SATURDAY 'OFF'.........

Every 6 weeks (on a rotating schedule) one of us Temple Missionaries has a Saturday 'off'....kind of like an extra P-Day if you will. President Haikkola started this when he became the temple president just over a year ago. He felt if the temple missionaries wanted to travel to far away branches to visit, having the Saturday off before the visit would make it easier to get there. It has been most helpful for us. We have typically traveled to a far-away Branch to visit when we have had a Saturday 'off'. This time, we chose to stay close to home because we were not sure what the weather would be like. Therefore, we ended up going downtown Helsinki. The ATENEUM ART MUSEUM has been one place we have wanted to go see. We have not been able to get there in the past 19 months because it is closed on Monday! Hence....our trip today. (I might mention that when we have our next Saturday off it will be March 12th......and it will be our last one while here in Finland on our mission. We DO plan a trip to OULU where we have already been asked to speak there. More on that when that time comes.

We did a few errands before going to the museum though. The above 'statue' is on a building in downtown. Wayne wanted to stop for a foto. The 'statue' is actually from the KALAVALA, Finland's epic poem.

I needed to pick something up in the MARIMEKKO SHOP!! Love that store and will so miss it when we go home. Wayne took this picture to show all of the beautiful colors they have.

We took our fair share of trolley's today. It was cool to see this trolley coming with the snow piled high.

Wayne has been 'thinking' about this particular book since he saw it in the bookstore probably about 9 months ago. Today was the day.....he was a happy camper to finally have his own copy! SEITSMÄN VELJESTÄ (Seven Brothers).....another Finnish classic and must have! And we now have!!

We had time to get in TWO MUSEUMS today.....the second one (above) is the

NATIONAL MUSEUM. We were anxious to go there (again!) because the paintings in the ceiling are of the KALAVALA. When we saw them the first time we were there we did not realize the importance of them. We were now ready to go back and take a better look. By the time we got to this museum it was about 4:30 p.m.......hence the darkness of the picture above.

Above is one of those beautiful painted ceilings.

I was a little on the tired side so I sat and let Wayne wander around and look at whatever he wanted to.

He took this picture of making lace for me. I love this form of art. Rauma is the place that is known for their beautiful lace making. I just LOVE it.........wish I could do it.

While on a trolley we heard a little boy behind us singing the 'alphabet' song....with Finnish letters of course. We looked out the window to see the above 'alphabet chart'!! How cute he was. Don't know that we have seen a sign like this and we thought it would be fun to have.

For ALL OF THE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION we have taken over the past 19 months we wanted a little reminder of our 'ticket' thingie when we get on any of them. We will miss these too.

It was a very, very fun and relaxing day.

Coming up this next week.......HELSINKI JA VIRO VIIKO. We look forward to see many friends from the Helsinki area AND our friends from Estonia!!