Sadly, goodbye Finland

One more time we would like to say how much a of a great time we had visiting family in Sweden and Finland. Everyone was so kind and very welcoming. We ate like a king and queen the whole time. After leaving northern Finland we stayed in Kokkola in hopes of visiting the nearby town of Halsua. Aubree's family is linked to this area. When we arrived in Kokkola we had a hard time finding a place to stay but finally tracked down a small cabin out on the beach. We headed back into town for dinner. Not much going on in town so we headed to bed early and were up early to try to find a bus to Halsua. Unfortunately no buses were running there as it was Sunday. We decided to jump a train to Helsinki and arrived midday. Helsinki is another nice Scandinavian capital but Stockholm definately was our favorite. We visited a fortress out in the harbor. It connects a large group of islands. Really looked like a deterent to invasion by sea. The rest of our time was spent kicking around town taking it all in. Tried to take a nap in the grass and subsequently got eaten alive by strange grass bugs. Not fun.
Yesterday we took a gigantic ferry from Helsinki to Tallin, Estonia. We got two stamps in our passport that day. Unfortunately, those are the first since we began our trip back in May. Tallin is a great untouched old town. Really feels like you are in medeival times. As an example of how untouched the place is: we visited the oldest pub in Estonia. It opened its doors in 1993!! Everything is either really old or brand new. This place seems to be benefiting from the fall of the Iron Curtain. We tried out our archery skills and it turns out that boy/girl scouts have failed us or we have failed them.
Took a bus to the town of Pärnu as it was suppose to be an amazing resort town. Well, it is raining pretty good. We spent about an hour walking around town trying to find a room but it seemed the whole town was booked solid. We did find a room but we haven't seen it yet as it is getting cleaned as a Lithuanian football team is currently occupying it. They are charging us about $16 (200 EEK) for two beds and the manager said the room is in REALLY bad shape. Should be interesting to find out what we are getting ourselves into. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow so we can hit the beach. If not, will have to try a mud bath. Suppose to have good ones here. I think we will head to Riga, Latvia after this. Probably three days there before heading to Lithuania. Sure is nice to be on the down hill slide of the trip. Have been missing our family a lot lately and we can't figure out the damn phones to give them a call. Will try photos next time. This is a very old computer and doesn't understand USB drives. Hope everything is going well back home and can't wait to hear from you. Take Care.