghfare are really charming, with houses painted in bright pastels and people lunching in cute cafes. In the following days, we got to know the Old Town very well. We took several walking tours (led by an American man who dressed up as Hans Christan Anderson). Needless to say we did a lot of walking!
Did I mention the bikes? There are a ton of people who own bikes instead of cars. And no wonder! The Danish government charges 180% tax on all new cars. So essentially, when you are paying for the car three times. And the gas is incredibly expensive. We think we have it bad at $3/gallon. Yicks... Anyways!! There are bikes everywhere in Copenhagen. The tourist board has even developed a rather successful free bike program for visitors. There are 200 free bikes scattered around the main city which you can take by depositing a 20 kroner piece in a coin holder. This releases the chain keeping the bike from just being obscounded with and away you go! When you are done using the bike, you just find a designated free bike rack, connect the chain to the bike, and out comes your 20 kroner piece. Its fabulous. Except that there never seemed to be a functional bike anywhere Rick and I were. It was really hilarous because we would see all these OTHER people riding around on these bikes. Finally, after about three days we come upon one bike that is in complete working order. We walk past, lamenting the fact that there were not two that we could use. And then we found another one!! Its chain had come off however, but with another functional bike so close, we decided it was time to get our hands a little dirty. Ten minutes later we had another functional bike:) After washing the grease off our fingers, we went to get the bikes. I went to the bike we had seen earlier, hoping that it was still there. Indeed it was, however we had not noticed that someone had tried to jimmy the coin mechanism and now there was a melted and twisted coin that would not come out! Rick, meanwhile was riding toward me triumphantly on his now functional bike. We both thought it was hilarious that after all the work we did on the one bike, the other was found completely useless. We each took turns on the repaired bike and then locked it back up next to the defunct one. We didn't find two bikes that both worked until the last night of our stay in Copenhagen. We rode them around for an hour or so and then went home!
to be continued...
Two weeks later, and some 9000 miles travelled, my journey is over. Since my last post, I have gone from Jyvaskyla to Copenhagen to London to Ireland and finally back to NYC. I am exhausted but so glad to be home and among all my friends and family. Alas, there is much to tell and I know all of you are eager to hear all about it. Because there is so much, I am going to break it up into several posts. So let me begin with my last few days in Finland....
My last week at Suvimaki went much too fast. On Tuesday, I went with some friends from the clubhouse on a lake tour. We couldnt have picked a better day. Hopefully you all will be able to tell from my pictures just how beautiful the scenery was. The boat that tooks us around is 100 years old, though you wouldnt know it to look at it. I spent much of the three hour tour (ha) sitting on the back deck and watching the world go by. I dreamed about someday owning a house by the lake and sailing everyday in the summer. I love boats! On Wednesday afternoon I sat in on my last English Only table. We talked about American cculture and what I had liked best about Finland (the scenery, the people, and SAUNA!). We had no trouble filling the hour, which is a testment of how comfortable everyone had become speaking conversational English. Practice makes perfect! Well done guys:) On Thursday, I went out with a bunch of folks to the Harbour Festival, where we listened to the worst cover band ever (no really). Despite the atrocious band, I had a lot of fun. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning though for my last day at the clubhouse. The morning was spent working and people were suspiciously absent from my presence. By lunchtime, it was clear something was going on that I hadn't been told about. In fact, the folks at the clubhouse had organized a going away party for me! Very nice things were said all around and it was probably the first time in my life that I really enjoyed being complimented and the center of attention. Shocking I know! I would like to take this opportunity to say hello to my friends at Suvimaki. Thank you so much for welcoming me like you did. I can't wait to hear from you all! Expect a note from me soon.
On Saturday, I went sailing with a few folks. It was another beautiful day. We took the boat out from the harbour and headed for an island in the middle of the lake. We would have gone farther but there was not enough wind and the engine seemed to be having some problems. But we managed to make the best of it still. The island we came to is one of many in this particular lake, and the type not uncommon in Finland. On the island are bathroom facilities, as well as a sauna, a reception hall, and a cookout pit-where we spent most of our time roasting sausages and drinking cider. The best thing about this island is that it is for public use and therefore FREE. I don't know if there are places like this in the States but if there aren't, there should be! It was absolutely wonderful.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning my apartment and packing. I went to sleep in my bed in Jyvaskyla for the last time. Although, to be truthful, there wasn't much sleeping going on as the sun did not really go down that night. Yeah...not really going to miss that! Now here are some pictures:)
*to be continued*
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