kimberly.: October 2008

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Finland

October 17th-19th, 2008…..

Tampere Finland

Finland. The land of a thousand lakes. This trip was not like anything I’ve done since I’ve been here. It was more like a vacation and much less touristy. It was pretty nice. We actually got to learn about the culture, the food, and some of the language. We experienced what the locals actually do. It was really neat. We visited the city of Tampere. Tampere is an industrial city so there were lots of old factories which made for much different scenery. Tampere is also situated between two lakes and forest. The leaves were all changing colors and falling; it was beautiful! Upon arriving we explored the town a bit and went to an old observation tower. It had a great view of the city and the water. And it was nice to drive on the right side of the road again, it feels safer :) After coming down from the tower we had a snack of a delicious doughnut. If Ireland is famous for Guinness, then Tampere should be famous for their doughnuts. It was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I had like four more throughout the weekend. Yummy! Then later that night we went to our friend’s house and met a bunch of his friends. The house had so much personality. There was something on every inch of the wall and you could spend all night just looking at everything. His dad has been collecting little nick nacks for many many years and just adorned the house. The basement was like something out of a movie. There was a disco ball and a few jukeboxes; a pool table and big video games; a slot machine and many other little trinkets. Then one thing that is installed in every Finnish house, apartment, and basically everywhere- The Sauna; even our friend’s one bedroom apartment had a built in sauna. So we of course tried that out. It was very nice; really hot, but very relaxing. On our second day we did a bit more sightseeing. Then went into the city center and watched a little outdoor rock concert in the main square and visited a huge market. We followed that by eating a traditional Finnish lunch of blood sausages and milk. Hmm, well, the blood sausage wasn’t nearly as bad as I had imagined, I finished all of mine; but it still wasn’t very good- no meat, just blood, grains, and mush. But it was quite the experience. We then were going to go to see a floorball game which is one of the most popular sports in the country but it got cancelled due to illness of many of the players so we went and watched some on TV. We also watched a couple Finnish films. They were interesting, very different from any American movies. Saturday night we drove through town to look at the lights they put up each winter along Main Street. We then checked out the huge skyscraper observation tower. It was cool to go at night and see all of lights and the city from above. On our last day Michelle and I wandered around on our own. We went to a huge, beautiful park and then bumped into this really cute little market type thing. There were sheep everywhere and little stands up everything was handmade. It was really unique. There we enjoyed some Finnish crepes and jam and I got a handmade sheep wool hat; it’s nice and warm which was perfect because Finland was very cold! We then explored the city a bit more and made a stop at the store to try a variety of Finnish sweets. Some good, some bad, and some very odd. They have this candy called Salminak that is very popular in the country; but to me it’s sick and wrong. It’s candy but it’s like a black licorice type flavor, that is salty. Weirdest thing ever! But they did have delicious chocolate! We also visited the Tampere Cathedral that had a beautiful nave that was all frescos and huge arched ceilings and gorgeous stained glass. It was really cool. For dinner we had another traditional Finnish meal. We had some pea soup and rye bread. It was surprisingly very good. I hate peas and definitely pea soup, but this stuff was fantastic, looked gross though. The trip was really neat and I learned a lot about the country and culture. I also learned some interesting random facts. Did you know that Santa Clause lives in Finland in an area that is the closest to the North Pole called the Laplands. Yep, Santa lives in Finland. And Nokia isn’t some Japanese phone brand; it was actually came from Tampere’s neighboring town of Nokia. Kinda cool. All in all, the trip was great. I met lots of wonderful people, got to know a new culture and even learned a little bit of Finnish.

Old observation tower

Welcome to Finland

Most delicious doughnut!

Good old bottled 7 up

Through a rainy window

Observaiton tower and Tampere City. Russia is that way.

The land of a thousand lakes

Hesburger. Finnish burgers and fries.

