Norway in a Nutshell: (Pt. 2-Voss & Bergen)

by Christine M.May 27, 2014

Norway has to be one of the most breathtaking places I have been so far in my travels! If you only had time to visit one place in Scandinavia, I would certainly put Norway at the top of your list. This post will include the last part of our Norway in a Nutshell tour (Voss & Bergen). I will post the 1st half of the adventure in my next post (Oslo, Flåm Railway & Nœrøyfjord). I’m posting them backwards so that it will show up on the blog in the correct order on the home page. Here are some highlights from the second part of our Norway in a Nutshell adventure:

Mia and I in front of the Fleishman's Hotel where we stayed for one evening after our fjord cruise.

Mia and I in front of the Fleischer’s Hotel (built in 1864) where we stayed for one evening after our fjord cruise. Lots of history here (royal guests) as well as an amazing view of Lake Vangsvatnet.

Mia and I with this huge troll in Voss, Norway.

Mia had fun playing on this cool Voss sign!

Mia and I in front of the breathtaking Vangsvatnet Lake.

The tranquil view of Lake Vangsvatnet! Ahhhhh… I sat for a long time on a rock and really soaked up the view and the fresh air!

Mia playing in front of the Lake. She has always been our “water baby”. She is the happiest when she is in the water or close to it!

One last shot of Mia with the beautiful lake! I think she could have easily spent all day here!

Vangsvatnet Lake in Voss, Norway. I appreciate nature as an amazing work of art which we can enjoy everyday.

Vangsvatnet Lake in Voss, Norway. I will always remember this as one of the most serene moments of my life!

On to the next stop! Mia and I right before we boarded the train to Bergen!

The following photos are from our last stop on the Norway in a Nutshell adventure – Bergen, Norway (Mt. Floyen, Fløibanen Funicular):

Street scene in beautiful Bergen, Norway!

Mia on a cool fish wood carving in Bergen.

This is the entrance to the Fløibanen Funicular.

Tracks and tunnel on the Fløibanen Funicular ride.

The Norway flag and the Fløien Folkerestaurant at the top of Mt. Floyen.

The stunning view at the top of Mt. Floyen.

This is Mia who went into this pose when we made it to the top of Mount Floyen in Bergen, Norway.

Mia went into this pose when we made it to the top of Mount Floyen in Bergen, Norway.

Mia on our hike around Mt. Floyen.

Mia and Danny checking out the swing on our hike around Mt. Floyen.

Mia and Danny found this cool swing on our hike around Mt. Floyen.

Getting ready to head back down the mountain!

The beautiful view from the bell tower where we stayed in Bergen.

The beautiful view from the clock tower where we stayed in Bergen.

Another view right after sunset from the top of the clock tower.

A beautiful ship at night in Bergen.

Getting ready to fly back to Helsinki… An amazing Mastiff dog we found at the Bergen airport wanted to play with Mia’s stuffed whale!

Saying goodbye to Norway... An amazing Mastiff dog drooling and happy as can be and at the Bergen airport! :)

A great way to say goodbye to Norway… Seeing an amazing Mastiff dog drooling and happy as can be at the Bergen airport! 🙂

For more information about Voss, please visit: Voss, Norway

For more information about Bergen, please visit: Bergen, Norway

For more information about the Fløibanen funicular, please visit: Fløibanen (Bergen)

My next post will be Part 1 of our Norway in a Nutshell adventure. We can now mark another Red Pin Adventure off our Travel/Life Bucket List: ~~Oslo – Bergen, Norway (See the Fjords & Ride on the Flåm Railway)~~

Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art

by Christine M.May 20, 2014

These are my two picks for this week’s photo challenge:

This was a neat display of fish skulls on the outside of a building in Stockholm, Sweden. I thought the contrast with the scenery and the red wall really stood out in this image.

This was an interesting display of fish skulls on the outside of a building in Stockholm, Sweden. I thought the contrast with the scenery on the left and the red wall on the right really stood out in this photo from our trip last weekend to one of the beautiful archipelago islands (Fjäderholmarna).

