Scandinavia Tour 2008

Friday, March 21

2008-03-31T18:40:00.009-04:00

After our overnight flight from JFK to Iceland, we headed straight to the most amazing hot springs-natural spa in the world: the Blue Lagoon. As the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, so is the Blue Lagoon to Iceland. This huge spa was very relaxing: it's basically like an oversized hot tub with a waterfall, mud-mask, steam cave, and people from all over the world. We actually could see it from the plane on the way home: it's that huge! The steam steadily streams up into the sky.

After arriving at our Reykjavik lodging (an SDA elementary school), we took a walk down by the water. It was a gorgeous day.

Sabbath, March 22

2008-03-31T18:35:00.013-04:00

We attended and performed at the SDA Church in Reykjavik, Iceland on Sabbath. Alban got to play the organ as well. Then we stopped at the tallest church in Iceland for some pictures and ended up with an impromptu performance. The evening found us wandering the streets of Reykjavik and watching the aurora borealis.

The view of Reykjavik from the top of Iceland's tallest church. The state religion of all the Scandinavian countries is Lutheran, although only about 4% of the population regularly attend church.

Walking the streets of Reykjavik at night. We found the city to be much smaller than expected and rather quiet.

Sunday, March 23

2008-03-31T18:27:00.023-04:00

We spent a day in Iceland touring the Golden Circle, which includes the oldest Parliament in the world called Thingvellir (founded by Vikings), an amazing waterfall called Gulfoss, and the world's most reliable geyser.

This is apparently the president of Iceland's (?) summer home.

You're technically not supposed to throw coins in the water, but it is supposed to bring you good luck, and so thousands of coins are dropped to the bottom. We were entranced by the treasure trove.

Alban jumped out to this island in an attempt to retrieve some of the treasure, but alas, he couldn't reach any.

Gulfoss: an immense waterfall, made more impressive by the frozen mist that clings to the walls of the rocks. These pictures don't show how huge it actually is. It was quite icy and a bit dangerous in places.

These are pictures of the geyser field. The world's most reliable geyser erupts here approximately every 3 minutes. We saw it blow about 4 times.

This is a huge volcanic crater where apparently Bjork performed a concert a few years ago. It's quite deep and steep.

Monday, March 24

2008-03-31T18:21:00.013-04:00

Our first Finland performance was in the Rock Cathedral, Helsinki.

Walking around Helsinki, Finland. It's a great city: we loved it. Apparently there aren't many foreigners in Finland. When we asked our bus driver where we could find Thai or Indian food, he told us that they don't have a large international population, so there aren't many international restaurants.

Helsinki, Finland.

A sculpture dedicated to Sibelius, Finnish composer. If you look at Be Still, My Soul in your hymnal, you might recognize some of his work.

Tuesday, March 25

2008-03-31T18:14:00.023-04:00

The view from our rooms at Toivonlinna Junior College in Finland.

Turku Castle, Finland.

A tapestry hanging in Turku Castle.

Walking around Turku, Finland.

Wednesday, March 26

2008-03-31T18:09:00.012-04:00

We took a snowy hike up into the Finnish woods on Wednesday afternoon. My new Patagonia shoes got probably forever ruined, so I am very sad. But other than that, it was a great adventure, full of falling on my butt, getting snow tossed in my face, and climbing a mountain in snow.

Turku Cathedral.

On Wednesday night we took an overnight ferry from Turku, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden. I was admittedly nervous since my last overnight ferry ride was disastrous (seasickness!), but I only had about 2 hours of queasiness. I had to concentrate really hard to stay focused and not get sick, but once I fell asleep, I slept quite well. We saw this interesting sign (see above) and wondered exactly what it meant. Do they keep cats, dogs, cows, and horses on the car level?

Adam's first ever bite of salmon.

Thursday, March 27

2008-03-31T18:01:00.026-04:00

This is the view from the ferry on our approach into Stockholm.

My bus buddies: Alban and Scott (superhilariousguy)

I love Stockholm. I love Stockholm. I love Stockholm.

We went into a ship museum about a ship that sank in the Stockholm harbor nearly 400 years ago, the Vasa. The museum was fantastic and very interesting.

AFB.

There are many beautiful churches in Stockholm.

I was very interested in the number of bicycles everywhere. Europeans are, of course, much more energy conscious and health conscious than Americans. They are just more active in general. Plus, the bikes were very picturesque.

I love Stockholm. I love Stockholm. I love Stockholm.

Outside the royal palace.

Friday, March 28

2008-03-31T17:58:00.005-04:00

On the road to Norway, we played lots and lots of Rook and stopped at an IKEA store in Sweden!

Sabbath, March 29

2008-03-31T17:53:00.008-04:00

On Sabbath, Alban, Walter, and Daniel participated in a Norwegian tradition: jumping into a freezing cold fjord. They said that it was very refreshing, but cold, of course. I thought it would be fun, but I was already too cold, so I didn't participate.

We performed 6 times (I think) throughout the trip. This performance in Norway was our last.

Alban played his Bach piece.

On Saturday night we played volleyball for hours. The Norwegians play more volleyball than any other sport. They love it!

Tyrifjord Videreg ende Skole (Norway)