We are trying to resurrect this blog. Stay tuned for new material to be posted soon.

 

More Finland Photos

Here are some great photos, mainly from Helsinki, and including primarily Heidi and me.

Update nearly a year later

Okay, it took me eleven months and a battle against procrastination and establishment of a gmail account to figure out how to post again!

Much has happened in the interim, of course. Mainly, everyone's older, wiser, and slightly more cynical.

I also have a "new" set of photos from Finland, provided by my hostess and hosts there. Here they are. Let's see if I can do this successfully!

The first one is a nature-only view of the lakes near Koli National Park. Spectacular!

The second one is of the successful Ph.D. candidate, two committee members, and me, on the night after the defense. We had a very nice evening at a restaurant in Helsinki.

In my next post, I'll insert more photos of our days in Helsinki and Joensuu.

Us at a campfire having hotdogs and coffee with our hostess and son and atop Ukkikoli, "Grandfather Rock." (Not sure about the spelling on the place.)

Finnish Party

It's done! The defense was fine. We are now off to a party at a nice restaurant, to celebrate the candidate's successful completion of the Ph.D. To celebrate, we went out and spent money. How else would an American celebrate? It's a black-tie/black coat/black dress affair. Fortunately, Heidi brought a black dress, so she'll be the one of us that is properly dressed for it. I have gray and brown, which, although it fits my personality, will have to do for tonight. Tomorrow, we walk all over the city and get to visit the sights that Heidi has not yet seen and that are the most important.

I got some photos from our hostess in Joensuu. These are worth posting to this post, but I am not having much luck putting them up. These are of Koli National Park, one of Finland's most scenic places.

Three down...

HI Everyone!

We made it to Joensuu and back...and now we are in Helsinki. Joensuu was superb. We had a wonderful time on Wednesday at Koli National Park, nearby. Koli has wonderful views...and we had a great time on a little camfire and cookout. The weather was cool and refreshing. The seminar that I gave today went fine. We bought a few souvenirs and trained back to the capital. The train was excellent. We enjoyed the dining car and the laptop plug-in and the peace and quiet.

Next, I'm going to try to post some photos...

Jeff

One down, three to go

Wow, am I wiped! Today involved preparing and then giving my first presentation. The questions were good, but the topic was too complicated. Afterward, a few of us went out for a couple of drinks and lots of serious discussions. By 6:30, I was really tired. The people that I met were very nice.

Heidi had a better day. She went from museum to shop to lord knows where else. She'll have nice stories to tell. We went out at 6:45 to a nice and expensive restaurant and then stumbled home to relax a little. Tomorrow, a longer and more tiring day still. I start the day preparing for my second presentation and finish the day by riding a 5-hour train to Joensuu. We won't sleep until midnight at the earliest. We are looking forward to observing the scenery between Helsinki and there. We'll be just a few miles from the Russian border there...

Now, to bed, finally!