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We are home...at least i am. Betty Lou will return to Summerland tomorrow.


The last leg of our journey took us back to where we began: Amsterdam. We didn't do much with the evening (dinner & bed), but had a lovely day today (at least i think it was today...it feels like yesterday).

me (Dale) enjoying a cigar in Amsterdam

We visited the Anne Frank house/museum, which was very moving and certainly worth a visit. After that we walked along the canal to the flower market, had a bit of lunch and returned to the airport.

Flower Market in Amsterdam

The flight (10 hours, i think) went by remarkably quickly, considering that neither of us slept.

And now we are back. I'm not sure how i feel about that, but then again, i am so tired i cannot really evaluate my feelings about anything.

It was an excellent trip and neither of us could have asked for anything better.

Thank you again for taking the time to read about our adventures.

Dale & Betty Lou North

lähtö (departure)

We are at the lentoasima (airport) in Helsinki awaiting our flight to Amsterdam.

We did not make it to the cinema last night. We were exhausted and crashed in our room. This has been the first room that we have stayed in that had a television, so we watched the only English channel, which was showing "A League of Their Own", which i had never seen.

Helsinki Train Station

This morning there was breakfast and a bit of strolling through the market.

We get into Amsterdam at 5:30pm (local time), so we will probably just have dinner, smoke a cigar and go to bed. Tomorrow morning we thought we might visit the Anne Frank house, which i have never been to. We'll see what we feel like doing.

On Monday the 21st, we leave Amsterdam at 3:30pm and arrive in Vancouver at 4:15pm that same day (local times)...if only it really were only a 45minute flight!

It is so hard to believe that we have only one more "sleep" in Europe and that the night after next i will be sleeping in my own bed. Crazy. I can't wait to put on some clean clothes, see some friendly faces and catch up on what has happened in the world over the past few weeks - I must admit to having gone through a bit of news withdrawal.

Happy Sunnuntai (sunday).

d & bl

Helsinki: Day Two

Our first full day in Helsinki was a busy one.

Dale at Helsinki Cathedral

We visited the Helsinki Cathedral (the big white one that overlooks Senate Square) and the Uspenski Cathedral - you would think we would be burned out from visiting so many churches at this point, but we're not. We went to the market which occurs every morning down by the water. It is sort of like a temporary Granville Island - people selling produce and fish and handmade items, souvenirs, etc. There was live music (which included one man using a moped as a percussion instrument) and the weather was most agreeable.

We had coffee on the Esplanad, which is basically a pedestrian street/park which is lined with cafes, shops and public art installations. For those of you who know South Beach, it is sort of like Lincoln Road. We had coffee and watched a marching band parade around the area. We don't know what the marching was all about, but it felt festive.

Helsinki Metro

We checked out some of the shops in the Design District before hopping on the number 3T tram, which winds a figure eight through the city in about an hour and goes past most of the sights. We hopped off after a full loop and visited the Kiasma museum of modern art, which is a truly stunning structure, slightly reminiscent of the Guggenheim from the inside, but with quite a different exterior. The art was interesting, the best exhibit being one from Asia, which depicted mostly disturbing installations and sculptures inspired by political upheaval and poverty.

The Kiasma

We had a fabulous dinner at a classic Helsinki restaurant...the name escapes me, but i suppose it doesn't matter.

Today has been more leisurely. Slept in until 7am (yes, for us that is sleeping in), went out for breakfast and then took the metro up to another market, which was not too different from the one we went to yesterday, but it did get us to another part of the city and to another church (quel surprise).

Today is especially warm and sunny and it seems that every Finn is out with their dogs and strollers. They are sunning themselves on lawns and benches and every sunny cafe patio is packed. We did manage to find a place to enjoy the weather a bit as well.

We went to the Design Museum today, which we both enjoyed quite a bit. It had a history of Finnish design and an impressive exhibit by Finnish design students. After that, i napped on a park bench while Betty Lou read Chekov and ensured that no one mugged or molested me.

We may take in a movie tonight, as there is a cinema near our hotel. In Russia the American movies were all dubbed into Russian, but here they are in English with Finnish subtitles.

Tomorrow we fly back to Amsterdam. I shall be sure to double check our departure time to avoid another error.

We will be home very soon. I can't imagine how anyone can be missing us, with our daily blogging, but hopefully some of you will be pleased by our return.

Ok, that's all for now.

Good evening, faithful readers.

Until next time,

Dale & Betty Lou

Wandering (Farther) North

Good morning from beautiful Helsinki.

We arrived at the ferry terminal in Tallinn one hour before our supposed departure only to find...our ship had sailed. I pride myself on being a bright girl- i'm in law school for crying out loud - and yet, i cannot tell time. I've never been particularly good at reading clocks, but i get by. One thing i have never been able to sort out is the bloody 24 hour clock. I had our confirmation which said we were leaving at 13:30, but somehow it had registered in my brain as being 3:30, not 1:30. I am retarded. Fortunately there was another ship leaving at 4:15 (sadly though this one did not have a cigar lounge). The ship was large and well-appointed and quite comfortable. The ride took 2.5 hours.

