P-DAY....

DOWNTOWN HELSINKI TODAY

Arrangements had been made for the Temple Missionaries (those who wanted to) to have a 'tour' of several 'official' buildings downtown this morning. Our 'tour guide' was to be John Webster, a member of the church in Espoo 1st Ward, a former young missionary here in Finland and an officer in the US Navy. A great guy.

He met all of us missionaries at the Finnish National Library (equivalent to the Library of Congress in the states). He had arranged for us to have a 'guide' there.....a Finnish employee who works exclusively in the America Resource Center, which is financed by the U.S. Embassy here in Finland.

It was a very impressive little tour and a very impressive building.

The design inside was just beautiful....old beautiful woodwork and great books!

Dad just couldn't resist!

We asked if there were any Books of Mormon in the U.S. section. NO was the answer but we did find this book about some Mormon History. We were not allowed to donate a Book of Mormon to the library either.

We 'found' this little Statue of Liberty sitting on top of one of the bookshelves.

Then it was on to the Finnish Defense Ministry (equivalent to the Pentagon). Only this building had 4 sides and not 5 like the Pentagon has). This is where John has his office. We did not get to see his office, however. Just saw it from the outside.

And our last stop was at the U.S. Embassy. We had to, of course, show picture ID before entering here. And leave our purses with the guards. WE do have tight security here! That is comforting to know. The Ambassadors wife walked passed us while we were in the courtyard. She said hello to us. She was 'walking and talking' and planning (with her secretary) for an event where guests would arrive on Tuesday. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the gate. We did get to go to the SALT Room where the very first talks between the U.S. and Russia took place back in 1969..... known as the SALT TALKS. That was kind of cool.

We then took John to lunch, at the end of the Embassy Road, to URSURLA CAFE. It was a great little restaurant along the shore line. Wayne and I had seen that 2 years ago when we were here but found it to be a bit on the pricey side. Amazing what living here for the past 14 months has done to our 'attitude' toward the prices. We have found that it is the NORM now!

Because we were not that far from the TORI in downtown, the Michie's and we decided to walk there and see what was new since Saturday. You just never know what they might have!!

And from there we caught a Bus #248 and headed back home. Wayne had the ASUNTOLA duty Monday night so we had to be back by 4:00 p.m.

Another P-DAY gone and another new week beginning. The time sure flies by so quickly here.