For 10 days I traveled through Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark! It is one of the most amazing experiences I've had in my life. I have a new found love of adventure and I can feel the addiction creeping into my head; TRAVEL TRAVEL TRAVEL. I know this is a time I will never forget.
St. Petersburg, Russia
For the first couple of days of my trip we stayed in Russia, but visited the next biggest city which is St. Petes! It was a good time, filled with cathedrals, palaces, hot chocolate, and shwarma (: Shwarma is this amazing Turkey pita dish. It was very good. My favorite part was going to the cathedral of Spilt Blood. It is my favorite cathedral from the outside.
I dare you to look me in the eye and tell me this isn't beautiful! (: All the detail and colors just come together into this cohesive piece of art. There is actually a small section of the cathedral that they preserved from when they were invaded by the Polish. This little area has bullet holes and is beat. They obviously restored much of the cathedral after they gained control back.
I got to also go inside of The Hermitage! One of the top museums in the world and I can definitely see why. If you have a museum inside a palace, it's going to be amazing and it was. My favorite part was see the interior parts of the palace. They had certain areas that were preserved from when the royalty of Russia lived in the palace. Here's a picture of me in one of the many ballrooms they had in the palace.
I can't imagine actually living in a place like this! I got lost and I had a map in my hands. I'm glad I my group decided to go! There was also a ton of art as well and that was awesome. They had original pieces from Van Gogh, DaVinci and Monet. I liked this part of Russia because it was more European.
Tallin, Estonia
Who the heck goes to Estonia?! Uhhh, ME! I had never even heard of this country before I visited it and I can't believe how underrated this country is. Tallin was a quaint cobbled stoned town with the cutest shops all around. This is one of the cities that has the most preserved medeval architecture! It was so awesome, I have never seen buildings quite like these.
Isn't that just beautiful? Although it is a small town, there was so much exploring to do. We went to a couple of platforms that overlooked the "new" city and the old town. My group and I also went to the world famous authentic medeval restaurant called Olde Hansa. It was one of the funnest experiences I've had. There are no lights, everything is candle lit, all the waiters and waitresses speak in the medeval accent, the girls don't wear make up and they all wear medeval outfits! It was a crack up. There are four of us in my group, we all got a little something and shared. We had boar soup, rose pudding, smoked meat salad, and a cheese and bread platter. It was very good!
Helsinki, Finland
I have to admit, Finland was not my favorite. However, I think this is because we had limited time in the country and didn't know too well where the best spots were. It was still a neat experience though! We got to walk around the city and see all the different shops. We also explored around city hall.
They did have a pretty good pizza buffet in Helsinki! Hahaha, of course the only good things I have to say is about the food. I can't help it.
Stockholm, Sweden
(This is where I start really falling in love)
I LOVED Stockholm! It is such a beautifully kept up city and the all the people we ran into were super sweet and helpful. It's definitely an interesting culture and I enjoyed getting to know more about the country. We arrived very early in Stockholm and got to watch the light from the sunrise spill into the city and over the water. It was breathtaking.
This picture barely does this sight justice! I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was. Like I said earlier people were always helpful and nice. We met a lady in a shop and she just started talking to us about EVERYTHING haha, I loved it. She went on about how she loved America and wants to go back to Miami and to sit on the beach. It was a nice to hear some one rant about how great America is! You don't find that too often while traveling. She then continued to tell us about the Princess and her husband and showed us pictures. It's so neat how much she seemed to really love them and just the government in general. *Cough cough, unlike an American who was upset about the recent election (; We won't get into that though.
Oslo, Norway
(At this point I'm absolutely sold)
Just so you all know, I'm going to live here! Norway was so beautiful; one of my favorite parts of the whole trip was when we were able to see the view of the sea from the Norway coastline. I could've sat there and just stared forever.
I just felt so peaceful as I looked out at the calm waters and the beautiful skyline. It's an experience that I'll hopefully never forget. We also went to a famous park in Oslo; as you can see in the picture there was a bit of snow on the ground, this was obviously the same for the park and added to the overall beauty of it. It was a statue park where all their famous statues are in the city. There's also a huge garden of roses that were still alive! How is that even naturally possible?! Oslo is a magical place. The sight of the snow resting upon the roses was stunning.
What I loved most about this town was not only the beauty of it but the actual city, it is a small city but still feels big and it's just a very happening place. People walking all around, coffee shops and cute bakeries on every corner. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the town. This place has stolen my heart. And I haven't been looking at jobs in this city or anything crazy like that...
Copenhagen, Denmark
(I can just stay in the Scandinavian countries, right? Who needs to go back to their job in Russia?)
It's my homeland! Of course I loved every minute of it. Copenhagen is such a cool town filled with old architecture along with the new. My favorite part was probably the boat ride that we went on; we were able to see all these different sites of the city as the sun was setting. The colorful buildings and small boats on the canal was oozing with charm!
Can I also say how much I love the Danish accents they had! We had a this waitress on the night ferry to Copenhagen and I just wanted her to just recite a monologue or something, I thought her accent was so sweet. My group and I were trying to figure out ways to get her to say different words hahaha! It was funny.
I also really enjoyed just sitting by the canal at night and watching the city lights.
By this point I was really sad that it was time to start heading back to Russia (This chick, so spoiled, right?). I have been ruined! I feel as though nothing will quite compare to my experience in these countries. It has really changed me. I'm not sure if I could just stay in America for the rest of my life! My parents are probably freaking out about right now (: Speaking of which, THANK YOU MOM AND DAD! They have funded the best time of my life and I thank you guys for that. I'm so lucky to have parents that are able to help me out and allow me to have these experiences. I love you both more than I can say!
To everyone else, thank you! If it weren't for the kindness of family and friends I wouldn't have probably ever had this opportunity. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you all and will post again soon!
