stockholm, part 2

Those of you who have been to Stockholm know that the shopping there is amazing.  The Swedish people are very fashionable and trendy and clearly don't take their shopping lightly.  We decided to check out the shopping scene in Stockholm on Friday afternoon.  We figured with the snow and cold weather, we'd be better off indoors for most of the time.  We spent lots of time in the department stores, specialty shops, malls/galleries, etc.  It was a lot of fun to see how things compared to not only the U.S. but what we are now familiar with in Finland as well.  There was an H&M on every block (not an exaggeration) and more shoe stores than I have ever seen (along with everything else....)  We didn't buy a ton of stuff- shopping wasn't really our goal for the trip- but we did have a lot of fun looking.  I think we actually came home with more grocery items than personal items... they had a different selection of "American" groceries than we do here, so naturally, we had to stock up!

We got back to the hotel to rest for a little bit and get ready for dinner.  We already had our sights on one place in particular- the Hard Rock Cafe.  Most people who go to Sweden would want to taste a sample of what Swedish food is like.... not us!  A good old American burger, chicken strips & french fries satisfied us more than you could ever imagine.  We haven't found many restaurants over here that we really like, so we were pretty excited to just have some food that was "normal" to us and stuck with the safe choice.  No regrets!  Hubs did have a little tease though... the drink menu listed that they had "Miller Lite" in bottles.  I'm pretty sure he almost started to drool just reading that... the Finnish beer leaves a lot to be desired.  All that excitement for nothing though, of course they were all out.  He was a good sport and didn't let it ruin the rest of the meal though :)

Walking back to the hotel was beautiful with all the street lights, fresh snow covered ground and trees, and amazing architecture of the buildings.  It made me envious of all the lucky people who get to live in them.  Maybe one of these years.... ;)

Saturday was sightseeing day.  We had booked a bus tour along with our boat tickets, thinking it would be the perfect way to see most of the main sights (but from a warm and comfy bus)... and it was.  Taking the tour around the whole city made me fall in love with it even more.  I can't even count how many times I asked J if we could just go back to Finland and get Maddie and come right back to Sweden.  Oh yeah, I guess that little thing called "work" kind of gets in the way of that plan.... :)

After the bus tour, we were on a mission to find lunch.  We had driven past a Burger King on the bus.... and I was determined to find it.  I'm not usually a big fast food go-er, but it's just one of those things that you see and just have to have it just because it reminds you of home.  There was only one problem- we had no idea where it was.  Bound and determined, I remembered taking a picture of it... so I scrolled through the pictures I had taken on the bus.  I found a picture taken near where we were at the moment, scrolled back 3 pictures and... voila!  It had to be close!  We walked a couple blocks back and thereeee she was.  Thank goodness I had snapped so many pictures on the bus or we would have never found it ;).  We were happy campers. 

We walked around a little while longer and by then it was time to head to the hotel, grab our luggage and head to the boat home (not forgetting to stop at the counter and get our cabin upgrade first, of course!).  We arrived back in Helsinki on Sunday morning to freezing cold weather.  It was -30C, or -22F.  Real temperature, not including windchill.  Little did we know, that lovely weather would be staying with us for the next 2 1/2 weeks.  On the bright side, at least it has been nice and sunny... and finally starting to warm up now.

We had an amazing trip and cannot wait to go back.  It was a perfect little getaway before returning to Helsinki.  Most importantly, we were both refreshed and well-rested & the hubs was more than ready to get back to the rink to finish out the last month of the regular season before playoffs :)

Anyways, here are some of the pictures from our trip.

stockholm, part 1

Two weeks ago (has time really flown that fast?) was another one of the National team breaks here in Finland.  The SM-liiga takes a week long break from games while the Finnish National Team is part of the "Euro Hockey Tour", playing in games against Sweden, Russia and Slovakia.  They do this several times a year- once in November, once in December, and again in February.  Since so many of the players from the league are playing in this tournament, the league takes a break.  It also breaks the season up kinda nicely and gives the players a chance to refresh themselves. 