Vangsvatnet Lake in Voss, Norway. I appreciate nature as an amazing work of art which we can enjoy everyday. I just sat on a rock in front of this view for about 15 minutes and just soaked all of the beauty of it in! Ahhhhhhhhh….

Copenhagen, Denmark: Tivoli Gardens

by Christine M.May 18, 2014

I’m way behind again on blog posts… we have been very busy planning for our upcoming move and packing up the apartment. It is hard to believe that we have less than two weeks left here in Finland. We finally had beautiful weather this weekend and we enjoyed a high of 72℉ today! Too bad we will be moving when it is so nice here. It felt like we were back in Florida today!!

This post is from a trip in April during Spring Break. We decided to use the break to work on seeing more of Scandinavia. Spring Break in Finland is only a long weekend (not like the week off we are used to in Florida), but it was a nice break to finally enjoy some nice sunshine after the dark winter. Here are a few photos which highlight the stunning Tivoli Gardens, which opened in 1843 (the second oldest theme park in the world & the most visited in Scandinavia). Walt Disney himself even visited this park for inspiration for Disneyland:

Mia and I in front of the entrance to Tivoli Gardens.

A beautiful view over the water at Tivoli Gardens.

Mia and I in front of one of the beautiful cherry blossom trees at the park.

Mia and I had fun watching this peacock eat cookies inside this store at Tivoli.

We had fun watching this peacock visit this store at Tivoli for some treats!

A beautiful ballet show at the Pantomime Theatre. Shows have been performed here since 1874.

Mia enjoying a nice relaxing break at the park.

Danny and Mia having fun in front of the stage.

Below are a few other places we visited while in Copenhagen (Rosenborg Castle, The King’s Gardens, Amalienborg Palace & The Little Mermaid Sculpture) :

The front view of the stunning Rosenborg Castle (built in 1606).

This is the crown of King Christian IV which is on display at the castle.

On display at the castle, these amazing S. Colt Revolvers given to King Fredrick VII by Pres. Abraham Lincoln.

On display at the castle, these amazing S. Colt Revolvers given to King Frederik VII by Pres. Abraham Lincoln (1861).

Mia in front of an amazing cherry blossom tree in the King’s Gardens.

Mia and I having fun on the amazing cherry blossom tree at the King’s Gardens.

Mia and I next to the Amalienborg Palace Guards.

The beautiful The Little Mermaid Sculpture by Edvard Eriksen in 1913 at Copenhagen Harbour.

Mia and I in front of The Little Mermaid sculpture.

A view through the trees of Skt. Alban Church.

A beautiful swan was proud to pose for a photo at the Copenhagen Harbour.

A beautiful swan next to The Little Mermaid sculpture at the Copenhagen Harbour.

Mia and I in front of an amazing group of Cherry Blossom Trees.

For more information about Rosenborg Castle, please visit: Rosenborg Castle

For more information about Tivoli Gardens, please visit: Tivoli Gardens

For more information about Sculptor Edvard Eriksen and The Little Mermaid, please visit: The Little Mermaid

My next posts will show our adventures in Norway and Sweden. We can now mark another Red Pin Adventure off our Travel Bucket List: ~~Copenhagen, Denmark (visit Tivoli Gardens)~~

Weekly Photo Challenge: On Top

by Christine M.April 24, 2014

For this week’s challenge, I have chosen two photos. They are both from this past Easter weekend when my family and I visited Denmark & Norway & they both represent the feeling of being on top of the world! The first photo is of me climbing a tree in the Royal Garden at the Rosenborg Castle. The second one is of my daughter Mia when we were at the top of Mount Floyen in Bergen, Norway.

This is me climbing a tree in Copenhagen, Denmark at the Rosenborg Castle Royal Garden. When you see a tree like this… you’re never too old to climb it!

This is Mia who went into this pose when we made it to the top of Mount Floyen in Bergen, Norway. I think she felt as though she was “on top” of the world! 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life

by Christine M.March 31, 2014

I have three photos to share for this weeks photo challenge. The first one is one of my favorite shots from our trip this past year to Paris. The guy in the background with the black jacket and his eyes closed was so peaceful and was handing out bird seed to people in the street to feed the birds. When we tried to pay him for it, he refused our money and just filled our hands with the seeds. He was one of those people who seemed so peaceful and fulfilled in life. As soon as I got over the surprise of the birds landing in my hands, I could feel the peacefulness that he must feel while feeding the birds, which I assume is often. I will be forever grateful for this wonderful experience on the streets in Paris!

