Hei from Helsinki

Hei Hei Helsinki

2010-06-09T11:05:00.013+03:00

Today is our last day in Helsinki and tomorrow we fly back to the US. Gerald will be back to continue his work on occasion though mostly he'll be working virtually from Las Cruces, but we don't really have to say final farewells. We've got assurances of visits from Finnish friends and certainly plan to return as we haven't seen all we would like of this beautiful region of the world. It's been an excellent empty nest adventure, but now we need to head back to feather our new desert nest once our two shipments of EU & US stuff arrive. So we are still in the midst of moving, continuing stateside tomorrow. We'll be gearing down with margaritas on the veranda some day soon.

Our estimated mileage totals, not including our return flight:
me - 85,000 miles/137,000 km & Gerald - 118,000 miles/190,000 km

Yesterday I met one final goal, borrowed from Claire, of seeing live reindeer at the Korkeasaari Zoo. As with Suomenlinna, the zoo is on a nearby island of its own, and the setting is quite pretty with the cityscape views across the sparkling water. The zoo has natural landscaping and older wooden buildings typical of Finland, and I had a nice quark berry tart in the lovely alcove pictured here.

The dominant male deer was going from feed box to feed box, ousting the others so he could eat it all, and the babies had a cute little bleat as they trotted around. Reindeer are an important industry in the north, so it was good to actually see some in person, as I'd only seen them in the news until now. That male's antlers looked so soft and furry, though they are obviously a serious defense.

And so ends our tale with this final post. Thanks (kiitos) for following along. Our things are sailing west in their Scandinavian (recylable) couture and the Z is packed in there too, all seen to by our careful Finnish packers.

HeiHei, MoiMoi, Näkemiin!
Laurie

Major goal achieved

2010-06-06T23:04:00.011+03:00

For three years I've seen this ferris wheel, Rinkeli, from all over town, as it sits on a hill at the Linnanmäki amusement park in the center of Helsinki, and I have always wanted a ride - it's just my speed: slow.

After some confusion, we finally got our 'single' tickets at the hot dog stand just below the ride (popular with the gulls), and up we went.

Finally.

Up on top.

You can see out to the sea and we could even see the bridge they are building by our old apartment - they're the two tilted piers to the left of the crane. An excellent way to spend our last Sunday in Helsinki.

Our friend Helen told us that when the syreeni (lilacs) bloom, you should look for a flower with five petals, and if you find it, you should eat it and then make a wish (like finding four-leaf clovers). The syreeni are blooming all over now as everything is a bit late this year due the long winter and cool spring, and we could even smell them up at the top of the ferris wheel. I just learned they are the city flower of Helsinki. Three more days in Finland now.

Fresh Air Fashion

2010-06-02T16:03:00.008+03:00

I caught a Marimekko fashion show in the Esplanade Park today, complete with live music. Here are a few summer styles (click on the pictures to enlarge).

More of Suomenlinna

2010-05-31T20:31:00.013+03:00

Here's the theater where they were rehearsing Cyrano:

People do live on the fortress islands and this house and its matching playhouse were charming:

I had coffee in this cafe which has a very 'al fresco' terrace too.

There is an artists' community living and working on the fortress too - here is their shop:

A lot to see, and so different from the busy city just minutes away. It's full of history and beyond what I can share from an afternoon stroll. Here's the site if you are interested in learning more: http://www.suomenlinna.fi/en/

Suomenlinna

2010-05-31T19:49:00.013+03:00

Finally, I can share a post about the renown Suomenlinna fortress, Finland's world heritage site. I couldn't leave without seeing it, and the weather was promising so I was able to hop on a ferry using my regular transit card as it's right within the Helsinki zone. On Memorial day, too. Suomenlinna can be seen from the cruise ships, especially the star-shaped rampart - the first protection point from the sea.
Here is the King's Gate, built in 1753-54 for King Adolph Frederick of Sweden, the founder of the fortress:

A history lesson on the move through the sites:

There is a military base on a nearby island so there were loud booms regularly from their exercises, which really added to the impact of coming upon the antique weaponry everywhere. And this is a gunner's view from the ramparts:

A Moment in Time

2010-05-11T08:30:00.009+03:00

I thought chances were good that a photo I submitted to the New York Times "A Moment in Time" project would make it in, given my location, and it did. You can view it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/03/blogs/a-moment-in-time.html#/4bde647eb93af13e4c00008c

(You'll have to copy&paste the link into your browser.) They asked for pictures taken exactly at 3pm UTC on May 2nd, and they were inundated with photos from all over the world. Nice spot for some armchair traveling. Use the 'return to globe' link to explore further.

