Finland to Berlin Germany!

Onward and upward from Estonia to Finland!

From here I must take a ferry. I started to think that this motorcycle trip around the world includes so many ferry rides.. seems like I am cheating!

But then I remembered that the earth's surface is 75% water.. and I'm on a motorcycle, what do you expect Sherri Jo??? Just be glad I don't have to put on scuba gear and ride through it!!

So this is the soon to be very frozen Baltic Sea...

I am excited to go to Lahti, Finland... home to one of my great sponsors, Rukka. But first a quick ride through Helsinki!

Wonderful Pasi from Innotesco in Australia, (www.innotesco.com.au) whom sponsored me all my Rukka riding gear, organized for me to stay with his neighbor and keen Ducati riders, Markku and Pia. Not only is it so nice of them, but it's a great way for me to get to know about Finland, and how the people live here. Due to my need to get south for the winter, it's that much better in such a short time to get a feel for the country I am in..

Yes...that's a nice layer of frost on the road and yard..lucky me...

I stayed the night, they made me a great dinner in the special outdoor bar-b-que house.. and topped it off with a nice hot Finnish Sauna.. Now I can compare this popular custom with hot springs in Japan, Banya in Russia and now Finland! This one in Finland is so convenient.. it's in the house.. walk right out of it and into the shower as a daily practice.. I want one!

Next morning I am to meet Mari at Rukka. I am so happy to be here, because my riding gear from Rukka is incredibly important. As I had mentioned before, I learned that Rukka was the best gear you can have early on in my research for this journey. And now that I have been wearing it every day for the last 5 months, I can honestly say that their advice was right!

I ride in pouring rain all the time, and the suit keeps me dry.. and I have fallen down enough to know that the protective pads do their job! And I think the gear looks great and holding up perfectly after going through so much every day, that is quality..!! I'm sorry to sound like such a sales lady here, they didn't ask me to.. but it's just the truth and if I could recommend one thing from this journey it would be to get Rukka - no question!!

While I was there, Mari gave me more gear to help keep me warm. The windstopper liner for inside the pants are a must have layer.. they have helped tremendously!! A kidney belt I never considered before, but it is positioned right where the cold wind sneaks in between jacket and the pants and keeps me super warm.. a huge help there. And 3 new sets of gloves! Nice big fat warm ones, which since have kept me from barely using my heated hand grips in freezing temperatures.. so wonderful, and another pair which I will try out in warmer weather. I am so grateful to Rukka, thank you all so much!! http://www.rukka.com/ or in Australia/New Zealand http://www.innotesco.com.au/

And to top it off, these wonderful girls organized a proper hotel room for me in Lahti. I got to stay the night in a really nice place that had it's own bathroom, in the same room! (I've been on the shared community bathroom budget for quite a while ;-) AND double size bed!! (those shared places come with little tiny skinny beds).. So! I took the time to wash all my clothes in the hotel sink.. and live in style for the night..woo hoo!! I was happy!

My route from Finland was going to be over to Sweden, down through Denmark and into Germany. However as Mari and I researched the 10 day forecast in her office, this was not going to be a smart option. Too much cold and snow on the way for the next several days.

So, back down to Helsinki which offers a direct ferry all the way to Germany. Once in Germany, it's pretty fair to say that the temperatures are marginally better, staying above 0 C.. which is good enough for me.

We sailed through the night, so not much for photos.. I arrived Rostock Germany, and set to making a new route plan. Just head straight south! The farther south I go, the warmer it will be!! Rostock had a military services thing going on.. Not sure what it was, but that commander looks the part..! I thought of 2 things.. Hogan's Heroe's (I used to love that show) ...

and with all the wars, what it must be like to be a soldier in the old days... marching through all the tall wet cold grass without goretex or Rukka gear!! ;-)

So off I went.. and got on that very fast moving german Autobahn.. It was scary at first, but to be honest, the system works really well. Stay out of the far lane (for me)... keep to the right. Those cars going 300 km-hr fly past like little rockets and I got used to it!! Ha! Sort of.. German roads are built to perfection, it was no problem.

I arrived Berlin! Here I plan on staying the weekend and getting my bike completely serviced.

I ask where to park the bike and this hostel says it fine just out front on the sidewalk - and it was! In the center of the city, no worries!

You wouldn't believe.. I found more naked men around this city.. gee whiz how the invention of buttons and zippers have changed the world.

And I can add one for the boys finally.. the beginning of women's liberation?? Notice, the man above is about to kill a male lion, and the Woman below is going for the lioness.. I wonder about the meaning in that?

I took a little tour around town and learned so much about the history.. so much that it boggles my mind.

I got a lot from visiting the Berlin Wall.. I don't need to tell you much about that one.. can't believe it was so recent history!

Berlin city really surprised me. It was so new, modern and clean.. mixed with heaps of old and history. (I quite honestly expected dreariness if that's a word and didn't get that at all!) Not being a city girl, I actually felt comfortable there. I also met some great friends in Berlin from my enquiry on the Horizons Unlimited website. Nick and his girlfriend Tanja pointed me in the right direction with lots of Berlin advice and then had me over for a MOST DELICIOUS home cooked meal with more friends.. It was such a fun and suspicious night. Berlin is a place I hope to go back to!! Thanks guys!!