Trick and Treat

A visit to Utah was long overdue, so friends’ weddings provided a great opportunity. Flying on Halloween meant I missed seeing kids dress up, but I did see a few fellow travelers in the holiday spirit. The “trick” came when my connecting flight was delayed so much I thought I’d arrive after the car rental desk closed; the “treat” was when I made it in time and the nice guy gave me an upgrade. Given how much I’d drive on this trip, this was much-appreciated.

Finland Finale

We had just enough time before our flight to see a few last sights, and started with a monument to Jean Sibelius. His "Finlandia" provided the tune to one of my favorite hymns, "Be Still My Soul", and based on the number of tour buses there I wasn't alone. The monument looks like organ pipes floating in the air, and the experience was completed by a young boy playing Finlandia on his trumpet.

Jean Sibelius monument

From there we strolled to a church Maggie knew about, enjoying the perfect weather along the way. Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). The Finns decided: "IN this rock I will build my church." We're both geology nerds and I have to say, it was unlike any church I'd ever visited but very cool. The floor was polished fairly smooth, but they left the walls a little rough as a reminder you were inside a rock. The roof had some skylights to let in natural light, and directly overhead was a copper dome that looked like a spiraled coil. I loved the purple pews, and sat there long enough to take in a recital on the piano and enjoy the acoustics but had to keep an eye on the time.

Temppeliaukio Church

All too soon, we returned to the hotel to grab our things and head to the airport for the flight home. Scandinavia was a magical place, all the better for seeing so much of it!

Hello, Helsinki!

We awoke refreshed and ate a quick breakfast before bidding farewell to the nuns and Turku, taking a train to Helsinki for our last full day in Scandinavia. Amazing what a difference proper sleep and a beautiful day can make on your attitude! We passed by lupine-lined fields, forests, farms, and the occasional small town that all began to look typically Scandinavian.

Arriving in Helsinki, it was a short walk to our hotel and we quickly dropped off our things before hitting the town. We strolled one of the main boulevards, admiring the architecture and stopping in a few boutiques en route to the waterfront where they'd set up a market selling everything from produce to fur hates. I couldn't pass by the stand selling different varieties of strawberries without trying some, especially since I didn't know there was more than one variety.

yum

In case you were wondering, I discovered that the Polka variety is possibly the world's most delicious strawberry. It was about lunchtime so we also grabbed some heartier fare, and I went for the most exotic option I could find, cooked to order right in front of you.

Adventures in dining—the garlic sauce helped a bit, but it was actually quite tasty

Full of Finnish fare, we took a ferry to the fortress in the harbor named Suomenlinna. The ruins of the fortress were fun to explore, and the video at the visitors center helped me understand its history a lot better. Back when most of Scandinavia was united under the Swedish crown, Helsinki (and its harbor) were seen as a critical defense of the Baltic against the Russian Empire, especially when the czar built nearby St. Petersburg for Baltic access. In the course of its history it was captured by the Russians, and eventually returned to an independent Finland. The island currently has several hundred inhabitants, and if the weather was always so lovely I wouldn't mind joining them. They still had cannons and most of the walls, but with the wildflowers growing it seemed more like a place for picnicking than battle.

Suomenlinna

cannons at Suomenlinna

exploring the fort

There was a spot on the island where you could climb down the rocks to the water, and I decided to dip my feet in the Baltic. So glad I didn't try jumping in--it was freezing!

brrrr!

