I'm BACK!
This is in Helsinki, the captial and the *CITY* of Finlandia ("Suomi" in their language) in the Senate Square. During World War II, American movies wanted to film Russian cities but couldn't film in Russia so they used this site in Helsinki since it is the exact replica what is in Sankt Petersburg. This site has the statue of Alexander II and the archeiture of Russian orthodox...
The girl is wearing the traditional folk costume. This is not the representation of the country but rather a certain town. My mother was born in Hameeliinna which have red and white vertical stripes skirt and a red apron for bottom while a white shirt and a black vest are for top. Sauna is common in Finland. Everybody has one at their homes and if it is in public, it doesn't cost money as it would in America! Saunas at summerhouses are usually heated by logs and at home are usually heated by gas... both still use hot rocks and water to create steam. Saunas in America usually are steamed electrically so the patrons don't throw water on hot rocks... they just do nothing! ;-)
-----
I went to Tallinn, Estonia as well and I did enjoy the old-world environment there! It was established in early 1200 so it was the oldest city I have been! The cityscape of Tallinn from the habor was GORGEOUS with old churches (as well a Russian Orthodox church). Tallinn was a mixture of Finland and Russia in my opinion. It was also a major tourist trap but C and I managed to get around with minimum damages of being ripped off.
Almost everybody knows English even if they mispelt some words ("Ameerika" for "America").
My sidekick two did work in Finland and Estonia, as well in London's Heathrow Airport. Tip: Call tmobile customer care and require a service to be added to your plan.... the service you need is "WORLDCLASS" which enables your SK to work while aboard.... it does cost money to use phone and text messages but AIM and email are FREE. Many of my friends were shocked to see me online via Sidekick! ;-)
I did sent a postcard to a fellow ADer (maybe he can post it here...
)and I was planning to meet up another ADer in Finland but he didn't answer back my emails nor had time so
... I did talk with Liza since we were in the same time zone! ;-)
ATTACHMENTS' BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS:
"Art": This is in Sibelin Park in Helsinki which was a monument that was founded in honor of a famous Finnish composer whose last name is Siberlin (duh!)... It is made of metal and it will make sounds if you knock on it...(when I was there, there was bunch of frats and one frat put his head in one of those cylinder while buddies went crazy on knocking on the metal and the frat whose was inside exclaimed that it was LOUD. Ah, FRATS! This picture was taken from the beneath of the monument so you can see how beautiful it looks when you walk under it...I am planning to make this my desktop wallpaper!
"GasEu": This is how much a 16-tank cost to fill up! To covert to dollars, it round off to 90 DOLLARS! :hitit: So I now have my utmost apologies to Liebling who is living in Germany and may have the same prices for gas...
"PastrolParadise": This is pretty much what the rest of Finland looks like. My husband used this phrase "Pastrol Paradise" to describe the country. The cities like Tampere, Turku, Pori, and Helsinki of course do differ since they are more modern and urban that still utilize old-world buildings.
"Tallinn": This is the cityscape of Tallinn... It doesn't look great in pictures but in person, it looked SO .... breathtaking. You can see the Russian church far in the back in middle...
"KiTal": A picture of me taken in Tallinn.
It was slightly warmer in Tallinn than in Finland but this picture was me trying to bear the 21-C temperature because I didn't want to use my rain-proof oversized jacket !
"Flight": The flight to Los Angeles from London-- thought it was cute to include! We flew on British Airways and they had this channel that shows you where you are flying over, the temperature outside, the time, the duration, yak yak yak.
here in Germany cost EURO 1.23 for a litre, not gallon...