After we returned to Minsk we took some time to get fresh – to then head out for dinner around Independence Square (formerly known as Lenin Square). Below some photos of the square and the Prospekt nearby.
Mir & Njasvizh
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We left the big city behind today; Svetlana, Vitaly and Ihar wanted to show us a bit of the country and drove us out of Minsk to get to two of the highlights of the country – the castles of … Continue reading
Old Minsk
We made it back to the hotel from the office at around 19:00; we (now only Pilar, Maria, Norman and myself) took the metro to get to Minsk’s old Town.
Minsk Market & Office Get-Together
Norman only made it into Minsk today. While he was being picked up at the airport, the preparations for a small get-together began.
Some of our Minsk team, plus Pilar and myself made it to the market to stock up on cold meats, cheese, vegetables, fruits, bread, sweets and juice.
When we made it back to the office, we continued with the preparations (cutting the meat, cheese, fruit etc.) to build up a buffet. We also added some of the stuff we had brought from Spain and Germany (most notably the Spanish Jamon Iberico). Norman meanwhile also made it into Minsk and joined just in time for the office party or get-together.
First Impressions of Minsk
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After having been working with our development team in Minsk for years, Pilar (a colleague from Spain) and myself thought that it is about time to finally meet the team in person. With help of Svetlana – our local team … Continue reading
More of Helsinki
We started our last full day on a (disappointing) city tour by bus; there was not much new to see, beside the comercial harbour and the Sibelius monument.
After that we finally had a look into Tuomiokirkko, from there we headed out for the design museum to see some examples of Finish design, as well as an exhibition on Marimekko. We finished the day and the trip of with a fabulous Easter dinner in a Finish restaurant.
To Suomenlinna
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On our second full day we made it out to Soumenlinna, Helsinki’s sea fortress … Obviously we had to leave downtown first, taking the ferry over to Soumenlinna. On arrival to Soumenlinna we basically followed the tourist trail heading up … Continue reading
God Friday Procession
Today had actually been God Friday – so we had the chance to witness the Helsinki God Friday procession all the way from Kaisaniemi Park to Senate Square in front of Tuomiokirkko showing the stages of the suffering of Jesus.
After the Last Supper (shown in Kaisaniemi Park) the masses moved from the park to the Säätytalo, the House of the Estates. The final part of the procession – the crucifixion of Christ – then took place at the steps of Senate Square.
Helsinki
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A few friends and myself made it into Helsinki (Finland) over the Easter Holidays. We used our first day for some first explorations on what (based on what we were told later on) was the first sunny and (somewhat) warm … Continue reading
Macau
Today we were looking for something different, so we left Hong Kong behind and took a ferry bound for Macau. After a 70 minute ferry ride we made it into Macau, where we headed straight for the historic city center to see Macau with its Portuguese heritage.
In the afternoon we took a taxi to get to the not-so-traditional part of town – heading directly for The Venetian, a combined hotel, shopping mall, casino and show/ convention complex – about three times the size of its sister in Las Vegas. We had a stroll through the mall with is channels and even changing lighting; after that we went a level a down to do some gambling … I lost my usual 10 EURs at the Roulette table.
We made it back into Hong Kong around 21:00. We were hungry at that point and ended up in The Best Seafood Restaurant (its actual name) for some (from a Western standpoint) more experimental food, including jelly fish and century eggs.
