They quickly subsided as I met a few people at the train station also heading to Chicago. The two guys to the Cubs game and the girl to meet her boyfriend. The train was an hour late so we got to know one another fairly well.
Chicago posed my first adventure....getting from Amtrak to O'hare Airport. Because I packed everything but the kitchen sink (even after cutting it back the night before), I was laden with a huge heavy suitcase, a carry on roller suitcase that I strapped to the larger roller suitcase, and a backpack. I made my way the few blocks to the Blue Line and off I went. In the airport I had help getting everything done as well. I dropped my luggage off to go under the plane and went through security. Silly me packed my mousse in my carry on. It was above the allotted liquid ounce size so they confiscated it....I have traveled by plane enough to know better, but I suppose that was a bit of that anxiety prior to traveling. Then....I sat and people watched for a long time. I brought a little notebook to write things down in ... so I wrote and looked through shops until time for my flight.
Sitting next to me on the plane was a lady and her uncle. They were from Latvia! I really am going to a foreign country!!!! I could feel while in the airport a bit of the reckless abandon side of me struggling inwardly with the conservative need for security side. While I love adventure...it is usually just ME that is adventuring. I battle inside with the need for a secure home and family life. It was cause for great reflection as I spent a lot of time in Chicago.
It caused me to think of this homeless man that helped me while at a flea market in Nashville trying to sell some signs. His lifestyle truly intrigued me. How could someone CHOOSE to be homeless? He would get hired on with the circus...make a lot of money...then quit and just live until the next job came along. I think he could tell it intrigued me because his comment to me was: You would LOVE this lifestyle - the reckless abandon of it all!
Contrasted with that experience is the one I had just days prior to marriage. Walking out of the Richards building after playing racquetball with my old buddies in college, Cindy Richards asked me what I valued most in life. My immediate response came almost before I could process the question fully. "Security," I said.
And so...as I looked through travel magazines and found cool exotic places I would LOVE to travel to, and read about guys just roughing it the non-tourist style, my interests and adventure juices were piqued. And here I was, traveling alone to Europe. I really had no intention of living with reckless abandon while here, and while it is fun to travel, I feel a little guilty for leaving my family behind. My craving for adventure ... it is huge right now. I really want to see and do some NON touristy things. The group is going to Prague this weekend. Since I have already been (story to come) I will stay here. I may take a little day trip to some outer remote old traditional style Austrian village ... stay the night and venture through for a day or so. I'll be back for Church on Sunday ... which excites me. I found an English speaking ward so maybe I can make some friends. The German speaking is a little closer, I think, but ... who knows, maybe I'll try that too.
Now...for my travels:
Stop #1 HELSINKI FINLAND
The flight from Chicago to Helsinki was relatively uneventful. I really tried to sleep...but don't do it well even while in a comfy bed at home, so I don't know what I was thinking. It was a very long ride...ate a nice meal of cheese tortellini then tried to sleep...hahaha! Watched part of a movie...read some of my book (a good one-Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl)...got up and walked or stood around ... back in my seat, etc for about 9 hours!
When we touched down in Finland I couldn't believe it. I walked out of the gate and no one was around. I only had capris on and it was fairly chilly so my first stop was the water closet...the bathroom. I put my pants and fleece on and off I went. I had to exchange money and find my way via bus into Helsinki, but it wasn't too awfully difficult. Of course, I was very tired and a little bit scared. But I found my way to the water front after getting off the bus at the train hub. I met many very nice people who spoke enough English to get me closer and closer to my target. I was there in plenty of time before my bus tour so I just meandered through the open air market....cool.
The open air market with the Upenski Cathedral behind it.
What I saw the first time I came out of the airport and could REALLY say I was in Finland!
Lots of cool old buildings...I should remember what this is...but I can't!
If it wouldn't have been so cold and chilly I might have gotten myself an ice cream. LOVED the saying...
This cool little park walking path thingy led down to the open air market...I am getting closer to my bus tour!
This lady (the one in the boat) was selling fresh fish...many vendors were...so it smelled like the sea!
Lots of mink....and lots of vendors selling mink, and reindeer, and hand-knitted cold weather wear
The tour was pretty cool. It was hard at the end to stay awake. Being so tired it was just that way when I finally sat down and someone drove me around. Here are a few pics:
I took this one for Scott. It is a soccer field...with NO grass. I thought it was interesting and wondered how a soccer game could be played without the traction grass provides while kicking.