The Ferry between Tallinn & Helsinki

We arrived and a taxi driver with a penchant for "Cosby Show" analogies whisked us to our new abode: Gasthaus Omapoja, which is terribly charming and as our taxi driver noted, when i asked if it was a good location, "It is in the heart of the centre of Helsinki". This may be our nicest lodging yet (with the possible exception of Amsterdam).

Our hotel is on the side of this Theatre

Due to the ferry mishap, we arrived a bit later than anticipated, so we simply went out for dinner and walked around the city a bit. Our location is truly excellent and both Betty Lou and i are quite excited to see what a beautiful city Helsinki is. There is much to see, so i'll sign off here and get to seeing things.

Näkemiin (goodbye)

d/b

Countdown to Helsinki

We have been wandering around in the Old Town this morning. Had coffee and a cigar in the warm sun in the town square. Betty Lou bought a lovely painting from an artist set up in one of the alleys. I bought some (more) liquor and chocolates. I now have vodka from Russia and some Estonian liquor (which i'm sure will be disgusting, but it is the national drink or something), and a bottle of absinthe, which may get taken from me by Canadian customs, but it was so inexpensive i couldn't help myself.

The opera last night was wonderful. Exquisite sets and costumes and, of course, beautiful singing. It hadn't occurred to me beforehand, but the surtitles were in Estonia, so we had to make up our own dialogue, but with opera it isn't too difficult.

We will catch a taxi to the ferry terminal in about an hour and a half and then it's up to Finland. The trip takes about three hours and it is a beautiful day.

We will probably post tonight.

Happy Thursday!

d & b

Afternoon in the Town & A Night at the Opera

Another day in Tallinn.  Walked around the town some more. We went to the St. Nicholas Church - a medieval structure that has been repeatedly rebuilt following fires and bombing by the Nazis. It was quite lovely; very simple.

We also went to an old monastery - the oldest structure in the city supposedly. It was beautiful.

We had more coffees and snacks and then walked atop the remaining portion of the city wall, which afforded us beautiful views of the town and its red rooftops. The wall walk also allowed access to four towers, which one reached by climbing perilous, spiral stone staircases, which were dark and guarded by territorial pigeons.

View of Tallinn

We had lunch in the town square. It is beautiful and sunny today, but the odd gust of cold wind reminded us that we are in fact quite far north.  After lunch/dinner Betty Lou joined me in a visit to the cigar lounge i found on our first day here. It was wonderfully relaxing.

Strolling along we stumbled upon a row of artisans selling their wares - mostly of the knitted variety. I purchased a lovely linen sweater and scarf. Finally something new to wear! (my existing outfit is growing a bit stale).

This evening we shall attend an opera at the national opera house. It will be a production of La Traviata, which neither of us have seen, but we both enjoy the music.

Time for us to go ready ourselves for the evening's events.

Tomorrow we are off to Helsinki on a 3:30 ferry.

Until tomorrow,

dale & lou

Teisipaev (tuesday)

Our first full day in Tallinn has been a thoroughly relaxing day.


We explored the Toompea region - the "Upper Town" part of the Old Town". We visited the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, wandering by the Toompea castle (now government buildings) and went inside the Kiek-in-de-Kok tower - one of the medieval fortress towers that form the remaining wall around the Old Town. The tower was super cool; four levels with a narrow and winding staircase going up to the top. It was filled with some Estonian historical objects, but mostly it was the structure that was interesting.

Street in the Old Town

We did a lot of wandering through the town, went to the Holy Spirit Church and back to the Town Square. I must explain that Tallinn is itself only a city of about 400,000 people and that the Old Town is its historical and medieval center. It is very small and everything we could possibly want to see is clustered within this area. Mainly it is the town itself, its cafes and shops that are the attraction. It is quite a nice break from Russia where we were running from one huge museum and palace to the next. Also, some of the buildings that i might like to have entered (such as the town hall itself or the St. Olaf Church) are only open from June to August.

Tallinn's Old Town Square

During our wanderings we hit three more of Tallinn's fabulous cafes. One was upstairs in a little nook (or was it a cranny?) in a rocky, medieval building, lit by candles. Another was just below ground level with super low arched ceilings, again with candles, but also sofas and seats with many cushions. We ate dinner at a cozy African restaurant - no blood sausages or head cheese for me, thank you. It was nice to have vegetables again after two weeks in Russia of eating mostly bread.

It poured rain today, until about 5. It was misty and moody this morning and we didn't mind it one bit, but by the afternoon we were cold and wet, so we retired to our room for a nap before heading out for dinner.

As we walked here to the internet cafe there was in the town square a stage set up with a band playing what i suppose is Estonian music - accordion, violin/fiddle, and assorted other instruments. It was the sort of music you want to dance around to but do not unless you are a child, or are drunk. Betty Lou particularly enjoyed the music, it reminding her of Ukrainian weddings of her childhood.

Tomorrow, more wandering and poking around antique shops and artisan studios (they are very big into textiles, wood work and felt crafts here - there are some wonderfully whimsical felt hats), and of course, more coffee. We may go to the opera if we can get tickets.

Another day winding down.

The Wandering Norths.

Dale at a monastery in Tallinn