We took the overnight ferry from Sweden to Turku in Finland.
There was a beautiful sunrise giving us a warm welcome to Finland as we arrived off the ferry.
Some of the team are excited to spot a Finnish Moose in the next few days!
Our new team member Susan and her family hosted us for a healthy and abundant breakfast in Turku. It was the perfect way to start our Finnish Peace Run journey.
We drove North through beautiful nature to Vaasa, where our route will start.
On arrival in Vaasa our team captain Sadanand was interviewed by the local newspaper, Vasabladet, who published a very nice article.
We were also served a delicious lunch by our hosts in Vaasa.
In Vaasa Market Square we were welcomed to Vaasa and Finland by Councillor Hakan Nordman, a politician who has served three terms in the Finnish Parliament over a span of almost 30 years. He has also been a long term supporter of the Peace Run and a great admirer of our founder Sri Chinmoy's work for Peace.
We introduced our international team who were all happy to meet such an enthusiastic supporter of the Peace Run. He offered us some eloquent words on the importance of Peace today and how significant he feels it is to have a statue of Sri Chinmoy in Vaasa.
He went on to say, "Peace is important not only for ourselves, but for the world and all the people in it. We have to do it together. Only with many people working together for the same things you can succeed."
Councillor Nordman with Niharika, our local co-ordinator for Vaasa who has done such a great job welcoming the Peace Run to her beautiful town.
Mariza from Greece and Nilma from Sri Lanka were thrilled to hear about the Peace Run when we met them in the Square.