Part of the coolest basement

Music

Michelle and I in the basement

Part of the coolest basement

Apollo Bar. Great cover band

City Center- Main Square

Tampere

Milk and Blood Sausage

Blood Sausage

Chocolatey Heaven

Tampere

Finnish Sweets

Outdoor Rock Concert in City Center

Tampere

City at Night

Tampere

Observation Tower

Market

Finnish crepe and jam

At the Sunday Market

This one's for Whitney and BJ; PANCHO VIA- Mexico is rockin

Tampere

Traditional Finnish Pea Soup

Tampere Cathedral

Monday, October 13, 2008

Road Trip to Northern Ireland

October 11th-12th, 2008….

This weekend a few friends and I took a road trip up to Northern Ireland. Going on a road trip wasn’t something I thought I’d be doing in Ireland but it was a great time. Our ending destination was all the way up north, Giant’s Causeway. We made a few stops along the way to see the sights. It was a weird experience hopping in the car in the front on the left side and not be driving, the whole wrong side of the road driving was a little weird, but really cool. It took some getting used to though seeing a car coming down a narrow road towards you and you’re on the left side of the road. Our first stop was in county Armagh. We drove on very narrow windy roads, enclosed by trees, it was too perfect, exactly what you’d think of an Irish country road. When we stopped to get directions we asked a cute old man on his bike with his dog running next to him through the farms in the country. It was too cute. The dog ran in circles around the car the whole time we talked to the man. He told us a few places to see. First we stopped at a place called Ballymacdermot. It’s a court tomb that is older than Newgrange, the pyramids, and Stonehenge. It was interesting, and the view was to die for. So beautiful! We stopped a few more places to take in the gorgeous scenery before making our way to Belfast. It was really fun because we seemed to be the only tourists out so it wasn’t crowded and congested, just quite, nice, and pretty!! Belfast reminded me a lot of Dublin. It was a huge city! But they have one thing that Dublin doesn’t have- a Ferris wheel. I was just like a little kid, so excited to hop on. It was called the Eye of Belfast, similar to the one in London. And the view from the top was great. It was really neat. After lunch in Belfast we took the coastal route up to Giant’s Causeway and drove next to the beach. It wasn’t like anything in the states. You are driving through mountains (hills) that are as green as can be on one side then rocky cliffs going to a rocky beach leading into sand and ocean. It was so many different pretty landscapes all together to make this unbelievably beautiful scene. Our next stop was in a little village called Ballygalley outside Belfast. We went and walked around the beach and enjoyed some icecream. It was weird to be bundled up at the beach, but boy was it cold! After a few more stops to take in the view and get directions we made it to our hostel in the very north of Ireland in a town called Portstewart. We enjoyed dinner at the pub and watched the beautiful ocean outside of our room. The view I woke up to the next morning was one of a kind. Lying in bed from my window I could see, and hear, the waves crashing up against the rocks and the sky was a beautiful orangish pink color. It was a great start to an amazing day! Our first stop on Sunday was Dunluce Castle. It was really cool. A huge huge castle, the biggest I’ve seen sitting on the very very edge of a cliff and still intact minus one wall. It was awesome! Next we made our way to the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most- Giant’s Causeway. Giant’s Causeway is often referred to as the eighth natural wonder of the world and I would definitely have to agree! The stones in the causeway were formed by slow and irregular cooling of lava from a volcano when it immediately contacts water. It produced approximately 40,000 hexagonal stones. Those were just one of the many stunning sights at the Giant’s Causeway. The site got its name because the legend says that the giant Finn MacCool built it to get to Scotland. But it was definitely my favorite thing in Ireland and it’ll be near impossible to top that. I could have stayed there all day just taking it all in and been content. But we had other things we wanted to see. Next we went to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The bridge was originally built by fishermen to get to the little island to catch the salmon as they migrated. Walking across the swinging, suspended bridge was quite a thrill! And the view from the island was grand! The clear water, the steep cliffs, and gorgeous beaches; even rocks in the salty ocean were green on top- that’s Ireland for you. After the bridge we headed home stopping a few other times to take a look around. The road trip was great fun!!