It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

With predicted snowfall for tomorrow, I'm hoping it really will look like Christmas by the end of the weekend!  For me, Thanksgiving is really just like a Christmas preview... and between the two days are really where the fun is at. Bring on the Christmas music, the twinkling lights, the snow gently falling, and Christmas cookies.  It's all fair game after Thanksgiving is over. And, because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, Christmas music is fair game whenever I feel like it. And that happens to be now.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Whistle While You Work

I have recently become obsessed with whistling songs.  Not only are they catchy and impossible to get out of your head, but their happiness is also contagious.  But you don't have to take my word for it... There are so many new whistling songs, and they're great! So listen to them. And be happy :)

I heart Foster the People.

Not a new song, but one of my new faves.

Peter Bjorn & John-Young Folks

...or P.B. & J

Thank you for making your non-retirement worthwhile, Britney.

Makes me wish I was going to the State Fair.

And then there are the classic whistlers.

The Stranger-Billy Joel

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life-Monty Python

Patience-Guns N' Roses

If you're not whistling along by now, there's no hope for you anyways.

and lastly, This song is so great, I had to learn it on guitar.  Pretend that I'm able to match pitches while whistling and it will sound much better :)

Hyviä Hetkiä Helsingissä

 The trip to Finland started with a minor case of motion sickness.  I was fine on the plane, but taking the bus from Vantaa to Helsinki was too much for my stomach.  A few stops too soon, I just had to drag Mom off the bus before I blew chow in some unsuspecting Finn's lap.  We walked across the road to sit down and orient ourselves and found our first market, Hakaniemi Market complete with a quartet playing jazz music in the middle.

Once we found ourselves on the map and walked along the Baltic Sea, we came across the Upenski Cathedral, an eastern orthodox church that was built under Russian rule in 1862.

Next we found our Hostel and dropped off our luggage. And yes, I said hostel!! It was a cozy little place in the design district downtown.  Although we were hardly there, getting up early and coming back late, we still met a nice couple from Barcelona and a strange, eccentric old couple from god-knows-where. I hope I'm still traveling when I'm in my eighties! 

This was a Lutheran cathedral in the middle of Senate Square.  It was the most unbelievable sight, standing at the base of the steps and looking upwards at the huge church, backed by a blue sky.  A bit of history on the church: when Finland was annexed by Russia, much of Helsinki was burned, so a German was commissioned to build the impressive senate square and it was dedicated to the tsar of Russia.

We stopped at a traditional Finnish cafe near senate square, and I ordered Karelian pies... Lets just say, the salad was delicious!   Since it was around 3 in the afternoon and we were the only people in the restaurant, the waitress, dressed in traditional garb, took the time to chat with us.   She was really excited when I told her I was studying Finnish, and I could actually understand her Finnish when I asked her to speak a little slower :)

Esplanad Park was a beautiful, tree lined park with flowers and statues galore.  At one end was market square, where we made many stops for souvenirs, cherries, pulla, and coffee.

Then there was the fanny pack incident...  Mom has a slight obsession with carrying a fanny pack while traveling.  Although I am wholeheartedly opposed to this, I've accepted that it's useless to resist.  Nonetheless, when the plastic snap on her fashionable little bag snapped while we were walking, I couldn't ignore the irony.  It was obviously a sign! A couple hours later, we walked by a secondhand store that had some bags and purses, so of course, Mom goes in to buy a replacement fanny pack. She came back out with the. most. hideous. fanny. pack. in. the. world. period.  Later that evening, when we sat down for dinner at an Italian restaurant, fate smiled on me once again when the plastic snap broke again.  I tried not to laugh, since mom was upset by the loss of two fanny packs in one day.  Of course, mom bought another when she found one at the market, but there was one glorious day on the trip that was fanny pack free :)

My favorite day of the whole trip started with pulla and coffee from the market, and a ferry ride to Suomelinna.  

Suomenlinna is an old island fortress that was built under Swedish rule in the 18th century, but then taken was over by Russia.  Now it has many museums (all of which we visited, of course!) but is also a trendy island to live on, with a population of about 800.

After almost a whole day on Suomenlinna, we took a bus to the open-air museum on Seurasaari.  This island was just as amazing, with it's old buildings and people dressed up in traditional clothes.

Walking off of the bridge from Seurasaari, we saw this footbridge.  It was a little sketch, but of course we walked across.

It led to an iron age market place.  On some weekends, they sell food typical of the time period (800 ad) . Since this wasn't one of those weekends, we just walked around the grounds and explored a little.

This temple was almost hidden underneath the rock, and you can just barely see it's bronze dome sticking out at the top of the hill.

We were walking along and came to this beautiful sight of shirts hanging out to dry above the intersection.  

