Our Finnish vacation is over, but our new @moominofficial mugs are helping ease the pain of going back to work… ❤️☕️

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Time to head home to Munich. Catching our one and only flight on the whole trip – our first since we arrived in Germany nearly a year ago! – and it’s already the worst leg. Ugh. #trainsoverplanesanyday

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Earlier today: “Can I really justify paying that much for a Marimekko rain coat??”

Four hours later: “THAT WAS A GOOD DAMN DECISION.” 🌧🌧🌧

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We took the ferry to Suomenlinna, the site of a historic Finnish sea fortress. It was a fascinating place – there’s an art exhibit on that I especially liked – but it rained steadily and we got SOAKED. On the upside – time to try out the hotel sauna! 😍

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Caught up with the fabulous @knit_to_code on our last night in Helsinki for some local craft beer and burgers! Great way to end an amazing trip. ❤️🍻🍔

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We get our choice of waffle for breakfast each day included with the room, so for my final one, I went with Nutella. 😍🧇🍫 @amandisnaantali

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The Snook has now crossed reindeer off his Mammals to Eat list! (Smoked reindeer quiche) 🦌

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Heading to our final destination on this whirlwind trip – Helsinki! And with that, we’ll have officially visited 8/12 cities mentioned in Paul Kelly’s classic song “Every F*cking City.” #aussielifegoals

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You guys, Helsinki is *off the hook*. It’s the end of summer and restrictions are coming in, so the youths are partying while they can. Those dark booths on the Ferris Wheel? SAUNAS. So many people out and about. Thank you to my colleague Marcia for meeting up with us!! ❤️ (And yes, our hotel room has its own sauna!!)

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Breakfast in Naantali. Guesthouse Amandis is known for its “maailman parhaimmat vohvelit” (best waffles in the world), and they do not disappoint! 🧇☕️ @amandisnaantali

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Return to Moominvalley… It was less busy this morning so we got to meet more characters and explore the nature trails down to the beach. We also caught two performances—entirely in Finnish! 😳🇫🇮❤️

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The Snook looked rather askance at my Hattifattener eclair. 😂 (It tasted great though!) #nothingsuss

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Spent our last afternoon in Naantali on a long hike to the church, lookout tower, beaches, and rocky overlooks. It’s funny how short summer is in Finland…

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Wow, good morning to you Finland! 🌅🇫🇮⛴

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Spent the morning wandering around Turku, Finland’s oldest city and former capital…

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Whoops! We accidentally locked our luggage in the ferry terminal in Turku. Didn’t realise they close the building for most of the day. I guess we’ll be making an extra trip back later tonight… 🙃

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Honestly, I cried a bit. ❤️ @moominofficial

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After a mishap with our luggage this morning – it’s fine; it’s just locked in the ferry terminal 😂 – we caught our planned steamship Ukkopekka cruise to Naantali, complete with “archipelago fish soup” for lunch!

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The goal of all this trekking was to get here: Moominworld in Naantali, Finland. Rodd introduced me to these books many years ago, and honestly, in a just world they’d be more well-known than Winnie-the-Pooh. We visited Moomintroll and Snufkin, toured Moominhouse, enjoyed the beautiful island and sea, and sent a special someone a postcard… (More tomorrow!)

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We crossed into Sweden on a train that went over a very long bridge! 🇸🇪🚅

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Lovely smooth, fast train ride through Sweden today to Stockholm! 🇸🇪🚅

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Thank you to the amazing Vera for playing tourguide in Stockholm today and taking us to our first fika! ☕️🇸🇪

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We’re on the overnight ferry to Finland. It’s definitely not the nicest room I’ve ever stayed in, but hey, the view is pretty amazing.

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Happy birthday Crawfy!!

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Hello Denmark! 🚅🇩🇰

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Literally picked the hotel because it promised vintage Danish furniture in every room. 😂❤️

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Me: “We’re supposed to go to this place called War Pigs.”
Him: “Oh, I know War Pigs!”
Me: “How do you know War Pigs??”
Him: “It was on an episode of F*ck That’s Delicious!” 😂

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Copenhagen is stunning. Definitely will be back in the future for a proper visit with Princess Mary and the Little Mermaid and the architecture museum… ❤️🇩🇰👸🏻🧜🏻‍♀️🏰

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Brekkie in Hamburg. Note there are actual green things and vegetables involved! 🤯

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This morning’s adventure – a cruise of Hamburg’s Speicherstadt (“warehouse city”) and the harbour! Caught the rain at the tail end of it… ⛴🚢⚓️

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Explored Hamburg a bit and then met up with my colleague Dennis Traub to visit the Elbphilharmonie observation deck and the Reeperbahn. 😳 Then dinner and beers with local AWS leader Andreas! 🍻

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Heading off on our biggest adventure yet! 🚅 (Fun trivia: German for “I have a hangover” is “Ich habe einen Kater” – “I have a tomcat.”) 😂🐈

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Hello Hamburg! We had dinner at the Dom fun fair. 😂 (Me: “Wait, you’ve given me two sausages but I only ordered one.” Server: “Ma’am, you ordered the half-meter bratwurst. I had to cut it in half to get it on the bun.” 😳🌭)

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Everyone said we had to go to Miniature Wunderland, the world’s biggest model railway. The Snook was skeptical. Two hours later, we were overwhelmed. This place is NUTS. 😳🚃🚂🛬🛫

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