Tallinn, Estonia

I had to stay over the weekend while I was in Finland. It was very difficult because it was the longest Matt and I had ever been apart. I missed him SO much. I decided to try and keep busy so as not to wallow in my sadness and took a ferry - more like a super-powered-garanteed-to-make-you-sea-sick ferry - over to Talinn, Estonia. What an amazing experience!!!

If you look closely at this map, everywhere you see the little black "zipper" looking lines around the whole town, are actually walls that are still standing and surround the castle and the town of Tallinn.

It was so beautiful I actually broke down in tears emailing my Mom and Matt from my blackberry while I was sitting in an out-door cafe having lunch! I took 92 pictures of this amazing city. If you are interested you can see them all on my Yahoo photos site, but here are some of my favorites:

This was the first street I walked up to enter the town:

The churches and steeples were amazing! Check out these awesome photos:

These two church towers are called "The Father and The Son"

I walked around this huge Castle and down a dirt road that I could only imagine had been there for thousands of years. It was surreal! At the end of the road I walked up many flights of steps. When I got to the top, this was the view:

(one of my favorite photos!)

There was also this really cool street that was all cobble stone. It walked along what they called "The Wall of Mis-trust." Independent Artists hung and sold their paintings here and the street went under a building with a very cool archway:

I can't explain why I love this photo so much - maybe it's the combination of the stone walls, alcoves, old brick streets and purple planters, but this is one of my most favorite photos from my trip:

Finally, what place would be complete without a Texas Cantina?!?!?!

I went inside and ordered a coke! To see more pictures of the Cantina, go to my Yahoo Photos site.

If you ever find yourself anywhere near Finland do not miss Estonia. This little town made my whole trip worth going!

Helsinki, Finland

After I passed through Amsterdam, I went on to Helsinki, Finland. It was pretty - and I was lucky enough to be there the perfect time of year. In the summer, the Finns never seem to sleep. How could they with only 4 hours of darkness - and it's not even that dark! It's more like twilight! Here are some pictures I snapped while walking around town:

I stayed here at the Hilton, which was convenient, because the client was right next door in the red brick building!

This is the capitol building in Helsinki. It is hard to get perspective from this picture, but the steps are really tall and wide. If you can catch a glimpse of the people up on top of them, you get the idea of just how big this courtyard and building were.

I have an obsession with brick-paved and cobblestone streets. Many of the streets in Helsinki were just like this one.

Helsinki is a sea-side village. This is a beautiful picture of the marina not too far from my hotel.

This is the train depot in Helsinki that can take you to any of the other cities in Finland, as well as St. Petersburg and Moscow!

Just to keep things interesting, while I was in Finland, Matt was in Las Vegas looking into a job in Computer Forensics and... house hunting in Henderson! More on that in a later post!