We went to soooooo many museums. And every single one of them was amazing.  This exhibit of temporary homes was in the Helsinki Taidemuseo (art museum).  There was even a standard tent set up with the label, "North American camping tent." Hilarious.

Senate Square again.

In the secret dungeons of the Ehrensvard museum on Suomenlinna.

View of Suomenlinna from Helsinki.

It was the most amazing trip of my life, and I'd go back in a heartbeat! Oh and did I mention singing at a karaoke bar with Mom? Priceless.

After being back for so long, I'm sure I missed so many good details, but for now, that's all folks!

Oslo

Part 2 of my Scandinavian journey was a wonderful week in Oslo...

I'll try to remember all the details of my trip, but since I've been back for a week already, the events may have become a little out of order. Bear with me here.

The first day in Oslo, we went to the Folkemuseet which  was a huge open-air museum complete with old wooden buildings with grass on the roofs and traditional dances in the courtyard.  The Stave Church (above) was built in the 1100s and the dragons perched above the gables show how some aspects of paganism stuck even as Norwegian religion changed to Christianity.

After the open-air museum, we walked over to the Viking Ship Museum.  Even more amazing than I had expected.   These ships were built somewhere around 800 a.d! Un.believeable.  

And the museums kept coming.  We walked to the Kon-Tiki Museum where we saw the reed boats that Thor Heyerdahl made for his historic journeys, and Kon-Tiki, a balsa raft that he sailed from Peru all the way to Polynesia.  

The next day, we walked to the palace, and enjoyed the hot weather (minus the nasty Minneapolis humidity).

Next, the sculpture park, snapping a picture in front of a pouty baby, that's very famous, apparently. 

The hot, sunny day suddenly turned into a downpour.  We huddled under the trees for shelter, but then just decided to embrace the rain and view the rest of the park.

Day 3 in Olso (I think...) We drove to a beach on a beautiful fjord.  Crowded, but beautiful.   On the way back, I even managed to drive the wrong way on a one way exiting a roundabout.  I'm sure our parents in the car behind us nearly had a heart attack when I quickly put the car back into reverse and drove back into the roundabout.

Finally, the day came when we had to say goodbye to Kari and Katie. :(

Our wonderful host family was back to work on Monday, so we walked over to the Munch museum.  It was one of the most interesting art museums I have been to yet, started with a documentary of Edvard Munch's life and followed by a collection of very interesting paintings.  This was my favorite, surprisingly not his painting,The Scream.

Finally, we walked through the botanical gardens that were near the munch museum.

The next day, we headed out bright and early at 4:00 am to catch our flights, Dad going back to Minneapolis, and Mom and I to Finland.

Sunndalsøra

The trip to the cabin took over 20 hours, but the breathtaking view and the wonderful people
were so worth the trip.  

We made a point to swim in the fjord every day, rain or shine, midday or midnight.

There were blueberries everywhere, and Gerd taught us how to make blueberry kabobs.

We tried out water skiing on the fjord.  Dad was a pro, but all I managed to do was plow water.

After four days of relaxing, swimming, fishing, and eating Gerd's delicious meals, we started on the long trip back to Oslo.  I got to drive the 10 hour trip, and it was an unforgettable experience, seeing the mountains and fjords and driving on the narrow, winding roads.  

Thunder Only Happens When It's Raining

After my mini-blogging hiatus, here's my week in a nutshell:

We went back to good ole' Owen for the fourth of July weekend and had a great time.  The first night we were there, we attempted to fill the pool back up.  Unfortunately, the lining was being stubborn and kept slipping off the side walls.  Finally, after a lot of sweating, bug bites, and snarky comments, we got everything up and started filling it up.  Just in the nick of time, too.  As we were putting the last pieces on, the thunder and lightning started.  We were afraid the the wind from the storm would just come right in and undo all of our hard work.  It was a joyful sight when we woke up to find the pool still up and filling in the morning.  Then, once our haying was done with, I practically ran to the pool just to sit in the shin-deep water. Our hopes were dashed again when we saw the lining now had a big hole in it.  So, last weekend I also said goodbye to a big part of our family, and where I spent most of my summer days: our pool.

On Saturday we went down the Black River with a couple of friends, and it was the best. day. ever.  Kayaking is just my kind of relaxation.  You get to be stuck on a river, where you're not allowed to do anything besides paddle and think.  

Other than that, I haven't been up to much besides spending an entire day trying to shop for a backpack online for our trip to Norway and Finland.  I finally found one though!  After about six hours, I drew the line and just picked one.  Bleh. I need to pinch this post off and stop blabbing.  

White Blank Page

So it's Wednesday already, and I still haven't come up with a new artist to listen to for the week.  I have been playing guitar however, so you can't say I haven't been doing anything.  This is my new favorite song to play, and I'm sure my roommates are so sick of hearing it over and over again.

White Blank Page - Mumford and Sons