Hanzja's Blog: June 2008

I went to Paris! It really is the most beautiful city in the world! I adored it and cannot wait to go back.

Parisian girl with tiny dog. Need I say more.

See that little picture? Yes, that is the famous Mono Lisa

So Netherlands played the French when I was in Paris...and won! I saw this lovely Dutch woman showing her colors quite proud. When I watched it, I found the company of two fellow Dutchmen and the whole game, we had dagger glances from the French.

This masked man ran around scaring people next to Notre Dame. It was great.

Climbing up the stairs. I was really excited.

Since this trip I took alone, I got really good at taking my own picture. I was a bit of a dork, but I got the pic. Ha.

Marble lace! The detail was exceptional.

Hall of Mirrors!

How can one not find this inspirational!?

So one of my hostel roommates (French) was in Paris for a week. She's a dancer-student. She brought more luggage and shoes than I did to my entire Holland trip--and that's saying something.

Like in most other cities, I went on the New Europe free tour in Paris as well. When we were meeting up that morning--we ran into this very tipsy Frenchman who had just opened a bottle of bubbly and climbed up the St. Micheal fountain to scream: Ah!

While on the tour and in the gardens in front of the Lourve--we ran into a full blown tornado!!! It took me a lifetime to get the sand out of my teeth.

Last weekend I had the immense pleasure of going to Finland to visit my family! This was my first venture into the Nordic country—and it actually made me a little homesick for several reasons. Firstly, the Finnish landscape is severely similar to the great Northwest in that it too has many evergreens and reverence for the outdoors. The other reason that made me a miss the US, was that I have almost forgotten the amazing love and comfort felt when with family. My aunt and uncle along with bubbly cousins Nadija, age 4 and quick Zlata, a bump over 1, greeted me at the airport and we all jumped into exploring Helsinki.

Pauliina explained to me that many in Finland find Helsinki suffocating since it’s so “packed.” Here’s the thing: I live in Holland (severely dense country) right now, specifically, in the densest part of the country; to say that Helsinki is “packed” with people or buildings…is laughable to say the least. During my stay in the Scandinavian countries, we drove everywhere and walking across town, like I’ve done in every other European city, did not appear like a feasible option. However, it was great to see this whole other culture in Finland. Interestingly, the architecture had a much more understated appearance. Even the churches were constructed with what I can best describe as crude stone walls, several meters thick, restraining from any delicate intricacies I’ve grown accustomed to seeing in many of the Gothic churches in Western Europe. The style’s simplicity suggests the foundation of the world famous Scandinavian design—which was evident in every store.

The next day, I got the chance to explore the very airy but cute Tampere. It was a bit more woodsy and had a lot of gravel never the roads to help out with its rough winter. However, the infamous winters, I think, are a hoax! It was mid-20s and sunshine my entire trip. Lies I tell you, these winters they speak of…oh! Sure it was midsummer, but still—the sun didn’t set until at least after 1am! And even then only for an hour or so. Ridiculous, this winter they speak of…it’s probably just one of their methods to keep out tourists.

The following night we headed over to Sweden via ferry. This ferry was a mini-cruise ship with all the bells and whistles. The ride gave us a great view of all the islands dotting the sea to Stockholm.

Oh! Russians! They were everywhere—on the ship, in all the cities. I feel as if they are becoming the new Japanese tourists. They speak a language I understand and dress in head to toe gold so to be seen a mile away, that all works for me.
Stockholm was spectacular! It was definitely much more majestic than Helsinki but just as vast. And the people were blonde and beautiful. Ha

The main church in Helsinki

The oldest building in Tampere...which happens to be a church. It was very cool inside and the curator explained that it's practically freezing during the winter.

Nadijka and her wand. There were many more pictures of her whole princess get up that are priceless beyond belief.
Zlata running aboard the ship.

While this was my first time meeting her and she immediately took my hand and walked with me. Apparently she's a bit more timid with people she doesn't know. Not with me! Pavlik says it was because I had shiny things on my shoes. Whatever.

The islands.

A significant portion of my pictures have this lovely blur--better known to me as Nadijka

Yes. That is Pavlik, a large grown man, sitting in the child's chair, playing video games.

7-11s were on almost every corner in Stockholm!

Nadijka and I on the narrowest street in Stockholm

Lutheran service and the bishop was a woman! (I was surprised. Ha.)

So you know how no one's invaded Sweden--well so do the soldiers. That's why they lounge around without a care in the world.

I like to visit churches and whenever we went into one, Nadijka would somehow zoom in and find the toys. She was amazing!

We visited a park in Stockholm that was a mini-Sweden. These are goats and
after a bit of help, Zlata even touched one!

Swedish security--they, like the soldiers are chill--eating ice cream and fighting crime.

We were walking the streets of Stockholm and ran into a random marching band walking and disrupting traffic. It lasted about a minute, start to finish, but was still fun.

In Helsinki.