46242(ish) steps taken in Week Three

Week Three was not a stellar walking week. It started off great with 13006 steps and then ran into jet lag, swollen feet and a broken pedometer. It took me a couple of days to realize that once my pedometer hits 2000 steps, it stops counting. Perhaps I have dropped it one too many times. Anyway, it is now Tuesday of Week Four and I am off to buy a new pedometer (am assuming I can pick one up at Target or Walmart).

For the record, here's the results of week three:
Sun -13006
Mon - 5244 (lots of time sitting on a plane)
Tue - 2009 (oh de feet)
Wed- 11112 :)
Thu - 10871
Fri - 2000
Sat - 2000

A Final Day in Finland

I spent my last day in Finland doing the typical tourist things. I took the hop on/hop off bus, I bought a small watercolor at a street fair, I meandered through the souvenir shops, and I took pictures of things I will never be able to identify without a cue card in front of me.

I discovered upon setting out from my hotel at 10:30 this morning that the city really doesn't wake up until noon so the other early bird tourists and I had the city to ourselves. First up, I decided to head to Temppeliaukio Church, which is a Lutheran Church that has been blasted out of solid rock. The pictures I took really don't do it justice.

Next up was the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour. I headed to Senate Square which was the one place I remembered seeing a bus stop for the tour (passing two stops on the way that I failed to notice). I took the tour through twice so I could see everything on the right and then everything on the left! It took us through the city, out to the Sibelius Monument and Olympic Stadium, back to Lasipalatsi (the city center), by the flea market, and to the harbor. I definitely felt like I had seen everything I needed to see from every possible angle I needed to see it from!

To end the day, as the sun was finally shining, I bought an ice cream cone deciding on SuperTiger as my flavor (which turned out to be a vanilla orange flavor), and walked through the park along the waterfront which led me back to my hotel. It was a great way to end this two and a half week adventure.

79469 Steps in Week Two

Whew! Another week of the challenge is over. This walking thing is not getting easier as my poor abused feet would like a break from it. On the plus side, I walked this weeks steps in three different countries and got to see a lot of great sites while doing it. I also spent way too much time on a treadmill and walking around my room at night so I definitely need to concentrate more on walking earlier in the day.

Here are the numbers for week two:
Sunday - 11113
Monday - 12880
Tuesday - 10315
Wednesday - 10264
Thursday - 10508
Friday - 10013
Saturday - 14376

14000 Steps and a Fall in Estonia

Today I took a Catamaran Ferry from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia which only took about 90 minutes across the Baltic Sea. I bought some postcards and stamps at the first souvenir shop I came across and then sat down at an eatery for a little lunch and to write my cards. Afterward, sticking with tradition, I jumped on the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour of the city. After the bus tour I went in search of the post office. In pure Tracy gracefulness, I managed to fall down the stairs landing painfully on hands and knees. I have no idea if anyone noticed as I was WAY too embarrassed to look around as I quickly gathered my post cards, dumped them in the slot, and hobbled off to find the nearest pharmacy. Once I was bandaged and medicated (no worries, just scrapes and bruises and a little ankle swelling), I moseyed on over to Old Town and walked around, popping into various shops and seeing the sites.It was interesting to see both the Russian and the Finnish influences throughout the city. I love the Russian churchs with the onion domes. It definitely made me want to see more of Russia should I get the opportunity to do so. After all the sightseeing it was time to board the ferry back to Helsinki. It's hard to believe I only have one more day before I head back to the States.

10000 Steps and a Taxi Ride in Finland

I landed in Finland today and found myself with the most interesting taxi driver on the way to the hotel from the airport. For those of you that know my friend Ylrick, think Ylrick as a Scandinavian and you will have a clear picture of my cab driver - they could have been twins in looks, gestures, expressions - it was amazing. Anyway, before dropping me at my hotel, Artero took me for a quick tour of Helsinki. He even showed me the "Silicon Valley" of Finland, home of the corporate HQ of Nokia - they are very proud of that here. He stopped to show me the soon to be offices of Microsoft and couldn't seem to understand why I was more excited about the fact that when he stopped to show me this he stopped in front of the Lawson Finland office. Once I finally made it to the hotel, I set out on a walk to explore the area. The first thing I noticed is that there are a lot of statues of men I assume were important to Helsinki and or Finland. Here are a few of them:

I also saw Finlandia, the Cathedral, and various other sites before finding myself hopelessly lost and without a map. Thankfully all I had to do was hop in a taxi and I was back at my hotel. Here are shots from my day:

To end the day I ordered room service. I mention this because I ordered an asparagus and goat cheese salad. I think I was picturing a salad with asparagus and goat cheese. What I got was a chunk of goat cheese, three asparagus tips, and asparagus sorbet...which was weird but surprisingly good (check out the picture above). That's it from day one in Finland. Tomorrow will either bring the hop on/hop off bus or sailing over to Estonia depending on the weather.

Lawson Europe

I have spent the last couple of weeks in meetings in Europe - both in London and Stockholm. Below are a few snapshots of the Lawson European contingency. They are really are a great group of people to work with..and I am not just saying that in case they stumble across this blog :).