This is me feeling free as a bird at the Notre Dame Cathedral.

This second photo is of a couple that I feel was just as peaceful in life and didn’t care what anyone thought in the beautiful streets of Tallinn, Estonia. They were just happy to be relaxing and soaking up the sun!

One of the cutest older couples I have ever seen!

My last photo from the streets is of the Naked Invisible Man in Tallinn, Estonia. It’s truly amazing what you can find just walking around the streets of a new place you are exploring!

We enjoyed saying hello to the Naked Invisible Man at the Viru Gates. 😉

Winter in Helsinki & Aurora hunting in Lapland tonight

by Christine M.March 27, 2014

All the snow has melted here in Helsinki, and it is finally starting to really look like spring after a little tease we had a few weeks ago. Mia was lucky to wake up on her birthday to a beautiful fresh snowfall, which I am hoping was the last one for the season. I am way behind again on a blog post, but I have plenty of photos to share from around beautiful Helsinki during the winter as well as a few shots from a few places we have visited in the area. I am very happy to say that we managed to survive the darkness and a winter in Finland. We brought Florida with us and were very lucky as we heard this was the mildest winter in Finland in the last 20 some years!

My family and I are flying up to North Finland (Lapland) this evening for one last shot to see the northern lights. We are also signed up for skiing lessons as we have all never been snow skiing before. We only have about two months left here in Finland (yes, we are on the move again… this time to some place warmer)! I will post photos next week from our adventure this weekend and hopefully some aurora shots will be included. I am better prepared this time and have a tripod packed and ready to go… Aurora hunting here we come!!

Mia in front of the beautiful Helsinki Cathedral.

Helsinki Cathedral through a window…

Mia and her daddy in front of the Helsinki Cathedral.

Helsinki Orthodox Church.

I spotted this guy ice fishing while on a ride on the metro.

Mia having fun one day on the metro. Hmmm… I wonder where everyone was that day?

Relaxing at Starbucks!

Birds camping out on the frozen sea!

Mia and I on the bridge we cross often… with the frozen sea in the background!

Mia and her crazy stuffed fish! I wonder if people thought she really caught a big fish!

Doggy footprints in the snow!

Mia's woke up to this beautiful snow on her birthday after we thought all the snow was gone for the year!

Mia woke up to this beautiful snow on her birthday after we thought all the snow was gone for the year!

Birthday snowball!

We enjoyed viewing an art show close to our apartment one Sunday afternoon (Kaapeli).

I enjoyed visiting the Iittala factory with some of the other moms from Mia’s school.

One of my favorite artists now (Tove Jansson) – a lovely Moomin display at Iittala!

Me with the Moomin mugs at the Iittala factory in Arabia!

This is our porch covered in snow after a crazy storm one night!

Reindeer anyone? It was surprisingly delicious! It’s a popular dish here in Finland!

Bonjour from The City of Love: Paris, France

by Christine M.October 22, 2013

Mia at our hotel with a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower in the background. We really enjoyed exploring and falling in love with “The City of Love!”

It has been some time since my last post here on my blog. Honestly, I’m not sure where the time has gone! We seem to be busier and busier as we are getting settled in. We enjoyed seeing our first snowfall here in Finland this past weekend. I have also been meeting many moms from all over the world from Mia’s school and have been learning a lot about Finland as well as working on a few projects here. We have managed to pick up a few Finnish words here and there as well since Mia is learning Finnish in school!

My family and I really enjoyed our first trip to Paris. We didn’t have much time to explore on this trip, but we did manage to see a few of the must sees mostly in the late afternoons/evenings. Once again, there were so many things that I wanted to take a photo of! Paris was a little overwhelming, but so exciting all at the same time! Overall, I thought Paris was a very beautiful city and it was nice to finally see the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa in person! Here are a few photos from our adventure:

Mia and I in front of the Eiffel Tower.