Catherine's Palace

2010-05-07T15:12:00.008+03:00

(This is the last entry of our Russian visit - best to start on page 1.)

The walkway along Catherine's Palace, or the Summer Palace.

Gerald's favorite - a cute cupid napping in the sun.

No shortage of detail!

This is an awesome contemporary artwork by Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave - a copy of a dress in a portrait of Elizabeth, made completely of paper.

The palace was extensively damaged in WWII and has been meticulously restored, and these 3 cupids show the darker pre-restoration gold (& more cupids for Gerald!).

One of Pavel's rooms, not normally opened so we were lucky to see more of the palace.

This is the Chinese silk room, with Catherine as a flower goddess in the portrait.

2010-05-07T14:49:00.007+03:00

One of their most important treasures - Venus.

All of the galleries are unique and opulent.

The throne room.

An arcade where Czarina Elizabeth would walk on rainy days.

St. Petersburg & The Hermitage

2010-05-07T14:37:00.005+03:00

A point by the sea, where we saw newleyweds getting pictures taken later.

A small May Day demonstration viewed from the Hermitage, with a police barricade.

Gerald and Jupiter in The Hermitage.

Just a few masterpieces on view.

Visiting neighbors

2010-05-07T14:06:00.007+03:00

We were glad to finally make it across our eastern border and into Russia for a guided visit to St. Petersburg, just a five hour train ride from Helsinki - city center to city center. There was an immediate contrast once we crossed the border, with a lot of ramshackle houses and decrepit buildings along the tracks, but then the caliber around St. Petersburg was much higher. Looks like a huge economic divide between the haves and the have-nots. We were then to spend the rest of our visit touring the czars' haunts and by Sunday Gerald was truly suffering from 'gilt glut' and if he never sees another golden cupid, he'll probably be quite content. But I did enjoy the sheer mastery of craft everywhere, in such abundance, and of such variety. Our guide, Ada, provided so much context as we toured through the Hermitage, the city, and Catherine's Palace. In 2.5 days we toured around in a mini-van with just one other couple - a mother and daughter from Britain who were nice company. I'll just post pictures with captions in subsequent pages (5 in all) - it was an excellent long weekend away, and the Russians we met were welcoming and interested in us, and the iced vodka was quite delicious too.

Why we like trains

2010-05-07T13:57:00.005+03:00

Fresh pastry & tea

Charming cafes

Five hours to Russia!

A relaxing way to arrive in town centers.

Saturday morning

2010-04-17T07:20:00.006+03:00

Maybe?

Since there are no other clouds around, this might be the ash cloud. I've checked some good sites and the cloud matches the direction the ash is traveling so that may be it. It looks like we're under cover for at least another day. With the blue sky it's deceiving, as I learned the glass particles in the ash cannot be seen, even on radar, and they really wreak havoc on jet engines. Here's a good site from the UK with updated ash maps: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/volcano.html for other amateur meteorologist geeks out there.

Under the ash cloud

2010-04-16T19:08:00.005+03:00

We are under the Icelandic volcano ash cloud still, I think, though we've been under normal clouds with rain most of the time so it hasn't been noticeable. But we did think our sunset this evening was rather diffuse - for the moment when it peered out from the rain clouds. Maybe an effect but we're not sure. We haven't had any air travel plans thankfully so we're not in the midst of the big hassles in the region. If there are any other natural phenomena to share with this ash cloud, I'll try to catch them, if the run-of-the-mill clouds dissipate.

Next stop

2010-04-02T17:15:00.015+03:00

Soon it will be hei hei (goodbye) to Helsinki as Gerald and I closed on our new Las Cruces house two weeks ago. We immediately felt at home even without furniture, and we had a bed delivered within a day.

