Swedish speaking Finns!

Crossed another land off of my bucket list!  This past weekend my host parents told me and another exchange student to pack some clothers and our passports for a weekend away.  We found out in the car that we were headed to a Finish island called Åland. But there's a catch!  Although it is technically a region of Finland they have their own flag and speak Swedish!

While waiting for the ferry we had some very good smoked fish

 The boat was 5 stories (I think), two of which are for cars and then on the others there is a buffee, cafe, store, aracade, etc.

  The boat ride took about 2 hours and was packed full with people!

 From the ferry dock we drove 45 minutes to the main city where we were staying, Mariehamn.  Even though it is one of the biggest cities, it was pretty dead...
 

 There was a live band in the center!

 The blue and white flag is Finland and the other is Åland.

 Åland has one of my favorite flags!

 Spring has arrived!

 View from hotel

 Saturday evening we went to a Magic show which specialized in fire...It was a little hard to sit still - suspensful!

After the show we went to a nice dinner at the hotell where I tried two new types of food:  snails (little too slimmy), and duck (really good)!
 
Of course after that we needed to work off all the food we had eaten so we went to the park and played!  My host dad proved that you are never too old to play on a play structure :-)

 The next day we went to the castle of Kastelholms

 Abigail got some dance lessons in as well

 In Bomarsund we walked around through an old what used to be a village and fortress .

 The fortress was actually owned by Russia at the time (1800s) and was only 25% finished when the attacks started.

 

 In one of the walls that faced the water you could see the marks where it had been hit by cannons from the ships.

 Moving on, we climbed higher up on the island and took a little hike in the t-shirt weather!!

 

 

 Of course after that we took a fika.  Åland fika's are most famous for their Åland pancakes seen in the picture.  They are very thick and almost spongey...very good!

 We had some time to kill before our ferry home so we did some sunbathing.

 And walked along the water

 And a little bit more sun bathing

One the way back we had dinner the the buffee on the boat.
 First appetizer plate is fish. two types of smoked salmon, 4 types of herring, 2 types of fish eggs, hard bread, potatoes etc.
Second appetizer plate was meat:  two types of salami, chicken, many types of beef, and salad stuff
Then you get to the warm food (main course): lots of vegetables (broccolli and asparagues were the best), salmon, three types of meat, and who knows how many sauces.
But wait there was more!! Dessert: Chocolate mouse, almond cake, finish and swedish pastries, fruit, ice cream and coffe (of course).

So long story short, I do not need to eat for another week!