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!!!

SHOPPING IN FINLAND!!!

The shopping blog you've all been waiting for is finally here!!! But first a test!!!  The answers will be at the end so DON'T PEEK!  See how many of these foods you can match with their English translation:

                                                           Juusto                                   Beef

                                                           Kana                                     Apple

                                                           Omena                                  Potato 

                                                           Lohi                                       Orange

                                                           Voi                                         Salmon

                                                           Applesiini                              Butter

                                                           Leipa                                     Cheese

                                                           Naudan                                  Raspberry

                                                           Peruna                                   Chicken

                                                           Vadelma                                Bread

Can you just imagine our frustration trying to find things on our shopping list!  Thank heavens most shoppers speak English and are willing to help....we love cans with pictures on them!!!

Now we are going to take you to a HUGE store called PRISMA!

The underground parking lots are very high tech.  At the end of the row the number of available parking places is shown

As you can see, there are 15 available spaces in this row..

and a light above each space is red if it is filled or green if it is empty

There are plenty of shopping carts available!!!

Next you push in a 1 or 2 euro coin into the slot which releases the chain from the row of carts:

You shop with your very own coin that will be released to you when you return the cart and hook up the chain:

Now it's time to go up the escalator to the store...don't worry...it's no problem getting your cart up

As you can see, the wheel just lock into grooves on the belt!

Now we are ready to find the items on our shopping list!!!

The aisle signs are a BIG HELP!!!

As you can see, this is an enormous store.  We now enjoy shopping at smaller markets.  The first time we marketed I cried and kept saying, "I just can't do this!!!"

The Finns love margarine and say, "Our margarine is so good we don't have to use butter!"  This entire case is filled with margarine with a small section of butter at the end:

We still like BUTTER!!!

Salmon is available all year long and is quite inexpensive on sale:  $4 a pound for boneless fillets (beef is $10-30 a lb.)

Here we deal in Killograms and liters!  A killogram is 2.2 lbs.  Paul always drools over the smoked salmon which is expensive!

Which one is just plain whipping cream???????????????

Which one is just plain flour???????????????

Produce is done cleverly!  All produce shows the country of originand a number.  Push the item number and out pops a tag with the price!

Put your sticker on the plastic bag and it is scanned at the register!!!  Much of the produce is "growing" when you purchase it!!!  They do love FRESH!!!

But they also love dirty carrots and potatoes...can't figure out why!

The bottle deposit is $.50 per bottle and is included in the price. So when you check out, don't forget to cash in your ticket ..it can really add up!

Also, DO NOT FORGET TO BRING SHOPPING BAGS!!!!  

They charge a lot for them...we often forget even now!!!

When you get your items home you then need to figure out the directions on the packages.  I just look for temperatures and times.  

Here's a bag of potato chips.  The description is in 4 languages:

Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, & Finnish!!!

Now for the answers to the test:

Juusto is CHEESE

Kana is CHICKEN

Omena is APPLE

Lohi is SALMON

Voi is BUTTER

Applesiini is ORANGE

Leipa is BREAD

Naudan is BEEF

Peruna is POTATO

Vadelma is RASPBERRY

HOW DID YOU DO!!!

We are getting better but it is still sometimes a challenge!!!

Enjoy your next shopping trip in English!!!!!