Highlights of my European Christmas Vacation

Favorites/Best:
Free thing-sauna’s and huge bathtub in Finland and Sweden
Place stayed-Rothenburg hotel because it had a tub and I relaxed in it for 2 hours! Also because the bed and bedding here was amazing!! I slept so well!
View-the mountains during our drive to Austria, then to Fussen
Meal-chicken sandwich of some sort in a café in Stockholm
Dessert-dessert platter in Munich, included apple strudel, caramel ice cream, and cinnamon filled puff balls
Most authentic meal-bratwurst and sauerkraut in Rothenburg, Germany
Best purchase-wool mittens in Finland, they kept my fingers from freezing and my hat from Stockholm which helped my ears and head to stay warm
Coolest person met-Raja from Geinburg Suites, the hotel we stayed at in the middle of nowhere Austria.
Most touristy thing we did-Sound of Music bus tour in Salzburg, Austria
Best short flight-Helsinki to Stockholm (a 45 minute flight and they gave us a drink a little sandwich that was really good)
Best long flight-Frankfurt to Madrid, I flew with Lan air, which I thought would be a smaller plane without food. But they surprised me, I flew on a nice sized plane, got a meal, and had a video screen in front of me. I could choose from movies, tv shows or music. I decided to watch the E! True Hollywood story on Charlize Theron, I think she is one of the most beautiful people in Hollywood and I learned that she took Flamenco dance classes when she was a teen. After that, I watched some tv shows. And this flight was great because I was on my way home after a long, chilly vacation. I was ready to stop living out of a suitcase.

Worst/Least Favorites:
Moment-driving to Frankfurt, missing our exit to downtown Frankfurt then having to drive about 30 more minutes before finally turning around, then not finding the correct roads to our hostel for a while, and going into the hostel and our room smelling smokey

Did the most walking-we walked soo much everyday, but I think Christmas day in Helsinki, Finland we walked for 4 hours straight. Thank God for one coffee shop being open near the harbor.

Felt independent once again while I drove on the open highways of Germany!

Most expensive meal (that I didn’t have to pay for)-Christmas eve dinner, we had various types of salmon along with two types of caviar! And I ate caviar for the first and probably last time in my life (it was good because they put it on toast with some sort of sour cream and onions, so I didn’t even taste the caviar). In the airport I saw little jars of caviar for quite an expensive amount (between 100 and 400 euros!!)

What I would’ve liked to purchase-most of the home décor and dinnerware in all of the Finnish and Swedish stores. They have some great designers!! But it was all way too expensive and I didn’t need it.