Finland!

I was so excited to be the first of my Osborne side of the family to return to Finland since my Great Grandma Elsie and her family immigrated to the US when she was a young girl.  I was sad that we only had about 6 hours until we needed to catch our ferry to Stockholm, but I was so glad I got to be there, even for just a little while.  We rolled into the Bus Station at about 5 am, after a 7 hour ride, and had some time to kill.  So we relaxed in the station for a couple of hours, searching for breakfast food and an ATM.

 After we found both, we decided to head over to the market square.  We began walking around town and noticed how it was so much cleaner than Russia. The sidewalk, buildings. streets, you name it. We walked around for a bit, and then finally found the place we were looking for!

  Finland is so beautiful.  I had been told by someone (can't remember who) that Finland's architecture was very modern, but from where we were, it looked like a bonified, old European town!  I absolutely loved it.  There was a huge statue in the square before the harbor that was very cool.  It was surrounded by gorgeous shops and buildings.

The view of the harbor was amazing!

 We kept walking and made it to the market, which wasn't very booming at 7:30 am, but I found some Christmas gifts for my Mom and a cute hat for me!

After we looked around for a bit at the market, we headed over to the ferry to drop off our luggage.  I say ferry, but it was really a cruise ship.  IT WAS HUGE!  I wish I had gotten a photo of it! So crazy!  Then we headed over to the Helsinki Temple and spent some time taking pictures there.

Paul asked one of the temple workers why the temple was designed this way, with a dark, copper steeple.  And he said that it was originally going to be white, but the city wouldn't allow it.  So they had to build it to match the steeples found on other buildings around Helsinki.  He said that as the color fades, it will start to turn green and look like other steeples found around Helsinki.  

Fun fact about the Helsinki Temple: It is the second northernmost temple of the Church, following the Anchorage, Alaska temple.  AND it encompasses 12 time zones and straddles two European areas of the Church.  It has the largest district of any of the Church's temples that are functioning!

After that, we came back to the market and looked around some more!  I found a few things for Me, my Mom, and my Grandpa!  Then we decided to go to a restaurant because we were starving!  We had this weird meat concoction.  Mine was on a salad and everyone else's was on fries!  But, it was weirdly good!  After we ate, we went to a grocery store to get some breakfast items for the next morning, and I found some seriously awesome Schar brand gluten-free goodies!  I was so excited.

We were told to meet at the port to board our ferry at 4:15.  But when the time was getting close, we still hadn't seen the cathedrals!  I was really insistent earlier in the day that I wanted to see them.  So, very quickly Caitlin goes, "Hurry, let's take some pictures in front of the cathedrals on our way to the ferry!  I don't want you to miss out on experiencing the land of your fathers!" Hahaha! She is seriously the best.

When we finally boarded our ferry that afternoon, I was completely wiped, so I just stayed in the room and read my book.  And get this, I fell asleep at 9 pm.  That never happens...

All in all, being in Finland was a really amazing experience.  And even though I wasn't able to see and experience as much as I would have liked to, it was still incredible being there.  The entire time I had this wonderful feeling.  I can't explain it, but it was a feeling of family, of ancestry.  I felt happy and excited.  And I was just wide-eyed the whole time!

I am so grateful to have been able to have this opportunity!

Until Next Time!

~XOXO

-Keeley