Traveling Fool

  It was hard to resist popping over to Estonia from Helsinki when it's so easy to reach. It's about a 2 to 2 1/2 hour ferry ride and depending on what your sightseeing goals are, you can spend about 6 hours there and come back in the afternoon. I wasn't sure I had a lot of sightseeing goals, I just wanted to explore. I did know that I wanted see the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, but other than, no idea.  On the ferry, I booked comfort class tickets, which isn't the highest level, but it's close, and you get a limited free buffet and food for purchase. I was hoping to find a nice little corner to take a morning snooze, but the two women in the little room decided that 7:00 am was a good time to have a chat. Ugh. But other than that, the crossing was very smooth and delightful. a view from comfort class on the ferry Upon docking, I just started to walk, following the crowd since most people were going in the same direction. The conditions were slippery and snowy and co...

After my Arctic adventure, I planned on spending some time in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on my own. I did some planning, but I also planned to be a little spontaneous, if that make sense. I had things I wanted to do, but aside from a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia, everything else was up for grabs. My hotel, Hotel Klaus K, was perfectly located near a tram stop, walkable to the ferry and other areas of the city center. I also knew I was going to take public transportation, so I bought a four day bus/tram/ferry card and gleefully hopped on and off. Okay, if I'm honest, I had to hop on and off so much because I kept getting lost, or slightly misdirected. But no worries, on, off, walk a little, take a different tram, it all worked out.  My first afternoon in Helsinki I just walked around I'd like to say getting my bearings, but we both know that would be a lie. Helsinki, like most northern cities, include Minneapolis/St. Paul, doesn't stop because of snow. People were out w...

 I like lists, lists of books, countries, counties and geographical markers, like 0 degrees longitude (Greenwich), Land's End and the freshly crossed off the list - The Arctic Circle. Apparently, I am not the only person with that idea based on the throngs of people visiting at the same time as me. It wasn't as hard to get to as one might imagine, in fact, once there, I was kicking myself for not trying to work out the details and avoid traveling with an annoying tour group. But let's not dwell on that.  We arrived at Santa's Christmas Village around 9 or 10 in the morning and were given an orientation and then left to our own devices. I went to Santa's Post Office which seemed like pure chaos to me, but I was determined to send a Santa postcard to my friend in Australia who has worked as a Santa for over twenty years, and then get out of there. I really just meandered around, looking for some good photo ops, maybe a souvenir or two, although my suitcase was too sma...

After almost 24 hours of traveling, I finally landed at my destination of Oulu, Finland. Yes, that would be Finland in December. You know me, when other people plan a Florida or Caribbean vacation, I look for the coldest place I can find, but with a unique twist. The main driver was going above the Arctic Circle, via a country I have never visited, with the vague promise of see Aurora Borealis. Well, two out of three isn’t bad. I’m taking an organized tour for the five days and then going back to my anti-social ways for a few more days in Helsinki and Tallinn. We’ll save my thoughts on the organized tour for later. We’ll get through the first three full days of touring and sightseeing first. On day one, the big highlight was going to Hailuoto, and island in the Bothnian Bay; relatively new in geological terms. We took a ferry out and one of the neatest things was watching the ice break and get churned up as we pushed through. We had a little tour of the island and learned about the his...

It is much easier to pick a place to stay and then do little day trips and sightsee in the vicinity, but I rarely do the easy thing. My recent trips have been based around concerts (in 2017 I went to Paris to see Phil Collins and London to see Adele and filled in the middle bits with other countries; 2019 was Mike & the Mechanics in York); this trip was centered around two Genesis concerts, Glasgow and London, and Steve Hackett in Newcastle. I also try to build in time to see my friends in Edinburgh and Bracknell. Basically, I had a lot of ground to cover and was going to be moving around. After my delightful experience in 2019 in guesthouses/B&Bs, I wanted to try and stick to that 'genre' if possible.   In Orkney I stayed at the Bellavista Guest House . The bed was amazing, so comfortable. I could make my own tea, coffee or hot chocolate, and there was a delightful collection of biscuits to go with it. Sandra was very friendly and made that scrumptious salmon omelet i...

Well, not every mountain, exactly, but I do like to climb things, mainly stairs. In lieu of any great adventure any time soon, here are some things I've climbed: Most recently, today in fact, I climbed the 35 flights of the AT&T Building in downtown Minneapolis, and treated myself to a caramel-pecan roll. Rock on: This past June, I climbed up the 387 steps of Notre Dame, the only way to see the chimeras:  I also walked down the 300 steps of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; you have to take an elevator up.  I walked partially up Arthur's seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2006, I climbed the first two level of the Eiffel tower, over 600 steps...because I was cheap and didn't want to wait in the queue. It seemed like a great idea at the time. Looking down during the climb to the top of St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. I didn't want to pay the 4 Euros at the time to take an elevator.  ...