Back on the mainland, we finished off our shopping for gifts and souvenirs at some of the big department stores and smaller shops on the way back to the hotel. Dropping off our purchases and taking a final tip from Rick Steves, we took the subway for one final Scandinavian experience: the sauna. I'd expected to see them everywhere and use them frequently, but somehow saunas had remained elusive on this trip. No more, as we read about one in a "working class" neighborhood that the locals visit. We got there just a little before closing so it wasn't too crowded, which was fine by me, and it also meant we missed the ladies who'll scrub you down, which was also fine by me. Outside, the male patrons were relaxing in their towels with beers in hand. Thankfully, the women's area was upstairs and out of sight. My trip to Budapest back in 2000 was a great intro to what we were in for, but this was slightly different than the Turkish baths. No pools, just a hot steamy concrete room with tiered benches that gets hotter and steamer the higher up you go, and a tiled room next door with ice cold showers to cool off between rounds. Like Budapest, they give you a towel at the entrance, which is all you're allowed to wear. But the Finns also give you birch branches. I'd heard about this and envisioned people getting bruised from sticks, but it turns out the leafy branches are more like beating yourself with a pom-pom, releasing a pleasant fragrance from the leaves and apparently opening up the sinuses and improving circulation.

our uniform

Loving heat, I spent as long as they'd let us on the top bench, sweating like crazy and whacking my arms and legs with the leaves before sprinting to the showers for a frigid splash and repeating this procedure. I could feel the weeks of hiking around cities and running with my heavy backpack melting away, and thought this was the perfect thing to do before being crammed into a seat for hours on the flight home. I stretched, relaxed, and was glowing a vibrant shade of pink by the time we were through. I probably also shed a few pounds from sweat, but sadly this doesn't burn calories from chocolate like it does water.

another satisfied customer

Buying the largest bottles I could carry at a nearby grocery store and some light fare for dinner, we took a street car back to our hotel and started the process of cramming all our new treasures in our luggage for the flight home.

Nun for a Night

We arrived in Turku early in the morning, which felt even earlier after such a short night.  Mercifully, one of the girls from the conference let us crash at her place for a few hours before hitting the tourist trail.  I was zonked out in a matter of moments, and was shocked to wake up several hours later.  Clearly this was needed!  We freshened up a bit and set off for the bus to the downtown to find the Tourist Info office and a place to stay for the night.  It started to rain along the way, so by the time we got to the office I only cared that the place was cheap and nearby.  As it turned out, the Catholics were an answer to our Mormon prayers!

The guy at the info desk was somewhat kidding when he asked if we wanted to stay in a convent, but I thought it'd be the perfect place for some peace and quiet to recuperate after the weekend.  Here are my nun-creds that he wasn't aware of:  I played a nun in my junior high production of "The Sound of Music", my family regularly quotes a line from "Sister Act", and my lifestyle involves vows of chastity and obedience (and occasional post-trip poverty).  Plus, I'm always up for a novelty and this place didn't disappoint. 

Sanctuary!

Our rooms were pretty bare except for a crucifix above the beds, but it was clean and quiet.  I did notice one thing:  in this culturally Lutheran, mostly secular country, most of the nuns were from India.  I know they weren't deliberately outsourced, but it still made me smile and they were so sweet!

Something we didn't confess to the nuns:  Maggie had been an LDS missionary here a few years ago—we both love Jesus, and that's all they needed to know.  But it also meant that Maggie knew what to see and do, and had some folks she wanted to reconnect with.  In the end, we met up with Anna and had some Finnish kebabs.  I thought I'd eaten enough Turkish and Greek ones to be a pro, but these had a unique flavor and a tomato-based sauce.  The huge portion size was familiar, though, and I happily ate warm food while drying off inside the restaurant for as long as possible in the hopes the rain would let up.

Maggie and Anna with a Finnish kebab

Turku cathedral

We settled for a drizzle and headed to the cathedral, which was consecrated in 1300.  It had a huge mural around the nave, but as usual the stained-glass windows were my favorites (not original, but very old).

We wandered along the river that cuts through the town and arrived at an art/history museum.  It was just planning on being the former, but during the excavation of the basement uncovered enough medieval streets and building foundations to warrant turning the basement into an additional museum.  It turned out to be my favorite of the pair. Fun facts abut Turku:  it's the oldest city in Finland and was originally the capital—a blend of Finns, Swedes, and Hanseatic merchants (Germans).  It seemed like a nice place to live, but this day was a reminder how much the weather and quality of sleep affects your experience of a place.  In short, we wrapped it up pretty early and returned to our sanctuary for the night.

