Home at Last!

Pic 1 Signe (my grandfather's cousin) and Martin and 6 "children" in Larsmo
Pic 2 Suzanne (cousin), Harry, & Rodney in Korsnas (cucumber article)
Pic 3 Bo, Lena (my grandmother's niece), Viktor, Ida, Mikael, Viktoria (my grandmother's sister-in-law)
Pic 4 Egil and Viktoria (my grandmother's brother and sister-in-law)
Pic 5 Mats(my grandmother's nephew), Britt, Isak, Ivar, William, Viktoria
Pic 6 Maj-Len and Elias (my grandmother's sister and brother-in-law)
Pic 7 Leif, Phillip, Ulla (my grandmother's niece), Rickard, Caroline
Pic 8 Anna (my grandmother's sister-in-law) and Erika
Pic 9 Ralf (my grandmother's nephew), Asa, Tildy, Johnny
Pic 10 Caroline and Karen
Pic 11 Lars Erik (my grandmother's nephew), Eivor, Johann (my grandmother's nephew), and Dan

Our flight home to JFK in New York was uneventful. After that is when the adventure began! We found out (we had forgotten) that our flight from NYC to Atlanta left from LaGuardia across the city so we had quite a taxi ride! Then when we got to LaGuardia our tickets did not show up on Delta's reservation list, but amazingly we got seats. Then due to weather around parts of the US, including NYC, our flight was delayed until 10:30 which is when we were supposed to be landing in Atlanta. So we finally arrived in Atlanta at 1 a.m. on Wednesday and David drove us home so the kids could wake up in their beds!

We cannot say to our family and friends in Finland how much we appreciate the hospitality shown to us during our trip! I cannot think of a thing we didn't get to do except stay a little longer...we miss you so much! So for those who have followed the blog, the pictures are of our family and friends in Finland.

Also, I have enjoyed writing the blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading it. But unfortunately, the entries are only the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't tell about Austin's trip to the hospital, Davis and Jessica's shopping adventures in Korsnas, riding bikes to the villa, it doesn't capture the feelings, fun, and jokes of the trip. It doesn't tell about the challenges of traveling with the same 5 people for 5 weeks! I hope you will bear with us as we tell you about these.

What have we learned? For the kids, I think the biggest thing is that even half way around the world, people are the same as we are. A little different in language, food, and housing, but still the same inside. For me, definitely about the language and computers. And for all us...there is no place like home.

Have a great summer!

Time in Helsinki

Pic 1 Olympic Year in Helsinki
Pic 2 Copper Dome of the Temppeliaukio Church
Pic 3 Flower vendor at South Harbor Market
Pic 4 Helsinki Cathedral
Pic 5 Uspensky Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Pic 6 Sibelius Monument (Organ Pipes)
Pic 7 Kids on ride at Linnanmaki Amusement Park

On Sunday morning we said good bye to Lars Erik, Eivor, and Dan. They took us to Helsinki where we had an afternoon of sightseeing. We did a walking tour and saw the Olympic fields and arenas from the 1952 Olympics. We saw the National Opera House and Finlandia House, the National Museum, and Parliament. Then we walked to a church called Temppeliaukio Church that is carved from a rock and has a dome ceiling made of 22 miles of copper. The pews and altar are very simple in order to not detract from from the beautifully carved walls, ceiling, and pipe organ.

In the evening, we met the parents, Riita and Juhani, of Mom's former exchange student, Jari, for dinner. (They live in Spain for the winter and in Finland for the summer.) We went for a very nice dinner with them. On Monday morning, Juhani took us on a tram/walking tour around Helsinki again. We saw the church, the Helsinki Cathedral, where Jari and his wife were married and the Uspensky Russian Orthodox Cathedral. We walked the South Harbor market and purchased a few items. We went to the composer's, Jean Sibelius, monument. And the most favorite thing the kids did was go to another amusement park, Linnanmaki, for the afternoon!

For the evening Jari's brother, Juri, picked us up at the hotel and took us to his home for a nice meal which was our last in Finland.