Back in Helsinki we woke to find the clouds had cleared leaving us a beautiful day to continue our exploration of the city. With perfect weather we decided it was about time we took to the water to get a different perspective on the city. The Castle of Finland To start we headed back to... Continue Reading →
Learning to “smile like a hangon keksi biscuit” in Hanko
If Helsinki is a city dropped in the middle of what we would think of as beautiful cottage country, what do you call a coastal retreat that to which you might escape from Helsinki? Hanko. After a few days of great weather we woke up to grey skies and cold rain. What should you do... Continue Reading →
Hopping around Helsinki
How we chose to spend our first full day in Helsinki won’t be a shocker to anyone who’s read this blog before. That’s right, we started with a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. Having already seen the Market Square, there were three stops we figured we would hop off and take a look around, the Temppeliaukio Church (aka... Continue Reading →
Getting to Helsinki – boringly easy
After reviewing this post Katy commented (i.e. politely complained) that there are no laughs. Well, I’m sorry dear reader, but getting to Helsinki is too uneventful to be funny. If you still want to read on after that intro, well you’re probably part of the 90% of readership that are family. No, we are not... Continue Reading →
So It Does Rain In Ireland…
With our time in Belfast done, we've come full circle. We're now back in Dublin where we started our little tour of Ireland.The last few days have felt less like travel and more like a long weekend. With three full days, plus the the time we had in Dublin at the start of this trip, we didn't... Continue Reading →
A Fascinating Day Touring West Belfast and the Titanic Experience
Though "The Troubles", a common term for the three decades of violence in Northern Ireland that began in the late sixties, continued well into my lifetime, they have always felt like something that happened long ago and far away. Even arriving in Belfast and walking around the city centre there are few signs of the... Continue Reading →
Exploring Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland
Yesterday started with an early morning run. That wasn't a planned event, we just underestimated how long it would take us to get Ella out the door in the morning and found ourselves a bit tight for time getting to our 7:00am train. Our first train was from Cork back to Dublin where we then... Continue Reading →
On the Run Around Cork and Cobh
Time and again we've learned that the best way to get to know a new place is to find a local and get their recommendations. Fortunately, this is a skill Ella seems to have picked up quickly. With Ella safely sprung from prison, we decided it was best to get out of Cork and lay... Continue Reading →
Cork Gaol – The Ultimate Timeout
It's become a bit of a tradition for us to take the hop-on hop-off buses when we visit a new city. As I've mentioned in the past they've proven to be a good way to get around and by definition they tend to stop at many of the places you might want to visit. Besides,... Continue Reading →
Busting a Move in a 15th Century Castle
Today was our first day with no travel. So, what did we decide to do...well, travel to the nearby town of Blarney. I'll give you one guess as to what we went there to see. There are a few options for getting to Blarney from Cork but we decided on just taking the public bus,... Continue Reading →
192 Reasons 