There is so much being written today about the importance of connection for our health and wellbeing. This trip has given me a chance to think about my dad who was a "consumate connector." When he was about 81, he even took a train trip by himself from Minneapolis, to Chicago, to Washington D.C., to New York City, and finally to Providence, R.I. - for the sole purpose of reconnecting with people who had been important to him in his life. I've reached the age where I can now more fully appreciate the legacy my dad passed on about how meaningful it can be to connect with someone new or reconnect with someone from your past.  When we left for Norway, we had no idea we'd actually be able to meet with some of Greg's relatives. But the chance to sit down and have conversations with both Ola and Kjell was a great experience! And, to have the chance to reconnect after all these years with Siru, 53 years after she lived with our family, was amazing. It was wonderful to rem...

Today, anticipating another rainy cold day, we decided to hike to the Perlman Museum. The building consists of an immense glass dome that sits on top of six hot-water tanks each filled with geothermal heated water.  This beautiful museum features the "wonders of Iceland" with exhibits on the glaciers, volcanoes,  earthquakes, and northern lights.  There is a revolving glass dome cafe as well as an observation deck encircling the glass dome.  One of the exhibits was an ice cave made with real ice. After our time at the museum, we spent a couple of hours walking around the center of Reykjavik on an afternoon that included some sunshine.    We had a delicious final dinner at Reykjavik Kitchen before returning to our hotel. Our hotel looked very different tonight with some sunshine than when we arrived in the pouring rain. Each night when we've arrived back, our bed has been turned down and a piece of chocolate has been placed on our pillows.  Now it'...

As many of you know, Icelandair offers an "Iceland Stopover" where you can get off the plane in Iceland, spend a few days, then continue on to your destination. So, since we were flying Icelandair, it seemed like a good opportunity. When we arrived at Reykjavik Airport in Iceland, it was cold and raining hard.  We hopped on the shuttle bus to head to downtown Reykjavik and found our small boutique hotel that we had booked. When we arrived, there was a buzzer - luckily, someone showed up to the door right way and let us in. The hotel is old and quaint and the room is really nice.  We decided that the best way to get our "Taste of Iceland" would be to book a tour with a tour guide. So we signed up for a 10-hour tour where we had to meet at a bus stop pick-up at 7:30 am. We got up early enough to go get some coffee - because the European's idea of a cup of coffee is much less than what we're used to, we bought three.  Our first stop was at Kerio Volcanic Crater...

On our last full day in Finland, we took the train to Helsinki where we had our own personal guide. Since Niko sold his business years ago, he was trained and works as a tour guide in Helsinki and Lahti. Niko was very excited to show us Oodi, the Helsinki Central Library which opened about five years ago. The idea of a central library was conceived in 1988 with planning starting ten years later. In January 2015, the decision was made to build the library. The idea was that Oodi would become the flagship project of the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence.  The library's name was chosen through a contest. The winner from over 1600 suggestions was Oodi (ode) which means a lyrical poem.  The library doors were opened to the public on the eve of Finland's Independence Day: December 5, 2018.  Oodi has many well-equipped and accessible facilities, from meeting rooms to a cinema capable of accommodating 250 people. Hundreds of events including author visits, lectures, and...