Monday, November 30, 2009

Vilnius




Vilnius, Lithuania
sounds like a scary place of your just looking at the name.
maybe because it reminds me of villain.


                                          
It was a great city. Alot of reds and browns.
Venturing outside of the old town was even nice.


                                            
Spray painted doors in an alley.
Hidden away from heavy foot traffic, we found this message a bit off the map.

Our trip had just begun and already my shoulder was hurting from my bacpack.
Lisa was a good pal and opted to carry it for a little ways.


                                                    


The Hill of Three Crosses.
Lisa and I climbed an enormous set of eroded, muddy steps to get to the top of this hill.
Offering a bit of history and a great view, i'd say the hike was well worth it.








We went to daily mass inside this gorgeous church. I dare say it was the most beautiful church i have ever attended mass.


The service was not in English, which, surprisingly, made us listen even more intently.


Its amazing, this faith.
Everywhere around this world, mass is held. Sure it might be in a different language and setting, but it doesnt matter.
It doesn't matter where your from or what language you speak, going to mass is like having a piece of home with you wherever your journey takes you.


The church, the songs, communion...its all the same.
No matter where you go.








Riga Riga Riga




Riga, Latvia

The start of our journey















The view from St.John's steeple.

For a small price, we rode an elevator to the top. We shared the small round balcony with a Slovakian tour group
they were funny!
 -asking us where we were from and the such.





Our picture at the top. sooooo windy and cold!!

Lisa from Kansas on the left and Katarina from Chile on the right.

Alot of stray cats in this city.

Surprisingly enough, they all were pretty healthy looking









Beautiful sunshine, a nice change of pace from rainy and cold Finland.









On the bus to the next stop.

Vilnius, Lithuania.

We are making notes in our journals. Just short little tabbed notes, small reminders of our day so that we can write about it later.






Next Stop- Vilnius Lithuania

Monday, November 2, 2009

20 or 30 moneys

We made it to GdaƄsk, Poland. A group of 14 students.
i love making these trips with other students. 
Adriano is our fathful planner. 
He plans everything..from the flight to the hostel, even the sights to be seen. Our tour guide.








Actually, there were only 3 guys on this trip. 
Poor boys, they were surrounded by girls from three different countries. 
They came in handy though, reading the map and taking charge...







We took the tram everywhere. For only 1,30 moneys ( less than one euro) was how much a one-way cost. 
Alberto explained to me his system for if a country had a currency other than the euro. 
He would just call it money.
me: "how much does the museum cost Alberto?"
Alberto: "only 10 moneys, more or less."
(the italian accent makes the statement) :)


Lunch:

Cassie and i saw it necessary to show off our meals! On the menu, next to the description, the restaurant saw it fit to add the amount of food...in grams! 

Needless to say, us american girls were laughed at because we had no idea what 600g of food meant. We know now...just look at our plates! good thing Poland is so cheap because in Finland, this portion of food would have been very expensive( a minor setback of living in the high quality of life of a Scandinavian country)




Never has there been a trip with so many american in one place!
 I'm usually the only one among other nationalities.

The two California girls on the left, then Kansas, me, yet another California girl and finally New Jersey.


This was our last day in Poland, just about to get onto the bus to the airport.




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