Finally in Finland

After a 10 hour flight from Los Angeles, CA, USA to Frankfurt, Germany--where we had a layover for a few hours and where I accidentally left my cell phone on the plane and could not get it back at that time--and after a roughly 2 hour flight from there to Helsinki, Rotary District 5320 GSE Team is finally in Finland having left on April 7, but arriving April 8 in part due to a 10 hour time difference.

To my surprise, we were greeted with a snow storm (see Dani's post for a great photo).  Is this really Spring in Finland?  Hello tennis shoes, good bye high heels for me and flip flops for Teresa. :-l

A bit later, and properly clothed, Rotarians from the Valkeakoski club and a female non-Rotarian transported us via private tour bus to Hameenlinna, a city and municipality  city of about 68,000 inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Häme in the south of Finland.  Neat fact: is the birthplace of composer Jean Sibelius and the medieval Häme Castle (Hämeen linna) is located in the city.  Hopefully we get to see it. 

Entrance to the Emilia Hotel

 

Inside the Hotelli

My first roomy of the trip is Weiping.  Below is a similar picture of what our room looked like. 

While on FaceTime, she introduced me to her parents and sister Charlotte, all of whom are in Turkey.

They're adorable!