While most of the Australian exchange students left on the 12th, some of them stayed five more days and would come to leave on the 17th of January.
Monday the 14th, I took off school to go to Helsinki with Ailey, Charlotte, and Tess, as our last get together before Tess had to go home.
While everyone else took the train, I rode the bus to Helsinki so I got there much earlier than everyone else and walked around quite a bit to pass the time until they arrived. This picture is of the square right in front of Helsinki Cathedral. It was quite a cold day and about 9am, so there weren't too many people out and about in the capital city other than people bustling about the main streets on their way to work.
There was even an ice skating rink set up in the middle of the city near the train station.
When the others arrived, we met up and wandered around the city just seeing the sights and just wandering around. There weren't really any plans other than for lunch and Tess wanted to do a bit of shopping before having to leave. It made it nice though, because we were just able to take our time and move about as we wanted to.
We passed by a frozen harbor where there was a guy sitting on a chair next to a boat, ice hole fishing. It was almost funny because it was in the middle of Helsinki, but I guess that's just how it is in Finland.
Just beyond the boat and the fisher, we walked over a bridge covered in locks and stopped to look at many of the different locks to read the names and dates on them.
This is the Bridge of Love. A lock to symbolize commitment and love forever. It was really cool looking at all of the different locks, but we couldn't help but wonder. How many of the relationships are still working? And do people ever take the locks off if they separate? You are supposed to throw the keys into the water so that it is permanently there.
One of the main reasons for going to Helsinki was because we all wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. I had beer-batter fish and the food was delicious!
From left to right, Charlotte (Germany), Tess (Australia), Ailey (Scotland/America), and me, eating at the Hard Rock. It was so much fun, and as it should be, the music they played was great! Definately a nice lunch, and not too expensive either.
After eating, we walked around the entire restaraunt and looked at all of the different memorablia. There were CD's and clothing and instruments and letters and all sorts of different things from famous musicians. Some of the things belonged to John Lennon, Madonna, Cher, U2, Bob Dylan, etc., there were so many different things. On the ceiling there were parts of song lyrics written too. It was so cool!
A picture of the inside of the Hard Rock Cafe. It was really nice looking and the staff was international and very friendly.
It was a great meal to end a fantastic day. In the end, it was sad saying "goodbye" to Tess because she was an amazing oldie, but I will never forget her, and who knows we may meet again.
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