September 2003
Oulu + Helsinki, Finland
From 12 to 21 September we went to Finland. We visited our friends Marco and Regina in Oulu, took the train up north to Rovaniemi where we crossed the Artic Circle and south to Helsinki and made a day-trip to Tallinn in Estonia
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1/31 On Friday 12 September we flew from Amsterdam to Copenhagen to Helsinki to Oulu. The second plan was a Havilland Q400 prop plane, as shown here, but still a very smooth ride.
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2/31 At around 17:00 we met our friends Marco and Regina on the airport in Oulu and took the bus to their house.
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3/31 Their house is in an extremely nice area with trees all around. That evening we made a fire and barbecued sausages and had several other typical Finnish delicacies.
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4/31 The next day we all biked to the city of Oulu and walked around this cemetery. There were lots of short crosses that had been broken from the cold and then put in the grond again.
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5/31 We looked around the center and then biked to a cute island with old wooden hooses and we looked around inside a goldsmith. Here we are on the island in a gazebo.
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6/31 Public parking places often have rows of little boxes that people can use to plug in their car when it's very cold in the winter so it will start the next day.
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7/31 Arthur in front of a tourist shop close to the marker place in Oulu.
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8/31 On Tuesday we visited the science museum of Oulu, Tietomaa, where we played with the fun scientific experiments. We also watched an IMAX movie about Alaska on Finland's biggest screen. The museum was really nice.
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9/31 On Wednesday morning we took the Santa Claus Express train from Oulu to Rovaniemi, which took about 3 hours.
We met our friend Jyrki at the train station in Rovaniemi and he was so kind to show us around the area that day.
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10/31 First stop was the Arktikum museum that focuses on the Arctic regions and presents the life, natural habitats, history, customs and cultures of the peoples living north of the Arctic Circle.
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11/31 After that we had lunch at the University of Lapland where Jykri studies.
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12/31 Rovaniemi is just south of the Arctic Circle. We drove north Santa Claus Village where we visited Santa's official office.
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13/31 On the road we stopped a few times for some amazing views, such as here.
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14/31 We visited a place with natural potholes that were created boulders that spinned around for a long time by flowing melting water. A lof of these perfectly smooth and round holes were many meters deep.
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15/31 A lot of the trees in this area had already turned yellow, which gave a beautiful sight from the top of this hill.
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16/31 Here is Jyrki in front of a high ski-jump. We climbed to the top and saw several athletes jump down through the air landing on astroturf.
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17/31 On Wednesday evening we took the night train at 21:00 from Rovaniemi and arrived the next morning in Helsinki at 9:00. We had a very nice cabin with two comfortable beds.
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18/31 Amy in front of the train station in Helsinki.
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19/31 After checking into the Eurohostel we walked around the city. This is the main shopping street with Stockmann in the background, the largest department store in Europe.
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20/31 Here we are visiting the tram museum.
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21/31 After the tram museum we walked to the Sibelius park and visited this famous monument.
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22/31 On Friday we took the Silja superfast Seacat ferry to Estonia. Here we are walking around the beautiful streets of old Tallinn.
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23/31 This is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in old Tallinn.
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24/31 On Saturday morning we had breakfast in this famous and very beautiful cafe called Kappeli.
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25/31 Arthur in front of the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki.
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26/31 .
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27/31 On Saturday night we took a boat to Korkeasaari, the Helsinki zoo, which is situated on an island.
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28/31 The animals had just been fed when we arrived at the zoo. This big cat is resting after a meal, which is still dangling on a tree in the background.
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29/31 Three owls.
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30/31 On Sunday we visited Suomenlinna, an island fortress. Here Amy stands in front of the visitor center which contains the Suomenlinna Museum that we visited.
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31/31 We also visited this submarine.
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