Helsinki, Finland

Well, it's been at least 5 countries since I've written.... hopefully today I'll get a few posts up and back-track a little. My poor parents (and I'm sure many of you) have been eagerly awaiting another post.

Today's our first full day in Finland. We were told to expect to freeze as this is the furthest north we've gone so far. I brought extra layers especially for this portion of our trip. Well.... so far, completely unnecessary. As you can see from this pic, it's sunny and blue skies are a common theme of the trip. It's a little sharp.... an autumn breeze blows most the day, but in general, not nearly as cold as I thought.

We took an overnight ferry here from Sweden.
Pause for a second.. conjure up an image of what you think a ferry might look like.
It's probably similar to what we imagined. A mid-size boat... cheap snack stands, a huge group bunk room, gray metal, nothing extra or fancy.
So when our coach pulled up at the harbor in Stockholm and this was the only ship in sight, we were ecstatic.
Ready for some of the stats on this thing?? (Rhetorical question, i'm telling you either way)
13 Decks.
over 8 Restaurants
Spa center, Sauna
Hot tub, waterslide
Casino
Cabin rooms with 4 beds and a full bathroom
Tax Free stores
Club
Yeah, i'm sure you can imagine what 43 college students on a surprise one-night cruise looks like.
We'd all been wearing traveling clothes, so most of us changed and got dressed up for a nice, classy dinner. (more about other food later.... seriously, i measure the passage of time by the amazing meals I have along the way) My group of 10 found a place with a meat focus--I say it like that to differentiate it from the seafood place next door or the pasta one farther down. Some people had steak, some salmon (yes, i realize that's a seafood... don't get legalistic on me, i didn't say exclusively meat), and I had lamb cutlets. YAY!!!!
After dinner we went to the top deck where the club was and joined in the karaoke for awhile. And of course we went dancing later that night. But first... because we never pass up a chance to get dressed up... all the girls went back to our rooms and changed outfits for the 3rd time that day.
So there it is, the short, condensed story of our unexpected mini European cruise.

oops

as you can see, i'm a good 2 and a half weeks behind on this thing. I'm already in Belgium, which means I need to catch up on stories from London, Paris, and the French countryside.

Eventually they will come... have no fear.

Izzle Tizzle and the whole gang

Instead of telling the entire story of the day we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, I'll upload lots of photos here and just tell short moments from the day. Also, I'm not uploading my fav photos of the tower on here cuz I do need something to show when I get home. Nonetheless, there are some nice ones. Enjoy!
Oh look, dinner on the lawn under the Eiffel Tower. Our group grew from 6 or 7 to around 14 as people from our group kept randomly showing up.


You may notice the bottle of wine Ryan is pulling from a bag... illegal-ish. I say "ish" because we waited till we saw 2-4 other groups around us enjoying their drinks before pulling ours out. After all, a picnic at the Eiffel Tower just isn't the same without a toast.
In line for what Ralph calls the "Izzle Tizzle." You'll note that I'm stoked. Ralph is too; it's a little bit more subtle. By the time we got to the front of the line, 5 other mini groups of our group had ended up there, and by the end of the night, 28 of our 47 were at the top at the same time.View from the second level... we timed it to get there right around sunset.. wasn't an incredible sunset, but still pretty sweet.
In line for the elevator to take us the rest the way to the top. Again, we're all stoked... even Ralph. Note the artistic decision to include a symbolic Eiffel Tower in the background. Special thanks to Ryan for taking the role of the Tower.

Picture of a railing. And the sunset. Self explanatory.

20-something of the 28 who ended up there at the same time. Yeah, we crowded up the area. Also, pay attention to the time of day of these last few photos. We definitely spent HOURS on the top level.The tower is blue. Oh, and this is from the walk down... we had to take an elevator the first part of the way, but then walked/raced down the last half.

Can't go to the Eiffel Tower without a little bit of ice cream. Here we are across the street, looking at the tower, enjoying our ice cream. Luckily it was on the warmer side of things... my idea of a good ending to a great night is not freezing my bum.

Coventry Cathedral

On our way to Stratford, we drove through Coventry to see the cathedral that had been bombed during World War II. The Germans bombed the city after choosing it from a tourist book… Small cities known for their beauty were chosen to destroy. In retaliation, the Allies chose the German city of Dresden to bomb.

The leaders of Coventry Cathedral decided after the war to not rebuild the old structure but instead build a new cathedral adjacent to it with the theme of peace and reconciliation running through it. The following photos explain a little more about the Coventry Cathedral, and I’m sure more thoughts will come up after we travel to the sister city of Dresden. INSERT PHOTOS

The same day, before getting to Stratford, we went to Warwick Castle. It was expensive, touristy, crowded, but still rather fun to see. And that’s all I’ll say about it, cuz I feel it’s a waste of my time. But, if you’d like to know the history behind it feel free to look it up. INSERT PHOTOS

Okay, so i can't get the photos in right now... but if someone reminds me, i will eventually. actually, even if someone doesn't remind, i will eventually... just maybe later than sooner.