The first evening we stayed there Gerald built a beautiful fire, and the next morning a pair of coyotes roamed through the yard. The next days we saw lots of rabbits. Can you find the well-camouflaged coyote & bunny? (click on them to enlarge)

The Easter witches did return this year, but just the day after we got back to Finland and in the midst of the worst case of jet lag I've ever endured - multiple time zones do that to you. I had misremembered and expected them a week later, but luckily Gerald had some good candy from our flight I could share with them. But no pic this year, which is a shame because they are growing bigger each year and I'd like to have documented it, but they did sing the song/spell which I will pass along here, so all is well.

Virvon, varvon tuoreeks, terveeks,  Sinuelle vihta, minuelle lahja.

Happy Easter!

Noma - a pilgrimage

2010-04-02T16:06:00.009+03:00

In our first year in Finland, I discovered a re-run cooking series on TV, called New Scandinavian Cooking and became a devotee. The chefs are really innovative with local and traditional cuisine from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Claus Meyer, the Dane, has a restaurant in Copenhagen called Noma, in partnership with the chief cook (so they call him), Rene Redzepi. When I learned I would be visiting, I immediately got on their website and found one time slot open so I grabbed it for a solo lunch. It was an amazing experience for all the senses - a huge extravagance but one I couldn't resist. Each bite gave a medley of flavors and the presentation was so special that they brought each item one by one, on simple felt chargers usually so one could concentrate on that particular dish. Here are just a few of the several courses I had: a smoked, pickled quail's egg on a bed of smoking hay in a decorative wooden egg opened before you so the sweet aroma met you first; radishes transplanted from a fertile spot in Denmark, I had to pick to eat - everything edible except the pot, though I only ate the veggies; a cracker bridge with roe mayonnaise, fresh herbs and vinegar powder, and the main course was a small cut of ox cheek, such a tender morsel. I got a set menu - that was costly enough, but if price were no object, you can order a 12-course meal that the chef chooses - all of it a surprise and I really think that would be fabulous. The service was sublime, really, not overboard, and I was not shunted off in a corner either, as a solo diner. Everyone serves you, the chefs, maître d’, waiters, and they all know the cuisine thoroughly. They took very good care of me. It was so worth it. I found out afterward that Noma was awarded two Michelin stars and I am not surprised. This few hours on a Tuesday in March now forms a significant part of my farewell to Europe. More on that in the next post...

2010-04-02T15:36:00.012+03:00

It's smorrebrod in Denmark (imagine lines through my 'o's) and it is as good as it looks. I stopped in a little cafe and had a herring smorrebrod plate with dark rye and beets, and some hot tea as it stayed chilly the whole visit. Apple cake for dessert. When Gerald was off to a country inn I had two days by myself to explore. I had walked all morning so I really earned & enjoyed this lunch on Monday. The other picture is a Christianshavn bakery I went into but after lunch so I didn't try a single thing. I must go back. This is a beautiful canal neighborhood with an awesome church with a huge organ that was being played as I took its picture.

Copenhagen

2010-04-02T14:53:00.010+03:00

A busy few months since I last posted, and it began with a visit to Denmark, my first, as I tagged along on Gerald's work trip and we took advantage of the weekend prior to explore Copenhagen. Though he'd been to the country twice before, he'd never had a chance to see the town. It's lovely - like a combination of Amsterdam and Stockholm. Our hotel (thanks again, K!) had a tour bus leave from its front door so we started with that as it was unusually cold. We then saw the changing of the guard at the royal palace by chance - it was not on my list. I have to say that, unfortunately, their bear-fur hats reminded me of the Wizard of Oz witch's castle guards, so it was hard to take them as seriously as they took themselves. No disrespect intended. This royal pomp is just rather foreign to me, and I do wonder - why? - in these economic times. But such is tradition in these older lands. Not Finland though. They chose not to have a king. As we've traveled around Europe, it's astounding how much money has been sunk into nobility, and the disparity would have been so much worse in centuries past. Still intriguing, nonetheless. I'm such a peasant. That and the Danny Kaye song "Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen" was looping in my head the whole visit. That's because it is wonderful.

