Last day! We got up early, ate some breakfast, then headed out to take some pictures of the city. Unfortunately the weather didn’t really cooperate with us, so I’m not sure how they’re going to turn out between the rain, fog, and lack of daylight. I haven’t done much photography where your exposure times are close to a second, so it’ll be interesting to see how they turn out.

After that we finished packing, checked out of the hotel, and headed to the airport for the flight home. I did a little shopping at the duty free where I picked up some chocolate and a couple liters of Finnish vodka.

The flight from Helsinki to New york didn’t go that well at first. Because the airport was really fogged in, we were a little worried that we’d be grounded. That turned out not to be a problem, but we had a stuck de-icing valve on the center rear engine that almost grounded us. Fortunately the pilot got it working and we took off about 15 minutes late. Other than that, no other issues cropped up and I finally got into the house at about 10:00 in the evening.

Good night.

And here’s Saturday’s update, actually posted on-time! I got up at about 8:00 Saturday morning, feeling completely hung over. Mental note, don’t get into drinking contests with Finns. They’re just plain better at it. We took a later train back to Helsinki and got settled into the hotel rooms by a little after noon. We then headed out to get some lunch. After that I skipped back to the hotel to do some school work. After a few games of cribbage we went out to tour the city. Helsinki is a very pretty town and the next time I go I’m going to bring a tripod and some black and white film. I saw so many shots that would have looked great in black and white.

Later on we found a souveneir store and went nuts buying shirts and other gifts, then got some directions to a Lapp restaurant named Ravintola Lappi and had some wonderful reindeer and a fantastic cheese plate for dessert. I can’t recommend it enough, the service was great, the food was outstanding.

After that it was back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before all of the fun of flying home.

This one’s really late because yesterday was a crazy day. It was our last day of work, so we spent the morning wrapping up loose ends before the mandatory meetings after noon. After that we went out for dinner and drinks and had a really good time with our Finnish counterparts. So good in fact that I didn’t get back in until about 3:00 in the morning on Saturday.

Today was an early day. After work just a stop at the bar for a cider, then off to dinner. After that I headed back to my room to work on my school work since this was the first day back after the Thanksgiving break. Doing this on the road is difficult, especially because the hotel doesn’t have any kind of high speed access and the time difference makes working from the office a little tough. But I’ll muddle through, and have to get my assignments posted on Sunday, not matter what.

Busy day today. We took off a little early and went to see the Turku cathedral. I’ve got some really good pictures coming.

After that we got together with some of our Finnish counterparts and went out for dinner on a boat on the river. Good food and good times were had.

To finish off the night we went to a concert at a local club. The band was a very popular Finnish environmental metal group and the show they put on was fantastic! Their live sets were of CD quality, so I’m looking forward to picking up a couple CDs for the trip home. The day ended at around 2:00 AM…

So I took the train to Salo today to do some work over there. We got a lot accomplished and I got to knock off a little early to get back to Turku to do a little shopping. I’m still trying to find some Finland souveniers and not having much luck. I did find a Finnish Bob The Builder pajama set for Reese, though. And a grocery store has provided me with my terva fix. Yummy terva.

We went to a restaurant called Foija, which is in some cellars underneath part of the mall. The food was excellent, and I enjoyed a lamb and goats cheese dish that was to die for.

Monday, Monday… After work we went to a neat viking themed restaurant called Harald. They have a most excellent reindeer dish, and the brambleberry sauce is yummy! I’m thinking of going back to try the wild boar later on this week.

Well, we’re here. The flight sucked, but then again there isn’t much enjoyable about spending 12 hours in a pressurized aluminum cylinder. It’s cold out, but that’s OK. The train ride from Helsinki to Turku was interesting, 100 mph on a train was a new experience.