Ferry to Finland

Even more exhausted than the day before, I rolled out of bed and downstairs in time for church.  The shortest commute I've ever had to Sacrament Meeting!  We kept it short but sweet, and used the time afterward to exchange contact information and say goodbye to our new friends.  I was surprised at how quickly we'd bonded with so many people and didn't want the fun to end, but eventually we parted and took the train to Stockholm to enjoy a few hours before catching the ferry.  It was clearly the end of a holiday weekend, and nearly impossible to find a locker at the train station for our luggage...and those that were free were too small for Maggie's bag.  We decided to use this as a practice run for visiting the ferry terminal, and were fortunate to find huge lockers there for her bag so we could wander Stockholm unfettered.  Our time was just long enough to do a few things, but not long enough to do much.  We had some unfinished business with a few gift shops and did that first, and then wandered around the waterfront enjoying a beautiful day with beautiful views.

It included a brief stop at a memorial that brought back a flood of memories...but not because of who it honored.  How many people have memorials to them in multiple countries?  Raoul Wallenberg is one of those men, and one of the few that deserved it.  I'd remembered he was a Swedish diplomat who went to Budapest (where I'd seen the other memorial) to rescue as many Jews as possible in the last days of WW2, but from there the details were really vague.  I committed to learning more about him when we returned to the US, and we continued on our way.  One of my last purchases is Sweden was a long-overdue Magnum bar.  It's not as exciting now that you can buy them in the US, too, but it still felt like something I had to do while in Europe and made sure to choose a flavor I hadn't had before.  We decided to play it safe in estimating the time needed to return to the ferry terminal, and for once I arrived somewhere early.  It provided a much-needed opportunity to work on writing postcards to my family, and was just nice to sit after so much excitement for the past few days.  It wasn't quiet for long, though, before we were joined by some familiar faces. 

In the course of the conference we'd learned that most of the Finns were taking the same ferry back to Finland, and that we'd be on the same boat with our new friends.  This was my first time on a cruise ship and I was so excited to see what it was like.  I was told it was customary to have your photo taken as you embarked, and made sure to do that. 

my elegant embarkation portrait

Then, it was off to find our cabin...in 4th class.  I didn't know such a thing existed, but it turned out we were below the auto decks of the boat.  It was fine, though, because it meant we had the cozy space of 4 bunk beds to ourselves, and it was a short walk down the hall to the bathroom.  As it turned out, we wouldn't be spending much time down there anyway.

One bunk for me, and one for the chocolate.

Setting our bags down, we went up on top to enjoy the view of the Swedish coastline from the upper deck.  We passed by many beautiful homes, almost all of which had a sauna right on the waterfront.  I was just so happy to be back on the water!

Feeling very nautical

After a while we went down to explore more of the ship, including its duty-free shop.  I normally breeze right through these at the airports (other than sampling new perfumes), but somehow got it into my head that this was the perfect time to stock up on chocolate to bring home.  Sometime later, I left the store with over 3 KILOS of chocolate and gummibears!  We ran into our Finnish friends in the shop, who were way more sensible in their purchases, and got on the elevator together and started planning our evening.  In the excitement I took out my phone to check the time, but had my hands so full of chocolate and my camera that I dropped my phone and the back popped off.  It couldn't have been at a worse time, as the elevator doors were open.  Everyone kindly scrambled to help me find all the parts and I thought it was fine, until I went to use it.  The date was several years off, and I thought it was the effect of being so far below water, but when I opened up the back of my phone I discovered the SIM card was missing. Knowing we picked up everything we could see, I had to conclude it dropped down the elevator shaft while the doors were open.  It was funny to think that it could be permanently sailing between Sweden and Finland at the bottom of the ship, but then I thought of the possibility of someone finding and using it to make as many international calls as they pleased.  First order of business back on dry land:  get word to my family to cancel it.  In the meantime, nothing could be done but enjoy the ship.

