Final Finland Fantasies!!!

As many of you know, we have been reassigned to Frankfurt, Germany!!!  Paul will be doing finances for all 160 Centers for Young Adults in Europe and Bev will be doing other finance jobs.  We wanted to have one last blog about our favorite summer activity in Helsinki ....BIKE RIDING!!!!  Although we lived in downtown Helsinki, we had several gorgeous rides within a few minutes!

Bike trails are plentiful and well marked:

A new pedestrian/bike path just opened in June 

that started 2 minutes from our apartment.  

This gully was a former trolley line !

Periodically there are stairs and ramps up to the street level. 

Going up these little ramps was a lot of effort.  
This pathway leads to a small lake that we could ride to in 10 minutes.

So beautiful and restful...but full of joggers and bikers...and swans!

We could circle the lake in 10 minutes...so in 40 minutes we could ride to the lake, circle it twice and go home!  Loved this ride!!!

Another bike ride was to an island called Lautasaurri. 

First we would ride along a beautiful canal...

This picture was the scene we saw as we crossed the bridge!

In 15 minutes we could be at the shore, in woods, and seeing the tiny summer homes.  These are one room with no electricity or running water.

It's hard to believe this lovely place is so close to downtown Helsinki!

We could also ride to the Sibelius Monument.  

He is a famous composer and wrote the hymn "Be Still My Soul"

Paul also wanted to include some pictures that were going 

to be their own blog: doors and architecture!

These are just a sampling of his collection of pictures:

This is Stockmann's Department store...the Macy's of Finland!

You can see our apartment from this picture (about 200 yards behind the center mast)...also the contrast between the Radisson Blu, the apartment building and this old sailing ship we enjoyed seeing!  Goodbye to Helsinki...Hello to Frankfurt, Germany!!!!!

Helsinki Happenings!

Here's some of the events in Helsinki in the last few months!  We had an all mission conference...the first one in 6 years with about 80 missionaries and the area president!  Bev was in charge of table decorations and we helped the mission office staff with all the food.  It was a great day for all!

Our YSA's had their Dinner Dance in honor of the Dating Challenge.  The guys won with 69 dates and the girls had 54 so had to cook the dinner.  Our day started at 9AM with one quick trip home in the afternoon to change and get all the things stored in our refrigerator.  As we raced off we forgot the camera so have no pictures of the gorgeous tables and dinner.  We got home at 11:30 that night!!!


We had a big YSA's Activity at Luukki Park in June...with about 80 kids in attendance.  After lunch there was an "Amazing Race" competition with 8 stations.  It concluded with grilling sausages for dinner and more activities.  Here are some of the groups:

The favorite station was "Human Foosball"

We went to an open air museum called Seurasaari that was a collection of homes built between 1600 and 1900.  Costumed guides would tell of life in Finland in those times.  It is an island and to reach it we crossed a very long bridge and were greeted by these black headed seagulls!

Some of the homes were a little nicer than others!

In the harbor of Helsinki is an island fortress called Suomenlinna.  One of our office staff lives there and takes the ferry in every day.  It was built by the Swedes to defend against Russia.

This was the last dinner at the Institute before the summer break.  We usually have about 12 kids eat before class and around 15 after.  These kids are great and so much fun!!!

These kids are great and so fun!!!