We made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower (The Sommet). It was breathtaking!

We made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower one beautiful evening. It was breathtaking and it even rained some in true Paris style!

I am finally planning the trip at the very last minute… on a double decker bus! Oh boy, where to start? So much to see in Paris!

Mia and I taking a nice break at The Musée du Louvre.

Mia and her daddy at the beautiful Arc de Triomphe.

The Mona Lisa

We were very excited to be able to take the journey into the famous Musée du Louvre to see the Mona Lisa in person and all of the other amazing artwork in this stunning museum. We just wish we had more time to explore a little longer. It was so massive and overwhelming that you would need an entire day to really get a good glimpse of all of the beautiful pieces on display. Here are a few photos from our experience seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time:

Leonardo de Vinci’s Mona Lisa portrait at the Louvre. The most famous work of art in the world. There is just something about her… Truly stunning!

Mia and I really enjoyed seeing the Mona Lisa in person!

The crowd trying to get a shot of the Mona Lisa. It was an amazing experience!

Please click on the images in the gallery below to see a larger view:

This is me feeling free as a bird at the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Paris, France

Mia and I in front of Rodin's "The Thinker"

Mia and I in front of “The Thinker” by sculptor Auguste Rodin

One of the most stunning sculptures: Rodin's The Gates of Hell.

One of the most stunning sculptures by Rodin: The Gates of Hell.

I will do one more post from Paris which will include images of the love locks and the beautiful Chateau de Versailles. I will end this post with two beautiful sunsets that I was lucky to get shots of. The first one is at The Louvre – we were a little lost and ended up walking past it again at just the right time. The last one is of the beautiful Eiffel Tower.

Sunset at the Musée du Louvre.

Sunset at the Eiffel Tower.

We can now mark Paris, France off our Red Pin Adventure Travel Bucket List:

~~Paris, France~~

Au revoir from la ville de l’amour! ♥

Like Stepping Right into a Fairytale… Tallinn, Estonia

by Christine M.August 21, 2013

I thought this red door behind me was really beautiful! There is so much character in all of the buildings in Old Town Tallinn.

We decided to take an impromptu trip to another country this weekend. There is a cruise ship port only a 10-minute walk from our apartment, and we have been seeing the ships come in and out of the port from our patio. We walked over with just a small backpack and were able to purchase tickets over to the picturesque town of Tallinn, Estonia. We took the Eckero Line M/S Finlandia ship and chose the cabin for the return back so that we could sleep after a lot of walking and exploring. We had also heard that The Finns like to take a trip to Estonia to purchase cheaper alcohol and cigarettes. This was certainly true as we saw many people with carts loaded to the top with cases and cases of beer on the return trip to Finland!

We were pleasantly surprised with this charming place which is only a 2-hour cruise ride from Helsinki. It truly felt as though we had stepped off the cruise ship and landed right into a little Fairytale. We spent a very relaxing 5-hours exploring the Old Town area and then returned to the port for the short 2-hour trip back to Helsinki.

Here are a few photos from our adventure this past weekend in Tallinn, Estonia (click on photos for a larger image):

Where we enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch. The Olde Hansa in Tallinn.

The Olde Hansa in Tallinn. Where we enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch.

The inside of the Olde Hansa Restaurant.

A beautiful apple tree in front of a really cool looking building.

I thought this apple tree was so beautiful in front of this very interesting building.

The beautiful St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Mia and I with Shrek and Donkey!

This statement was on one of the walls as we walked through Old Town. The Century is yours.

I just love the architecture in Old Town.

Mia enjoying our little lunch break outside at the Olde Hansa Restaurant.

We enjoyed saying hello to the Naked Invisible Man at the Viru Gates. 😉

The cruise ship we took over to Estonia.