Now, it may be a break from games... but we're not lucky enough to get 3 full weeks off during the season either.  I think each break this year the guys have only gotten 2 full days off.  This month, they had practice Thursday morning, and then again on Sunday evening. 

We didn't plan on doing anything special right away, but with all of the crazy stuff that has gone on in our lives the past few weeks, we decided we just wanted to get away from everything for a couple days.  On that Wednesday, we booked a room on board the cruise ship from Helsinki to Stockholm.  We were beyond excited, and Stockholm did not disappoint! :)

So after hubs got done with practice on Thursday, we packed up, dropped Maddie off at the "Pet Hotelli" and headed to the harbor.   It is an overnight cruise to get to Stockholm.  Our boat left at 5 pm and would arrive at 9:30am. 

Our Boat :)





View of the Helsinki Harbor

from the Boat



Now, it's not quite as fancy as a giant Caribbean cruise ship or anything, but on board the boat are several restaurants, a couple bars, 2 night clubs, a casino, duty/tax free shops, saunas (is there really anywhere in Finland there AREN'T saunas??), play areas for kids... you get the picture. 

on board the ship

When we were booking the trip the day before, it was all so exciting and such a whirlwind that we did it really quickly.  We booked the least expensive cabin, figuring that we'd be spending most of our time checking out all the stuff to do on the boat.  We were just glad to be going anywhere.  It couldn't be that bad... the boats looked nice, right?  WRONG!  We got on the boat and went to drop our bags off in our room so we could explore.  Tried the first elevator, no luck.  We realized it only went up, not down (warning sign #1...).  Then, we found the correct elevator and identified that it would take us to our room.  Looking at the list of floors & what was on them next to the elevator, I discovered that not only were we all the way at the bottom of the ship, but we were below the freaking CARS!!  Seriously? (warning sign #2...)  If the ship started taking on water, the cars would be saved before us.  Hubs and I got some good laughs about this... joking that we were like the people on the Titanic who they wouldn't even let upstairs when the ship was sinking.  We got down to our floor, wove our way through the hallways, passing signs stating that they "apologize for any loud noise caused by the ice" that the boat would bump into as we passed through the water (warning sign #3...).  When we found our room at the end of the hallway, our neighbors were a bunch of college-aged kids (at the most) that were taking full advantage of the bars and duty free shops, with beer cans stacked high, doors wide open and loud music playing.  Apparently we were on the "college dorm" floor.  Aye yai yai.

But, we weren't going to let it ruin our mini-vacay.  We had been through so much lately that we just wanted to (try) and relax and enjoy ourselves.  We decided to just go with it and laugh about it.  No sense in whining about it, plus we knew we'd always look back and laugh.  There wasn't much else we could do at that point anyways (except make a mental note to get an upgrade for the way back!)

When we got to Stockholm, it was snowing pretty heavily and the fog was so thick you could barely see 20 yards away.  We had to drag our suitcases through the snow-covered streets and sidewalks and attempt to find our hotel (until hubs decided to be a hero and carry both of them).  The first thing I saw was a 7-eleven next door to our hotel.  I knew it was a sign of good things to come! 

Shortly after we got to our hotel, J took several looks around and then remembered it was where he had stayed when they were in Stockholm in August.  I swear the guy wears a blindfold when they go on trips and all he sees is a hockey puck  he doesn't have the best memory when it comes to that kind of stuff.  But, I was impressed that he remembered at all!  ;)

After getting checked-in, we hurried out to find the Royal Palace in attempt to see the changing of the guard at 12:15.  I'm pretty impressed with our map skills- we found it right away, and just in time! 

