Our trip to Finland began with an overnight ferry weaving through the Stockholm archipelago to Helsinki. The views were spectacular, especially as the sun slowly set. Twilight lasted for hours that far north. The light was so perfect I had to catch the golden light on us. In the morning we docked in Helsinki. Helsinki is not known for lovely weather so we lucked out with a sunny day to enjoy this beautiful city. Next we drove north through Finland to Oravi on Lake Saimaa. Fin

We started our Sweden visit in Stockholm which is an archipelago of 30,000 islands. There are classic buildings and wonderful vistas of green foliage and blue water. The symbol of the city is a lion and there were statues everywhere that I found adorable. But I mostly focused my lens on details which caught my fancy. (Click on photos to see full image) Later in the trip we went to Tennviken where Per has a family home. It is on the Baltic Sea, in the woods, rustic and beautif

John was speaking in Oslo and Stockholm, so we made a Scandinavian trip of it, including a wonderful tour of Sweden and Finland with our long time friend Per. I took far too many photos so will break the trip into several blog posts by location. Our first stop was Oslo, a beautiful city with lovely sculpture and architecture. Vigeland Park is famous as the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist. I had been there as a teenager and had been moved by Vigeland's

I spent a few days in NYC and the city was vibrant. What caught my eye most this trip was the skyscrapers from different perspectives. I was staying downtown and so the new World Trade Center was omnipresent. Everywhere I walked, there it was to be seen (click on smaller images to view) When I was midtown the Empire State Building dominated. With many interesting peeks of that city icon. There was wonderful street art. Lots of street artists at work! I enjoyed a ferry ride to