After dropping off our purchases, we visited the pleasure decks. Alas, we missed the karaoke hour (which I've heard is a sight to see in Finland), but we did manage to find that every TV screen was showing the Euro Cup tournament.  We cozied up to a screen just in time to unfortunately see England lose, but it was still entertaining to watch everyone else get worked up about it.  And once it ended, the discotheque opened.  This DJ's musical taste couldn't have been more different than the conference's, but it was fun to dance in a group with my friends.  There were a few others who came out on the dance floor, including one guy who had to finish a huge cocktail before attempting to join us and totally reminded me of an old SNL sketch. When I couldn't go any further, we called it a night and I got a few hours of sleep in the space we paid for before arriving in Turku.

Midsummer, day 2

It's possible that I did dream about my future husband, but forgot it when I woke up to my alarm. I really wasn’t ready for it, but it helped that I was excited for the reason.  The conference included the chance to do a session in the temple, and I wasn’t going to miss that for anything—even a little more sleep.

I didn’t realize that I’d become so comfortable and familiar with the few temples I regularly visit (DC and Newport Beach) that I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to be a first-timer who has no idea where she’s going.  The biggest difference:  you rent your clothing before getting to the recommend desk and coming inside.  It was also my first time doing a session in a language other than English, and I’ll confess that at points where I already knew what was going on I’d flip through the other 8 languages on the headset to see what it sounded like in Finnish, Norwegian, etc.  I think I actually understood parts of one channel, which was probably Dutch.  It touched me to think that we were simultaneously being taught the same eternal truths in the language we were most comfortable with—and that the Spirit doesn’t need headsets for the same effect.  At the end, they set up the veils by language and you went through accordingly.  It was clear that they get foreign-language visitors all the time and that 9 languages in a group didn’t faze them.  Although it pre-dates the “mini-temples”, in many respects it felt smaller than Newport Beach’s temple and was truly the House of the Lord, rather than His mansion or castle.  Each session room only sat 30 people, and the Celestial Room was the size of a standard living room that quickly became cozy.  On my way out I looked lost enough that a volunteer approached me to help; when I told her where I was from she was kind enough to give me a tour.  It only lasted about 3 minutes, but she showed me the sealing rooms (one’s pink, the other blue).  I wouldn’t say the décor had anything striking, but in typical Scandinavian fashion there was a lot of unstained wood furniture.

I returned to the dorms, changed, and joined the group for a lunch of traditional Swedish food.  I was all over the meatballs and potatoes, but circled around the other items a little suspiciously.  I like embracing the culture of places I visit through music and dance...but I'm not a big seafood person.  Still, I had nothing to lose so I took a little of everything...which is good, because it didn't sit well with me.  I could handle the deviled eggs that had something fishy in the filling, but my gag reflex started kicking in with the pickled herring and I'm afraid my facial expressions could've offended our kind hosts.  I later found out you're not supposed to eat it full strength, but have a little bit with a lot of potato.  Too late, I'm afraid, and I likely won't be attempting that again anytime soon.  In this country, I'll stick to appreciating their meatballs and chocolate!

Our Midsummer celebration continued after lunch, as we boarded the buses and traveled to central Stockholm to visit Skansen.  Like the Norwegian folk museum, Skansen is an outdoor park that preserves traditional architecture from different regions of Sweden throughout their history. I was especially struck by how much has changed for them in the last century, especially in rural areas.  I also learned that their Lutheran churches traditionally put roosters on top under the crosses to distinguish them from the Catholics.  The explanation I was given was that it was a reminder that Peter (who Catholics trace their authority to) denied Christ thrice before the cock crew.  Our time there was limited, but a clear highlight for me was watching some traditional folk dancers.

Their show had a loose narrative and it was fun to see the energetic dances, bright costumes and adorable children who stayed for photos afterward.

apparently, she wasn't as excited

 They still had the trimmings of Midsummer at the park, which consisted of birch branches (looking like mini trees) flanking every doorway and a few giant maypoles. 