We really enjoyed our latest Red Pin Adventure to Tallinn, Estonia this past weekend and can now cross it off our Travel Bucket List:

~~Tallinn, Estonia~~

We are Now Official Finland Residents… We have a Sauna in our New Place

by Christine M.August 16, 2013

Saunas were invented in Finland and are a very important part of the culture here. There are only around 5 million people in the entire country (there are around 20 million just in the state of Florida where we just moved from). We have heard that there are over 2 million saunas here in Finland. That’s a lot of saunas for only 5 million people! And I know what you are wondering… and the answer is YES, they do go naked here in their saunas!! We have also heard that sometimes after a sauna they also go jump in a hole in the ice into the freezing water of a lake or ocean… and yes, still naked!! Yikes! I wouldn’t mind trying this, but only if I had a wetsuit on!

When we were looking for an apartment here, we were very surprised that pretty much all of them included a sauna. When we came to look at our apartment, I remember us looking at the sauna and thinking that it could be another bedroom or a walk-in-closet! The apartments are much more expensive here and a lot smaller, so we were thinking of other uses for the space at first!

Well, we moved into our place about 2 weeks ago, and decided to give this sauna thing a try. We were also battling a cold that we picked up from our London trip and thought that maybe the sauna would help a little. Our first evening trying it out ended up with me at one point coughing like crazy and having to run out of it!!! I think we were way too excited about pouring the water from our wooden spoon and bucket into the sauna heater with the rocks! All that steam just about killed me!! Lol

We have used our sauna about 5 times so far and have learned not to pour so much water into it anymore and are beginning to love the experience now! I am starting to wonder how we ever lived without one!! No wonder Finland has saunas everywhere. The Finns love their saunas, am I am finally understanding why. You feel so relaxed after the sauna, and are able to go right to bed afterwards and sleep like a baby. This is great for me since I have always been a night owl and now I am finally able to get to bed earlier!

Here are a few photos from our sauna:

Our sauna heater with the cool rocks… still not too sure if we are using this thing correctly.

Eukalyptus mix that we used while we were battling our colds and our wooden spoon and bucket.

Eucalyptus mix that we used while we were battling our colds and our wooden spoon and bucket.

Starting to heat up the sauna… this is our temperature gauge.

Our sauna has two platforms to lay on and a moveable bench on the floor.

I’m sure this Florida girl we will be hibernating in our sauna this winter! I’m not going to want to leave the apartment once it starts snowing here, but at least I will have our sauna to thaw out in! 🙂

London, England: Part One – Tips and Photos of Buckingham Palace, Hamleys and Madame Tussauds

by Christine M.July 30, 2013

Mia and I in front of Buckingham Palace!

As a girl who loves to take photos, I was totally in awe with London! Everywhere I turned, there was something that I wanted to take a photo of. I guess that’s why I ended up taking over 400 photos in 4 days! Our family really enjoyed our first visit to London together, and I will be making three posts to cover our adventure. I will try to include around 20-30 photos for each posting which should cover a lot of the London sights that you can accomplish if you plan a 3-4 day trip there (we scheduled 4 full days in London and 1 half day for travel). There are so many other places that we did not explore during our first trip, but I believe another 3-4 days should cover most of the other places that we would like to see. I will also include a few helpful tips that we learned along the way. We are very happy that the flight from Helsinki is only around 2.5 hours and will hopefully bring us to London again while we are living in Europe!

London Tip #1: If you want to see as many sights as possible, I would suggest seeing them via one of the classic double-decker red buses. May not be the cheapest way to get around, but it was something you should do at least once in your life and certainly a lot of fun for our daughter! We were able to hop-on and off at many of the top sights and take us much time as we wanted at each location. Ours also included a Thames River Cruise which we did not have time to do. The night before our trip, we booked The Original Tour and were quite happy with their services.

London Tip #2: Book the additional 24 hours at the time of purchase for only 7 or 8 additional pounds (not sure the exact amount that they quoted us when we picked up our tickets). We didn’t do this, but really wish that we had since we were not able to accomplish all of the sights in the 24 hour time for our tickets and this would have been much cheaper than taxis and a lot less exhausting than all the walking we did! We are still learning to get around via public transportation as well and were not brave enough yet to try it in London. The yellow line provided you with a live English commentary guide and the red line offered you headsets to listen to the commentary and also provided a channel for kids. However, we did notice that there seemed to be more of the Big Bus Tour buses running and therefore may enable you to see more sights if you are restricted on time.

