i love photobooths

time goes by

ten days. that's how long my eldest sister chrystie was here visiting me. besides the fact that we both got pretty sick while she was here, we had a great time. we explored the capital city, visited galleries and museums, ate tasty food, and went to sauna... in two countries. her visit marked my first trip to finland. since it's just a two hour ferry ride you'd think i would have found the time to go in the past nine months but i'm glad that we had the opportunity to explore a new place together. here are some of the highlights from her visit:

chrystie planning our days at hell hunt (gentle wolf) estonia's first pub

hand-made truffles, espresso, and a three piece orchestra...
my favorite old town cafe

view of old town from toompea hill

viru bog in lahemaa national park

palmse manor

installation outside the viinistu art museum which holds the best collection of 20th-century estonian art in the country

helsinki subway
on our way to what we thought was the oldest public sauna in the city... turns out there's now a "thai massaaz" parlor in its place.

suomenlinna island fortress, finland

a very brave duck at suomenlinna

on the suomenlinna-helsinki ferry

port of helsinki

interior of the orthodox uspensky cathedral, katajanokka island, finland

tuomiokirkko (lutheran cathedral) helsinki

the view of helsinki from our ferry back to tallinn

and now...five weeks. seems like a good chunk of time. this winter it seemed like an eternity. now that it's all the time i have left in estonia i know that it's going to fly. but you know what? i'm ready. i'm ready for a job and a schedule and being closer to my family and and... i'm just ready. the opportunity to collaborate with a local artist and show my work, twice, was more than i thought possible before coming here. i've met so many interesting people from all over the world. this experience has been wonderful in other ways that i can't even begin to articulate but yes, i'm ready.