Helsinki Hell!

We arrived in Helsinki, Finland at 7am and had to leave by 12:45pm. Before we set foot on land, we felt gypped by this schedule. We were really looking forward to touring this city of 590,000 people. Our original tour was cancelled, so we turned to the travel book. Suomenlinna, a sea fortress, was a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it required a 15 minute ferry to the 6 islands and four hours according to Fodor’s. As such, we opted for the other popular sites in Helsinki…Senate Square and its green domed cathedral which towers above the city, the Olympic Stadium constructed for the 1957 games, the Sibelius Monument, Temppeliaakio Church which is carved into the rocks, the Esplanade and its Havis Amanda statue, and finally the local market. Continue reading “Helsinki Hell!” →

Copenhagen’s Castles

Somehow we slept in a little and got a late start to the morning though it really didn’t affect our plans. We found a not so good coffee shop by the visitor center with good pastries (though I accidentally got an almond croissant filled with rhubarb) and bad coffee.  Today we planned to visit a few castles including Christiansborg Slot and Roseborg Slot.  Continue reading “Copenhagen’s Castles” →

A Final Day in Nice

Wandering the Streets of Nice

We had a final day to spend in Nice before Theresa jetted to off to Spain for a week, and I returned home through Paris. Theresa’s flight was earlier than mine, so after our lunch on the beach which we had wanted to visit since we arrived, we finally went shopping, something else we had hardly done. She wanted a souvenir from France. We wandered back to the market (this time it was a flower market) and then veered toward the old area we loved so much. We never really made it all the way back to the oldest part of the town, but we did weave through several streets to pop in and out of a variety of quaint shops before Theresa found a few items at a store not far from our hotel upon our return. Continue reading “A Final Day in Nice” →