 One seemed to be the multi-cultural, covering your bases pole with a 5-pointed star, a star of David, and other symbols on the pole. The other was in a clearing, and after their performance some of the dancers headed there to help teach the visitors the traditional Midsummer dances we'd seen yesterday.  Eager to show off my skills from the day before, I could barely wait for a song to end before joining the circles. 

dancing 'round the maypole

The biggest difference from the day before: these musicians explained the songs and choreography in English as well as Swedish.  It turns out some of my guesses were fairly accurate, but for at least one song they were completely wrong.  It turned out we were doing a dance about frogs, which consisted of hopping around like them.  It looked ridiculous, but was apparently a good workout because my upper legs were sore the rest of the day.  We saw a few more areas of the park, including the area representing where Maggie's grandmother was from, but the time was too short and we raced back to catch our bus.

Our break before dinner was presumably to primp for the evening, but I spent most of it trying to nap.  We saw an email that tonight's dinner and dance were "fancy dress" once we were already on the road--thankfully we'd packed something a little nicer than normal so we didn't feel under-dressed. 

our "fancy dress"

The seating arrangement was randomized by picking a picture and then finding its match at the seats.  I was given a picture of Scarlett O'Hara, and soon found Rhett Butler's photo at a seat with some really nice Finns.  It was a good dinner, but I looked forward to dance afterward.  We had a great evening, and tried inserting our new folk moves into the Top 40 songs.  In true Mormon fashion, the dance ended a little before midnight, and we got to spend the after party cleaning the church so it'd be ready to use for worship in a few hours.  It went fairly quickly, and knowing it was the last night a group of us stayed up late chatting and eating chocolate in a classroom until the wee hours.  I can say it was mostly dark when I went to bed, but when I got up at 3:30 AM to use the bathroom the sun was already coming up again.  Crazy Midsummer!

Midsummer!

At this point, I should probably provide a bit more background on this trip.  As the possibility of visiting Scandinavia came up, we were introduced to the Scandinavian holiday of Midsummer (aka the summer solstice).  They all celebrate it, but acknowledge that the Swedes make the biggest deal of it.  So when our bishop was sent an announcement about an LDS Singles Conference called "Carpe Diem" that would be held in Sweden during this holiday, Maggie and I decided to crash it and plan the timing of our trip accordingly. We didn't just come to Scandinavia for this, but as long as we came all this way, why not party with the (stone-cold sober) locals?  I'd never been to a Singles Conference, let alone one abroad, so had no idea what to expect--especially when I saw the schedule.  On it, each day began quite early with a run through the woods.  My thoughts when I first saw that:  who are these people if their idea of fun is a run through the woods, and if the whole point is to meet someone special and stay up late talking to them wouldn't this be counter-productive?  Still, I figured if they're worth exploring then maybe I'd take a stroll through the woods with my camera.

As it turns out, I woke up a little late and arrived downstairs just to catch the last bit of breakfast. We had a bit of free time, so I went off to find those woods.  I ended up on the wrong path, but the day was gorgeous and it was a nice stroll through the evergreens with patches of lupine.  The most comedic moment was when I saw a sign saying "Haribo Hall" through the trees.  Those German gummy bears are a weakness of mine, and I thought I'd just discovered their secret factory!  I headed towards it, only to find it was a Haribo-sponsored sports complex; no gummy bears in sight.

the elusive Haribo

On the way back I passed a churchyard cemetery, and took a moment to pass through and have a look at all the Swedish names.  Before coming on this trip, mom had predicted I'd meet a guy named Sven (presumably he'd sweep me off my feet, etc.).  Sadly, the only Sven I'd encounter on this trip was buried there (and a bit too old for me, at that).

I returned to the hostel and reported for kitchen duty.  Even on vacation I can't seem to resist volunteering for things, but in this case I think it's because I knew that's where I'd feel most comfortable and I thought it'd be easier to meet people that way. Sure enough, I quickly felt at ease by helping out, but Maggie was one of the only other people to volunteer. My specialty was running the food processor to chop the cabbage.  I was starting to wonder where everyone else was at and when we'd see them, which turned out to be right afterward.

