Amber and Mark's Wedding

Glad I had the opportunity to be part of Amber and Mark's wedding this summer too.  It was surreal to be with friends I have only known in Singapore to be driving around and having a blast in London, ON!!!!  Good times!

Jill, Zoe, Kerry, Liz, Sarah, Lindsay

Toronto Reunions

You know when people ask me where am I from, there is usually a short pause, (due to my confusion) but it was nice to be "home" in Toronto after 3 long years!

Great times - Molson Sisters Reunion  - so glad everyone could make it!  Bec, Mare, Helen, Adele, Sue and me!!!!!  Wonderful night - thanks everyone!

Sue, Helen, Bec, Jill, Adele, Maria

What's summer in TO without the Jays!  Great day!

The long awaited meeting (finally) and baptism of my goddaughter Nicole!

Nicole, Aunt Jill and Alex

Good to meet Andrew (and see Lara and Jimmy!)

Jimmy Drew Lara

Adventures with Helen!

Visiting nephew at Camp

What a great way to spend a weekend in summer - a nice drive up north to "cottage" country!  

Austin's first month at overnight camp and I was thrilled I could meet him for Parents Visiting Day!  It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we had fun!

Picnic at Beaver Point

Helsinki, Finland

  

view from boat - leaving Sweden

July 4-5, 2013
 Mom and I arrived by ferry/cruise Silja Lines about 9:45 on Thurs. July 4 and followed the agencies directions to the tram which led us not to far from the Opera House - Crown Plaza.  Though this hotel was the nicest and largest one by far, it was also the furthest one from center of town.  Though we changed (finally feeling more like summer 21 degrees C) and walked the 25 minutes into town.  After getting a little confused about where to find the Hop On and Off bus (our 3rd one for the trip!) we finally found one, hopped on for one stop and then hopped off again on the Market.  The Market is open daily and began in the 18th century.  It originally (and still does) sell fresh fish, veggies and fruits.  Some of the fish were sold right from the boats!  There are also stalls selling souvenirs, furs, knitted wool hats and mittens, knives and glass jewelry.  This is where Mom and I bought our Christmas ornaments - wooden hand-painted bells with Finland on them.      We enjoyed a typical Finnish lunch right there in the market of salmon, fried white fish (similar to smelt),  round potatoes and mixed veggies.  

    We then got back on the bus and stayed on it for entire circle to learn more about Helsinki and see the sights.  After the loop, which took about an hour, we continued shopping around.  There was this major street called Esplande which was their "5th Avenue" street.  We also wandered in their department store called Stockmann and headed to the 5th floor for the souvenir area.  Lots of looking not much buying.  we basically saw most of Helsinki, didn't go into any of the buildings but we were exhausted by this point ~ 9th day straight of sightseeing.  

selling fish right off the boat at the market

Even on a boat!

last day :(
We decided to choose a restaurant close to our hotel rather than going all the way back in town.  After walking around to the 4 recommended restaurants, the last one was perfect... called Toole.. after the lake.  Mom and I sat beside each other looking onto the lake and watching the cyclists and walkers go by on the path and saw 2 hot air balloons ascend in the sky.  A perfect setting for our last dinner.
    Mom's flight was early in the morning, mine in the afternoon, but it was neat to say "See you in 10 days" rather me usually saying see you in 10 months or a year!  Now off to Toronto - it's been 3 years!

Stockholm, Sweden

July 1-3, 2013

Stockholm

Mom investigating type of tree

In our hotel elevator!

Day 1 - July 1: What a huge city Stockholm is, 2 days was definitely not enough time to see it all, but Mom and I did cover a lot.  We arrived by train and once settled in our hotel Clarion Hotel Signs not far from the train station it was early afternoon.    We started walking and went to Old Town (Gamle  Stan  )  A medieval city with narrow streets, tourist shops and other cute boutique shops.  Mom and I found Xmas ornaments.  The Royal Palace is the most popular place, supposedly on the island; however we only made it to the gift store.  For dinner we walked a good half an hour to a restaurant Lykke's parents recommended called Riche - it was good (a little more casual than we were thinking and dressed for)  I had the typical Swedish dish of meatballs, mashed potatoes, lingerberries and cucumbers.

July 2:  We decided to do the Hop On Hop Off bus to hear about the history on the bus and get to all the places we wanted to see, particularly Djurgarden - this is a large island with many parks, an amusement area (another Tivoli), a zoo called  S        , the Vasa Museum where a ship the vasa is housed - it set sail in 1628 but only went about 300 feet then capsized but in 1961 (333 years later) it was raised out of the water pretty much intact.  We didn't really see it, but we went to the gift shop.
We did go out past the busy parts of the island to the Djurgarden Gardens where there a variety of flowers and plants growing, small plants and seeds that you could buy and a great green house with a cafe in it.  Mom and I, of course, went in the gift store and bought a cinnamon roll and a roll with cardamon which they use a lot but I decided I like cinnamon better.  
Next we visited the new ABBA museum (opened May 7, 2013)... we actually just visited the ABBA gift store, but we did spend a lot of time in it!!!!

Dancing Queens!

July 3 - We took the Hop On and Off Boat tour on the river - it was nice to see the buildings and sites from the water and it was a lovely day.   In the center of town there is a small museum called Hallwylska palatset,  http://hallwylskamuseet.se/en , and it was founded by my grandmothers grandmother. She left this house/palace to the government when she died and said that nothing was to be touched, she wanted the after world to see it and she was a great collector of art and other thing, a very modern lady for her time. 
This was a highlight of the trip, not only did the house belong to Lykke's great, great, great grandmother, but it was truly amazing how ahead-of-the-times this woman was and we would have never seen it otherwise.

courtyard of Hallwylska House

kitchen

dining room

one of the many rooms of her collections - this one china dishes and figurines