Struthers' Visit To Finland

The day that Rose and Adam left, we were lucky enough to have Andrew's Aunt Nora and Uncle Calvin come and visit us! They ended up being here for three weekends, and they went off during the weeks to go travel around Estonia and Latvia and Russia. They were super lucky with the weather, it was gorgeous weather the entire time they were in Finland. And it rained the day we dropped them off at the airport, ha ha.
They were here during my birthday, so it was especially nice because they watched the kids while Andrew and I went out for dinner and a movie! We took them to the parks, we went to Helsinki, and we also spent one day at Fiskars Village (www.fiskarsvillage.fi/en/), where we wandered the village, watched a glassblowing session, and hiked through the woods looking at trees.

Ritchies' Visit to Finland

While we were in Western Sweden and Norway, Rose and Adam went to Stockholm and St Petersburg. They returned to Helsinki to spend a few days with us before they headed back to Canada. Although we travelled together for a couple weeks, it was really nice to relax at our place and show them our neck of the woods. Plus there were so many toys, Jack and Maddy didn't fight nearly as much as they usually did!
The weather was a bit chilly but that didn't stop us from going to the beach, the park, and taking the kids biking. It was really nice to have them here!

Last Stop - Oslo!

We dropped off the rental car in Trollhattan and took the train to Oslo. Luckily we were not there when the mass murder took place, but only missed it by a week or two. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected by this horrible event.
We really enjoyed Oslo, it was a great way to end our trip. We visited the Opera House, where you could climb the side of the building and walk along the roof to get nice panoramic views of the city. We walked along Karl Johan's Gate, which is their main shopping street, and visited Holmenkollen Ski Jump. We walked through Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Viking Ship Museum, Akershus Fortress, City Hall, and visited the Royal Palace. Beautiful city! But expensive!!!!
It was a wonderful trip and we were so happy to spend it with each other and with my sister's family!

Driving through the Swedish Countryside

From Copenhagen, we said goodbye to the Ritchies and headed to Sweden, where we picked up our rental car and drove along the western coast of Sweden. It was really beautiful. The beaches, the valleys, and the lakes were really nice, and the little fishing villages were super cute. We drove through Laholm, Varberg, Lysekil, Smogen, Uddevalla and Trollhattan. We also stopped overnight in Gothenberg, where we went to the Science Center, did a river boat cruise and rode a sightseeing train. We also took the kids to the beach, where Charlie had his first experience with sand (and by experience, I mean mouthful).
One thing we really liked about Sweden was that the one beach we went to, you could drive your car along the beach and park it right there. No lugging all your beach stuff all over the place, it was perfect!

Copenhagen, Denmark

Our next stop was Copenhagen. It was neat to travel there because the train actually went onto a ferry boat!
Copenhagen was a beautiful city full of things to do. One entire day was spent at Tivoli Amusement Park, which was likely Maddy's favourite day of the entire trip. We saw the Round Tower, city hall, the Citadel and the Little Mermaid statue, representing Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale. There were three beautiful castles to visit, Rosenborg, Christiansborg and Amalienborg that were all located in the city centre. We cruised along the river and also spent some time at Christiania, which is a self-running social experiment of nonconformists. My favourite area of the city was Nyhavn (New Harbour) which is a street lined with brightly-coloured buildings and spectacular old wooden ships. There were 102 painted elephants around the city (painted by local artists to be auctioned to raise money for charity) and Maddy enjoyed finding them all over the place.

Bremen, Germany

One of our days in Germany, we took a train ride to Bremen and it ended up being one of our favourite days of the trip. Bremen is small but beautiful!!! Their Marktplatz (Market Square) is still one of the best town squares I have ever seen, with the town hall, guild hall, St Peters Cathedral and the Roland statue. We also walked along the Schnoor Quarter, which is a collection of tiny streets lined with 15th and 16th century houses, which are now converted into galleries, shops, cafes and workshops. It was a wonderful day!

Hamburg, Germany

We were sad to leave Holland since we had such wonderful hosts but looked forward to continuing our journey to Germany. Hamburg was a great city! We stayed at the Madison Hotel, where Maddy was beyond excited to see her name on everything! We saw St Michaelis Church, the port, city hall, Hafen City, and Speicherstadt, which is a complex of red brick warehouses that used to store goods. We also went on an Alster Lake boat cruise on an old steamship and visited Miniatur Wunderland, which is an indoor model train exhibit which was phenomenal!!!!! Planten un Blomen was a beautiful park with botanical gardens, and the kids enjoyed playing at the playground. We also walked along the Reeperbahn (Hamburg's version of the Red Light District), and through the Elbe Tunnel.
I think the highlight of our trip to Hamburg was the Sunday morning visit to the Fischmarkt, which is open early on Sunday mornings for tourists as well as the locals who are still drunk and partying from the night before. AMAZING experience to see the vendors as well as drink beer at 10am with the locals while rock bands are banging out the tunes. Truly an experience to remember!!!