where in the world is carmen san diego?

wow. where did march go?? one minute i was on study tour with a group of students, the next i am running a workshop for dis that i didn't even plan, and then the next thing i know i am on a honeymoon in berlin! there is just so much to write and catch up on, that it is almost overwhelming. i will do my best and then leave you to some highlights of my past 2 weeks.

anyway, my last post left you in stockholm on woman's day. the next day, i actually headed out on an overnight ferry to tallinn, estonia. you might be asking yourself "who goes to estonia?". well, the answer is "this girl". seriously, i have been 3 times in the span of a year. and while tallinn is very small, i have to admit that it is very charming and now that i feel very familiar with it, it is becoming one of my favorite places to go. probably because i am starting to really nail down the restaurant scene ;)

stockholm is hands down one of my favorite places in the world. it's so beautiful, under-rated, and extremely charming. while it is pretty pricey, you can still find really good deals on cafes, as long as you forget about wine, beer, & alcohol. our entire time in stockholm was sunny and clear skies. the academics on tour were great and left me really wanting to learn more about the specific organizations. one of the visits was to lakare i varlden, which is the swedish "doctors of the world" and they mainly work with undocumented foreigners in stockholm. scandinavia is not known for its open borders and liberal views on immigration, so here is a sweet drawing that a very smart 8 year old drew with their own opinions of the immigration laws:

we rounded up our time in sweden with a trip to uppsala, where the university campus is located, and one of the oldest towns in sweden. here are some highlights of the town:

uppsala cathedral -- dates back to the 1200s

statue of mary inside the cathedral, which i thought was completely real and tried to nudge her out of the way...

old viking burial mounds in gamla uppsala

the original church before they built the one seen above

main walking street in sigtuna, sweden's oldest town

now back to the ferry... it. was. horrible. it left most of the students either sick or sleep-deprived due to all the snow on the baltic sea. i have to agree with them and say it was the worst night of my life, but thank god for disney channel in my cabin. between that and the standard cnn circulation of news, i at least had some sort of entertainment through the night.

my time in tallinn was fab as always -- funny guide on the walking tour, medieval feast for dinner, and lunch at a russian restaurant. nom nom nom. here are some highlights of that part of the week:

tallinn claims to be the home of marzipan, but they will have to go to war with lubeck, germany on that one...

russian orthodox church in old town; a reminder of their past

looking down onto old town

winner of the best translated dessert menu. i'll take the fat cakes, please.

no russian restaurant is the same without a stuffed bear playing the accordion

and that brings me back to copenhagen, back at dis, back to reality. i think i will have to save the rest for another time. now it's time to go for a jog around the lakes with morten so that i can remove the fat cakes from my hips. i didn't even eat them, but looking at them just made me gain 5 pounds... or maybe that was just the cherry pie with custard sauce...