it should always be colder in finland

11.1.09-14.1.09
1030 local time
tampere, turku, and tampere again

just to start...finland is an hour ahead of mainland europe. i got to the bremen airport around 545 germany time and everything has gone very smoothly so far. my seat reservation for the train to turku was only 3,60€ because i have a global eurail pass--sweet action! unfortunately, i have about 2 hours until my train, so i am eating a cinnamon roll in the only place thats open besides the train station, mcdonalds. i completely forgot that its sunday! it is already 1°c here! WHOOP!! it is snowing little and it is a little frustrating and hard to believe that it might actually be warmer here than in germany. it should NEVER be that way!! more later, when i have found diana in turku...

i got to turku, met diana, and went to her apartment for coffee and sandwiches. after we talked for a while, we went to maria & sixtens apartment. only sixten and fanny (the girl twin) were there because maria had to take melvin (the boy twin) to the doctor. they eventually returned and we sat down for dinner. we ate and had coffee and hung out for the rest of the evening. sixten and i watched some soccer highlights on dvd and he caught me up on liverpool and the rest of the leagues standings this evening. after that, we played darts (he was excited that a girl wanted to play; evidently i was the first one), watched a tv program about jack the ripper and eventually i won the darts game (501) and diana and i came home. tonight was pleasant and i am glad i came to visit. :)

today (12.1), maria came to meet me at dianas and we took a bus to her house. we ate, talked, watched the babies, and just spent time (i on the computer, she reading a magazine). later, sixten and maria got off work and showed up. we ate and then diana drove me into town so i could buy some things that one can only buy in finland. i got some gifts bought and bought a new purse, so i am pretty excited :) shopping in finland is pretty expensive, though, so i had to make sure i didnt buy too much! when we left shopping, diana drove me to see the harbor, the river, and the 11th c. castle...from the outside, at least (i have insider information that, since the swedes pillaged it and took all the nice things back to sweden, i am not missing out by only seeing the outside).

13.1: maria came to get me and we drove to naantali, a coastal town. we walked for a bit and saw moomin island (more about that in the 'things of note' section). it was REALLY cold and windy and so we only walked for a bit. it was pleasant spending time with maria and just talking. :) she eventually took me back to dianas so that i could get ready to head back to tampere, where i had to spend tuesday night so that i would make my wedensday morning flight back to bremen.

things of note:

°moomins! tove jansson wrote a collection of tales about moomins, an animal from finland. they are so adorable and one can hardly help falling in love with them! check them out!!
°on the bus from tampere to turku, i heard robbie williams's song, angels. i havent heard that on the radio since i lived in lüneburg. awesome. :)
°flying to finland was soo cool because we were above the clouds and the moon was still out. the moon shone upon the clouds and was sooooo beautiful. wow.
°i am really going to miss g.w. being president. i know that isnt a popular opinion, but there it is. i love texas!! ;)