There's a chapel right next to the temple and the hostel, and that's where we gathered for a presentation by an Area Seventy about the Stockholm temple.  He talked about the miracles related to the site selection and its construction.  For example, while they had considered other sites that made more sense logically, they felt strongly prompted to select this one.  As they excavated in the area, they found Viking Graves (in those runnable woods) and a Viking temple, which is quite rare.  It's pretty cool to think that land has been considered sacred by such diverse groups over such a long time gap.

At last, it was time for the main event.  We boarded some buses and rode to Tyreste, a national park where LDS families have gathered for years to celebrate Midsummer. There was a large field where families were picnicking on blankets, and we set up camp amongst them to eat the lunch we'd prepared that morning.  After a quick bite it was time to get down to business:  wreath making.  The tradition is that you gather 7 different kinds of flowers to make a wreath you wear on your head.  At the end of the day, you put it under your pillow and dream about the person you'll marry.  Had I known that it was so easy, I would've done this ages ago!  Conveniently, next to the field was a meadow with enough wildflowers for everyone and it wasn't long before I had 7 different kinds.  One of the women was kind enough to show us how to make them, and was very good at it herself.  I didn't quite realize how big/thick I was making mine until it was on my head, and as it loosened throughout the day I'd stuff more into the center so it'd stay on my head.

sporting our festive, traditional headgear

Another part of the holiday is dancing around the maypole.  Most of the men were recruited to haul it in and help raise it to musical accompaniment.  It looked like a telephone pole with a crossbar that had two wreaths hanging from it, covered in greenery and flowers.  As soon as it was up, we started dancing.  There was a trio in traditional dress, singing in Swedish and playing instruments.  They gathered us in concentric circles and began to dance.  Somehow I ended up with the missionaries, which was a lot of fun but they weren't nearly as helpful in translating as I'd hoped—mainly saying how ridiculous the songs were and to be grateful I didn't speak Swedish. It was easy to copy what the others were doing and it repeated a lot, but as it was all in Swedish I could only make up my own translations and explanations of what we were doing.  Nevertheless, as an occasional dancer and CEL (Crazy Ethnic Lady) I was ridiculously happy!

 (not the most exciting to watch, but the traditional Swedish music was live)

the maypole

After the dancing, a group from the conference decided to go on a short hike and I tagged along.  It was a nice chance to finally meet and talk to some of the fellow attendees, not to mention some lovely scenery, and a few of the Swedes were great guides and naturalists.  I was surprised at how arid parts were, only to encounter bogs nearby. We got back just in time to gather our things and take the bus back to the hostel, and have a brief nap (much needed) before the evening's festivities.  They sat us alternating boy-girl (or as close to that ratio as they could) at dinner, which again gave us a chance to meet some of the attendees while we ate.  There were about 80 participants in all, from several different countries.  The way our new friends described it, these conferences were the equivalent of my ward's activities.  There were attendees from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK and most of them already knew each other from going to the conferences in various countries.  As English is the only language they have in common, it was (mercifully) the official language of this conference.  That being said, there was a small group of Spanish-speaking immigrants to Sweden, and some "only" spoke Spanish and Swedish.

Dessert came in the form of a competition, as we were divided into teams and given identical ingredients to decorate cakes.  To my delight, our team won the creativity category by recreating the maypole out of bananas and strawberries.

We did it!

Our prize:  Swedish chocolate!  After dinner was...a dance.  I truly love to dance, but usually mean the types of dancing done solo or in groups.  So imagine my awkward shock when I discovered that they paired off for the fast songs as well as the slow ones!  Given the gender ratio and how often I hear guys say they don't dance, I wondered if I'd spend the whole evening on the sidelines.  It turns out my fears were for not, as most of these guys were willing to dance and were kind enough to constantly change partners.  In between, Maggie and I were able to join small groups dancing "American style" while couples danced around us.

It was quite late by the time we returned to the room, but wreath under pillow I was a little excited and curious to find out who I'd dream about.  Unfortunately, after all that effort I didn't dream about anyone!  I did dream about an interesting floor plan for a home, though...maybe he'll be an architect?