St. Petersburg

so today we arrived in estonia. we took a train from st. petersburg to tallinn and had a nice trip in a 4 person sleeper compartment (though the border control and russian customs agents were pretty intimidating). our time in st. petersburg was good...we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. we saw the summer palace, the winter palace, pushkin, a bunch of cathedrals, russian state museum, and the hermintage which was great. we also saw swan lake at the hermitage theater which was very small and cute and apparently used to be the royal family\s private theater. the hotel was surprisingly nice, we had a driver and guide the whole time, and ate borscht and vireniki. the hermitage and ballet were probably the highlights for me...we found the people there catered much less to tourists than in the scandinavian countries and did not want to speak english but there were people that tried to help us along the way. estonia seems very quaint - at the least the old city where we are staying. there are lots of cute cafes and buildings but it seems to be all tourists (with money exchange and souvenir shops on every corner). we also saw the synagogue in st. petersburg which someone told us was the second largest in europe which i find hard to believe because it wasn't that big...it was pretty though so i tokk some pictures. we're going to try to upload pictures again tomorrow so hopefully that will work. i miss everyone and am looking forward to being home in 12 days!

Helsinki

we had a very packed day in helsinki. we arrived around 9:30 and checked right into the hostel (which is not as nice as the one in stockholm) but the four of us have a private room so it is ok. we did a self-led walking tour of the city which is very easy to explore by foot. we saw the parliament, senate square, some cathedrals, the waterfront, old market hall, olympic stadium, sibelius statue (which was very hard to find) and the other touristy things listed in the guide books. we weren't able to go to any museums because it is monday and they are all closed though we did go to the design center which had an interesting clothing\fabric exhibit. helsinki was not at all what i expected it to be...while it some beautiful buildings, there are drab areas that do not seem to fit with the stylish, clean image of the rest of the scandinavian countries. well i'm really excited and a little nervous to head to st. petersburg tomorrow. i hope all goes smoothly and will post as soon as i can (i don't expect any internet access while we're there - until 6-29) i will hopefully have access when we arrive in estonia. miss everyone so much!!!

Norway and Sweden

So I got cut off during my last post because i ran out of minutes. i am now in stockholm at the hostel where there is free internet. we haven't seen much of stockholm yet because we got in a little later, checked in and then got dinner. we had traditional swedish dinner - different types of herrings, fish and snaps the girls had reindeer.

we finished up oslo with a trip to the viegland statue park which was really nice and the national museum which featured munch paintings including the scream. it rained the entire time we were in oslo so it is hard to say if we got a real feeling for it. it is still drizzling in stockholm so it will be difficult to do the touristy things here too. i will try to fill in some more detail on what we've seen now that i have free email at this hostel. i can't believe i have only been traveling for a week...it feels like months. i miss home and can't wait to talk to everyone!

Denmark and Norway

So I am here typing at a very uncomfortable kiosk at the hostel in oslo...and I only have 5 min. We are all fine. I am here today with Vanessa and Nozomi and tomorrow afternoon we head to Stockholm. From Iceland we went to Copenhagen where we saw the canal area, city hall square, carlsberg museum (we saw the lobby but didnt go in because it wasnt free). we did a canal tour, saw the palace (and the prince was home), saw a lovely castle, went to the natl museum and some other things ill fill in later. then we headed to roskilde to stay with emilys cousin and his family. they were very generous, made us a cookout took us to the train and joined us at tivoli. we then headed to oslo...today nozo and i saw the viking museum, city hall, nobel prize....ran out of time

Iceland

so we are in reykjavik...we have been in thermal pools, seen craters, walked along a ridge where continental plates meet, celebrated iceland´s independence, and watched geysers erupt at the national park. it´s been fun and we have one more stop before we leave for copenhagen tomorrow - the blue lagoon which is a thermal pool that is supposed to have some healing properties. it is their most famous stop and they have a tour that takes you there and then the airport. reykjavik is very expensive especially the food so we are eating mostly from the supermarket (but yes mom, we are eating). we have taken some pictures but accessing the internet here is so expensive i will wait till we´re somewhere else to upload them. i hope all is well at home and i really miss everyone.

The Planning

It's the day before we leave...and we're still finalizing the itinerary! So many places, so many reservations to keep track of. We are supposed to visit: Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary (and stop in London to catch our flight home). We'll be traveling by plane, train, bus (and hopefully ferry somewhere in there). I'm starting this blog so I can write things down as they happen... otherwise the whole trip will be a blur when I get back. This way everyone at home can read about our travels, know we're safe, and keep in touch!