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IPPNW Baltic Bike Tour 2006
- Medical Students Cycle for Peace -
August 21st - September 6th
D.
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Day
16
Tuesday, September 5th
We've made it!!! - from Söderkulla to Helsinki
What do you say when you wake up to this... ?
 This
morning was the epitome of waking up early. Under Otto's incessant wake
up calls, the group arose at roughly 5 in the morning only to find the
lake steaming and the sun just rising. Putting together the tents as
quickly as they could and skipping breakfast for once, the first group
got on their bikes and rode into Helsinki with the second group helping
Benni load up the bus and following an hour later. While the first
group under Otto's lead wanted to visit the sauna once in Helsinki, the
second group would meet them at the steps of the Finnish parliament,
where another meeting with MP's was planned. And while it has to be
said that 5 am is definitely too early - the sights were marvellous...
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 Here's
the group checking out the map of Helsinki upon entering the city
limits. Somehow, they did not trust Otto's sense of direction, or
everyone wanted to acquaint themselves with the exact location now that
they had reached their goal.
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 The
group did not have much time for Helsinki sightseeing early in the
morning. The sauna in the Olympic Stadion was waiting...
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  Once everyone had
gathered at the parliament building, we got a hearty welcome by our old
friend from Kotka and Finland's newest member of
parliament, Johanna Sumuvuori,
from the Green Party, who
talked
to us about her new role as MP for the Green Party and the
upcoming
decision on Finnish soldiers for Lebanon. She also answered our
questions regarding Finland's NATO-ascension and the continued use of
nuclear energy.
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Group picture in
the Finnish Parliament with Johanna Sumuvuori...
...and on it's steps outside
 As
this was the last opportunity to have a common group event, we followed
Soila to the students' house and had some lunch together - and used the
opportunity for a comprehensive feedback round (see below)
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 Now
it was time to put together the bikes, pack up the van and drive it
back to Tallinn (with the ferry it took Benni and Pauli a mere three
hours...) Luckily, we had Kolja's help, as the Russian delegation had
just arrived in Helsinki in time for the IPPNW World Congress...
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The TOP 10
List of the Day
"The
Top Ten things said during the group feedback"
1. Sanela: "I
did not think we could make it, but now we are all here. Thanks Agyeno,
for three amazing nights..."
2. Robbi: "Thanks for giving me back my love for cycling."
3. Andrzej: "It's like this. We have to continue to do our best..."
4. Michael: "This tour was a test of spirit, heart and soul."
5. Soila: She said so many good things about everyone, impossible to
pick out just one...
6. Alex: "I want to thank Andrzej, who was a real savious during this
tour. Without him, we would not have made it."
7. Benni: "I'm a civilized person, I'm glad to be back"
8. Pauli: "It's important to thank all the people who did so much for
this tour in the background."
9. Maren: "Let's hope that the message got through to the people we
talked to."
10. Josh:
"Thank you all for these amazing memories..."
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If you've made
it all the way to this point, you've really read this Blog with care.
Now that the tour has come to an end, all that remains is to thank
everyone for their help, especially the ground teams in Estonia, Russia
and Finland, our sponsors and supporters, Dana for doing this blog the
first two weeks and of course IPPNW for giving us the chance to do all
of this...Perhaps we will see each other in 2008 ... at the bike tour
Pakistan - India ???
MEDIA COVERAGE
As of now there
have been several press reports about the Baltic Bike Tour 2006 in
Tallinn. Also, the participants who already resided in Tallinn ahead of
the tour's start on Monday, gave a radio interview there and might have
convinced a local television station to report on the start of the tour
and appear for live coverage (more infos on that on Monday). For all
those of you who are fluent in Estonian or Russian - here the first
published articles on the Tour. No worries for all those who don't
understand one of the two...more links to media coverage on the event
are to follow soon.
August
18th in the
Estonian Magazine "Postimees":
http://www.postimees.ee/190806/esileht/siseuudised/213838.php
August
18th in the
Estonian Magazine "Eesti Päevaleht Online":
http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/351329
Mentioning
of the BBT found on August 20th on the homepage of the "Gruene Liga
Berlin":
http://www.grueneliga-berlin.de/
August 22nd You can see news
with Alex and Meelis interviews on the internet:
http://popup.everyday.com/popup.phtml?app=Sportnet&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etv24.ee%2Findex.php%3F0563859
http://www.etv24.ee/index.php?0534940
August 22nd
in
the biggest Estonian
newspaper "Postimees":
http://www.postimees.ee/220806/esileht/siseuudised/214176.php?r
August 23nd in
the German newspaper "Rheinische Post"
(Interview with Alex):
http://www.ippnw-students.org/baltic/rpartikel.html
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For
all those of you who would like to send the bikers personal messages,
words of motivation or who would just like to say something in general
about the Baltic Bike Tour, please write your contribution to the
following E-mail address and it will be updated in the guestbook.
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