Middle of the night Ferry ride to Turku

 Tuesday night and Wednesday--

Tuesday night we packed our belongings in preparation of our departure, tried to sleep a couple hours, then at 2:30am we left and  Annika took the three of us 20 minutes to Longness, where we boarded the ferry boat for a four-hour trip (3:30-7:30am) to Abo(Swedish name)/Turku (Finnish name), Finland.  yes, we had a cabin.  Oh, my, yes, it had 4 beds, two bunks on each side.  yes, we survived!  It was maybe the size of A bedroom walk-in closet.  The bathroom was in the hall.  It was a good size ship, but we had booked an economy cabin since we were only using it for 4 hours.  Laura admitted it was the smallest cabin she's been in on one of these ferry boats!

 Below--scenes from the ferry after we got up.  They are not in any particular order.  Maybe you can tell how enchanted I am with water-boats & scenery from the water!

 I zoomed in quite a bit on this one, the colors looked so pretty!
When we first got to Sweden, the season looked pretty much like at home.  The further North we went, the more we notice it.

 If we look at bit cloudy headed....we were.  Not much sleep!

 It was neat to see the sun rise from the boat!

When we departed the boat, Laura's co-worker, Mavis K, was there to meet us.  She has been in Scandinvia for 41.5 years!
 Upon arrival, Mavis drove us to their bach, about 15 km out from the city, in an area called Jakarla.  It's a cozy little 1br/1bath apt up two flights of stairs.  (Why is our suitcases getting heavier?!)  Laura crashed into her bed (we must be totally wearing her out!), I worked on her computer awhile before napping, and Ruth enjoyed a cup of coffee and bagel with Mavis before napping.  Mavis fixed us a yummy lunch of burgers, salad, dark bread, and cheese before we set out for the downtown area and some sightseeing.  We walked around in a large open-air market that sold all sorts of things...flowers, fruit, vegetables, pastries, breads, etc.  Then we went to a unique indoor market, Saluhallen, that had booths with such a diverse assortment of products, from raw meats & fish to vegetables & fruits to knick-knacks & souvenirs to breads & pastries to shoes & purses, etc....and very, very busy!  Ruth & I have found some post cards of two old ladies that are so hilarious.  I've had to buy the ones that remind us of us and the things we've been doing while here, though no, we really are NOT as zany crazy as the old ladies on the cards!
  Laura had a Finnish language class at 4:15, so we dropped her off there and Mavis took Ruth & I to Ikea!  I had never been to one, and  was properly amazed and impressed.  Alas, luggage space is limited, so no items purchased to bring home.  This evening Laura googled Ikea in Denver and found that a huge one is being built on the south side, due to open in fall 2011.....Hmmmmm!

 The inside of the market mall we visited...delightful!  You could buy meats, cheeses, breads & all kinds of delightful looking pastries, tourist shops....and plenty of sit down areas to enjoy a coffee break.

 I did forget to mention several trivia things that we have noticed too.
Pop--coke everywhere.  Sprite, orange, and once in a while Pepsi.
NO Dr. Pepper!!  I did see a couple cans of it in one little deli spot, once.
Pop machines do not have ice, all drinks anywhere are served without ice.
All restaurants & shops and many homes serve apple juice & sometimes orange or another kind.

 The outdoor market in the square--

  We picked Laura up at 6:15 and came back to the bach for supper.  Mavis had picked up Karjalanpiirakka, a traditional Finnish food, which she heated for supper.  It was deee-lish!  It's a thin whole wheat crust with a filling of rice cooked with milk.  Alone it's quite bland, but it's traditionally eaten with egg butter on top.  I think egg butter is just finely chopped boiled egg mixed with butter and seasonings.  We also had thinly sliced ham, pesto, cheese (of course!), and other seasonings to add on top as desired.
  After cleaning up the supper things and a little time on our laptops, we had our tea and skip-bo game, and now it's soon to be lights out.  I wish I could put into better words all the sights & impressions, the interesting and the comical, fashions, styles, architecture, etc.  So much is the same, but many things are different than what we're used to.  Some we wonder why(??), and some we think "wow - why doesn't the U.S. have, do, use, etc."  One thing I noticed today is that most of the houses and a lot of the buildings have an outdoor ladder or two built onto an outside wall to upper story windows, not only old houses/buildings, but obviously new construction, too.  And the bicycles.  Mavis & Laura say they ride them year around, actually have snow tires for the bikes!  One area downtown has heated sidewalks so the ice and snow melt for safer walking.  That's one of those "Why doesn't the U.S....."!

***NOTE, Thanks again to Ruth for keeping such a good journal, getting all the cities, destinations, names & ect!

Next--Thursday, our trip to Vaasa, 4.5 hours to the North of here.