This is a monument to a Finnish composer from Helsinki. It looks like organ pipes but isn't. The composer's name is Sibelius. The next pic is of me...just so I could prove in pics that I REALLY was in Finland! Check out how great I look after a day and a half of traveling!
When I asked Jordan what he wanted from Europe all he said was a pic from the window of the airplane of the ocean. I suppose the Baltic Sea will have to do! As we FINALLY left Finland!
This is the....hmmmm....wrote it down....oh...the Lutheran Cathedral built in 1852.
This is JV Snellman...the Father of the MARC (however it is spelled). All the holes on the statue are from WWII
University in Helsinki library
Oldest stone house
Oldest cafe...still family owned. Some of the cake recipes date back to the Tsars when they would serve them cake
This is the famous rock church...instead of building it UP they excavated and built it on the inside. They are renovating so we could only drive by
Only....the day got ... better? I had a few minutes til the plane left. I struggled to keep my eyes open another minute!!! When I finally boarded the plane I promptly put my eye shades on so I could sleep....only to find that after an hour and a half we still hadn't pushed back from the gate. Add another 4 to this day of fours! Four hours waiting in the plane to push back and we finally were on our way to Vienna! Finnair was on strike...evidently the employees (at least some of them) just walked out. No one was left but 1 guy to push all the planes out of the gates. DARNIT!!!!
The guy I sat next to was great! We laughed about it all and he helped me with some things to do in Vienna and how to get to the train station and which train to take since I would miss the 10pm one. I am just grateful for SO many nice people...and he was only at the beginning for me. The Lord has really been blessing me with nice people to help me.
When we finally got to Vienna we found that Finnair's strike made quite a nerve racking but enjoyable adventure. No one to push the planes back and no one to load luggage onto the next plane. So, after about an hour or so we finally had all the paperwork filled out for lost luggage and how they would deliver it to our places when it arrived. I hoped it wasn't long, but didn't have time to worry about it. But now it was midnight and rainy and cold in Vienna - a city I knew NOTHING about and knew no one to help me find a place to stay for the night.
But...sitting behind me on the plane was a young man studying in Chicago. I knew he spoke English and I felt good about trusting him. I basically asked if I could tag along with him since we both had lost our luggage and had never been to Vienna. He had already booked a room at the Best Western so I went along with him hoping there was on extra room. Thankfully there was!!!! See, the Lord IS good to me!
I only had a couple hours to sleep after getting settled in and SHOWERING and BRUSHING MY TEETH! Boy, those were LONG overdue! I was supposed to meet my friend Heidi in Prague the next day. I found that a train was leaving at 5:50 am....and was told to take U1 to U3 to Westbonhof. Boy...this was going to be a wild adventure at 4:30. I made it safely there but didn't see a train leaving for Prague. When I finally got to someone who could help me...the ticket office didn't open until 5:20 and I couldn't find it either. Silly me...didn't know much then...AND was EXHAUSTED and a bit nervous! I was at the wrong station....only to find out I didn't have time to make it to the right station in time for the 5:50 train (so much for only 2 hours of sleep - fitful at best). The next train left at 8:25. The first ticket agent was kind of a jerk. After traveling all over the city on the U-Bahn I went back to the same ticket station. As I walked in I KNEW I didn't want to go to the same cranky lady, and I could see she didn't really want a clueless American coming BACK to her because as I walked up to the OTHER lady she said, "BACK!!!"
Yes, I was back. And the 2nd lady made it MUCH easier AND I bought a ticket. Now I was off to wait at the correct station. I had PLENTY of time to kill...but it was cold and rainy and I didn't really want to go exploring and get back too late and miss the train AGAIN. Luckily I found a McDonald's and got on the internet. How on earth was I supposed to get a message to Heidi that I would be nearly 3 hours later????? I broke down and called....I'm REALLY scared to see THAT cell phone bill!
But while on I found my friend, Patty Hooper on facebook at home. It was like 11 or midnight! I was nearly in tears from being so exhausted and trying to figure all this out and it not working out easily, etc. It was a total god send!!!! I chatted with her for about 15 minutes and felt MUCH better. I did get a couple pics just outside the train station...to prove, to myself at least, that I WAS in Vienna (tho it didn't look much different than any other European country from where I stood).
Oooops...I can't find them. I AM getting tired...but...I FINALLY made my train and off I went....to sleep in the room by myself!
Next up....PRAGUE!
1 comment:
Such experiences! I would have been curled up in the fetal position, crying for sure! Sure nice to see you yesterday tho and see you were o.k. Can't wait to hear about your first day of school. Love you
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