                                                                                   

 They didn't do their full ceremony that they usually do because of the weather, but it was still fun to see and to take some pictures of the Royal Palace.  After that, it was off to find some lunch... we hadn't eaten since breakfast on the boat and we were starving!  After lunch our plan was to do some shopping, since it was too cold and snowy to be outside, we figured we'd save the outdoor sightseeing (and our bus tour) for Saturday.  But where to start? So little time.... so much to do :)



 In attempt to keep this from being the world's longest blog-post (and keep me from going insane writing so much in one sitting)  I'll share the rest of our story tomorrow. Check back then for part 2 of our trip and some more pictures of beautiful Stockholm - the best are yet to come! :)

talviklassikko 2011 a.k.a. winter classic 2011, helsinki style



1952 Olympic Stadium- Helsinki
(photo: S.F.)



So, I've mentioned a time or two that J's team was playing in an outdoor game this February.  It took place at the Olympic Stadium from 1952 here in Helsinki, right before the week-long National Team break. 

When I first heard that they were planning a game outdoors in Finland in February, I was worried that it would be freezing.... but the weather could not have been more perfect! (for an outdoor hockey game that is...)  It was right around 30 degrees Fahrenheit... just cold enough to keep the ice good for the guys and warm enough to keep our fingers and toes from falling off (with the help of many layers of clothes and hand/toe warmers!)  It was even lightly snowing during the 3rd period to give the full effect of a game played where it was truly meant to be played - outside :)

The game ended with Jokerit falling 4-3 to HIFK, but it was a great and memorable experience for everyone.  The attendance was 36,644... setting a new record for ice hockey attendance in the Nordic countries, surpassing the previous record of 31,144 set in Sweden last year.

Since words don't really do the scene justice, I'll just get to the pictures already.  Some are taken by me, some by a fellow hockey wife from the team (she came out with some great shots), and some I got off of the team's website (much better quality than the ones I ended up with!)



Fans from the team did a march from downtown to
the stadium before the game.  The translation
(I think) is "the stadium belongs to us"
(photo: Jokerit website)





Fans @ the game
(photo: Jokerit website)



Jokerit locker room @ the Olympic Stadium- the
two teams did some sort of competition for who
would get the "big" locker room, we won :)
(photo: Jokerit website)



 

Starting lineups would never be complete for Jokerit
without some sort of fire
(photo: S.F.)

 

J wasn't too crazy about walking through
life-sized sparklers and flames... but it did look cool!
(photo: me)

 

All set to start the game :)
(photo: Jokerit website)





Fans @ the game
(photo: Jokerit website)



Action shot during the game
(photo: Jokerit website)



Jokerit goal
(photo: Jokerit website)





Heading back to the ice, J is in the bottom
right :)
(photo: S.F.)



Another shot of the hubs - in the middle :)
(photo: me)





The snow flurries showed up just in time
for the 3rd period.  Couldn't have been more
perfect & beautiful!
(photo: Jokerit website)




Super fans ;)




The game was topped off by a fireworks show
set to music.  What a wonderful way to end
an amazing game & production. Well done, Helsinki!
(photo: Jokerit website)



so.... i fell off the face of the earth. but i'm still here!

Well, it's been several weeks (oops!) but yes, I'm still alive.  My apologies to family and friends.  Things have been super crazy around here, along with a lot of bad "luck", so I just have not been up for blogging lately. 

I also considered setting my page to "private", but realized that it just didn't make sense to keep it that way.  I am still a little sketched out by the idea of anyone being able to access and read about my daily life, but making this blog private would defeat half of the purpose of it.  So, it's open again, and read away! (just don't be shy to say hi if we do not know one another...) :)

A lot has gone on in the past few weeks, some good and some bad.  I never knew I could experience so many different emotions at one time!  Thank God for a wonderful hubs, I don't know what I'd do without him.

In the next day or two I'll post some pics from J's outdoor Winter Classic game and our trip to Stockholm over the break last week.  It is SUCH a beautiful city... we did not want to leave!  Now it's time for the home stretch of the season.  I can't believe it's almost over and soon we'll be heading home.  I guess it's time to work on my posts about "packing for Europe" so I can remind myself how it's done! ;)

I'll be back to catch you all up on things in the next few days.  xo