London Tip #3: Bring cash if you need to take a taxi!!! We noticed that it was much harder to find a taxi that would accept credit cards. Therefore, bring cash (pounds) just in case you need it!

Our visit to Buckingham Palace and The Changing of The Guard (click on photos for a larger view):

Mia and I in front of the Buckingham Palace Gates!

Mia having fun at The Queen’s Gift Shop!

The Victoria Memorial

The Mall

The Royal Standard Flag flying at Buckingham Palace. The Queen was home!

The Queen’s Guards Marching

Mia in front of one of The Queen’s Guards

The Queen’s Guard

In front of Buckingham Palace

Changing of The Guard

For more information on Buckingham Palace and tours, please visit: Buckingham Palace

A historic toy shop that has been around since 1780 (over 250 years) in London is Hamleys. Thanks to a tip from my friend Kim, Mia had a lot of fun visiting Hamleys and we were all exhausted after visiting all seven floors of this mega toy shop!

It’s A Boy! The future King arrived the same week we were in London!

Entrance to Hamleys

Mia with the Queen and her dog made out of Legos!

Guards made out of Legos!

Mia with pirates at Hamleys!

Mia with a stuffed Bear Guard!

Stuffed toys at Hamleys!

This was our first visit to a Madame Tussauds. Wow, what a cool place to visit in London!! We really enjoyed this attraction and were very impressed with their wax figures and many were specific to England including the Royal Family. This was one of Mia’s favorite parts of the trip since she is a big superhero fan. Included with our tickets was an amazing 4D Marvel Superheroes Movie at the end of the attraction!

Our family with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip!

Mia and I with Princess Diana!

Mia and I with the Beatles!

Mia and I with James Bond (Daniel Craig)!

Mia and I with Johnny Depp!

Mia and Danny with Bruce Willis!

Mia and I with Einstein!

Me with Steven Spielberg!

Mia with E.T.

Mia and I with Madonna. Vogue!

Mia and I with Elvis!

Our family with President Obama!

Mia and I with Michael Jackson!

Mia with Iron Man!

Mia with The Hulk!

Mia with Captain America!

London Tip #4: Expect to wait in line for a long time (one to two hours) during the summer when visiting Madame Tussauds! I would definitely consider purchasing their priority access tickets (click on the link above) for this attraction if you are pressed for time!

We can now cross our first Europe Red Pin Adventure outside of Finland off our list!
~~London, England~~
I would love to hear your comments and more London tips for our next adventure there!

You can read part 2 of this series at the following link: London Part Two

The Tall Ships Races 2013 in Helsinki, Finland

by Christine M.July 21, 2013

Above photo: The breathtaking Mexican Tall Ship, Cuauhtemoc!

Above photo: My favorite photo I took from the event, the breathtaking Mexican Tall Ship, Cuauhtemoc!

What an exciting time to arrive in Finland! We were very excited to be able to experience The Tall Ships Races right here in the neighborhood that we just moved to!

Over 100 vessels were here this weekend for the races which began on July 17th and continued until July 20th. The event ended with the Parade of Sails, when the ships go onto the next Tall Ships Races location, the Port of Riga, Latvia. The races will later end in Szczecin, Poland the first week of August, 2013.

We enjoyed viewing all of the beautiful ships on Thursday, July 17th after they were all docked:

The highlight of the event was watching the departure of all of the beautiful ships during the Parade of Sails event on Saturday, July 20th:

Mia enjoying the Parade of Sails!

Mia and I having a great time on Saturday!

We were a little sad to have to say goodbye to all of the ships. What an amazing experience it was to see so many beautiful vessels in one weekend/location:

For more information on this event, please visit:
http://www.tallshipsraceshelsinki.fi/

All packed and ready to go!! Less than 20 hours until our big move…. Finland here we come!

by Christine M.June 28, 2013

Here we go!!!! We are finally all packed and ready to go! Moving to Finland in less than 20 hours!!!! Our master bedroom turned into packing central this past week. Only moving with suitcases and donated about 3/4 of all of our belongings to various charities and friends in need. Whew…. It feels great to simplify our lives and we are now ready for our adventure in Europe!! We will miss you all!! ♥