Big news in Copenhagen is the first journey of the Little Mermaid. We managed to catch her prior to her trip to China a week later, where she is featured in the Danish Pavilion of the World Expo for six months. For those of you trying to lose weight, go ahead and grab a few of those chocolate eggs. That svelte little sea nymph actually weighs 385lbs! As an April Fool's Day joke, a museum put a skeleton of her on the rock and made the following statement: "...it was the only remaining complete skeleton of a "Hydronymphus pesci", a species said to be extinct since the end of the 17th century. It claimed to have acquired the remains at the beginning of the 18th century, and that the only other skeleton of the specimen, in Saint Petersburg's Hermitage museum, was "not as complete as Copenhagen's" because of its missing tail." Love that wry humor!

Guess that car

2010-02-06T10:38:00.004+02:00

The Helsinki Sanomat paper is running an amusing quiz on the snow-covered cars in town. I guessed #8 based on its smile. I'll post the answers here too (kuva is photo) and note the quirky translation for #14. Good thing there are a lot of transit options available!

Correct answers:

Kuva 1: The Audi A3.

Kuva 2: The Toyota Corolla.

Kuva 3: Honda Civic.

Kuva 4: The 1-series BMW.

Kuva 5: the Renault Clio.

Kuva 6: Dodge Avenger.

Kuva 7: The picture is that the Toyota Corolla and VW Vento.

Kuva 8: Mini Cooper.

Kuva 9: Audi A3.

Kuva 10: C-Class Mercedes Benz.

Kuva 11: Opel Corsa.

Kuva 12: Peugeot 405

Kuva 13: 3-series BMW.

Kuva 14: Ei mitään hajua. Figure 14: Does not smell. Selvinnee keväämmällä. The most obvious keväämmällä. Paksu jääkerros esti auton tunnistamisen. Thick ice prevented the identification of the car.

True winter

2010-01-31T17:33:00.013+02:00

On our return to Finland, we were met with frigid temperatures and steady snows that have left over two feet of snow on the ground that I bet are here to stay until spring. There hasn't been this much cold, snow, or ice in the sea in 7 to 10 years - I see a variety of figures bandied about in the press.

A passenger ferry to Tallinn got stuck yesterday and it took hours to free it since all the icebreakers were already busy with other ships. Another ferry shown here is the one we took with Chris & Jo this summer and it seems to be getting through to Tallinn each day. So I thought I would share a few pictures of our true Nordic winter in contrast to the previous two Southwest US posts, so you can also have a sense of the adaptation we've had to endure along with our jet lag. It was quite the challenge. It seems this has been a more intense winter throughout Europe, too. It is that time of year, after all, and (apart from the icy walkways) it is very beautiful, particularly the frosted forests that look straight out of a fairy tale. I'll try to catch some of pictures of those soon.

Big Bend

2010-01-31T16:45:00.006+02:00

I had no idea that the borderlands of Texas were so beautiful, not to mention the sheer cliffs and peaks of Mexico just on the other side of the Rio Grande. It was quite an eye-opener for me. We stayed in the Chisos Mountains Lodge which is beautifully set in the high basin of the mountains. The Big Bend National Park is enormous and we saw just a small portion in the two days there but it was very awe-inspiring. Here are pictures of the lodge setting and from our drives and our hike to the Boquillas Canyon, where Gerald proved he was "just a stone's throw" away from Mexico, by actually throwing a stone across to the opposite shore; of Mexican horsemen across the river; of Gerald at Cathy's Cosmic Cowgirl Cafe; 'tuff' white rock which is solidified volcanic ash - geological processes are very obvious everywhere there. Also,a great spot we found on the drive there is the Food Shark food truck and school bus/dining room in Marfa, Texas. We highly recommend the marfalafels.

New Mexico

2010-01-31T16:14:00.015+02:00

After a month of travel in the US, I'm now catching up here and would mostly like to share pictures with you of our trip to New Mexico with the detour to Big Bend park in southwest Texas. We had a great time and somehow avoided a lot of potential travel problems that made the news, starting with arriving on the East Coast along with the big blizzard out of DC, and ending with flying out of JFK the day before the whole terminal was shut down due to a security breach. And the best news is that an offer we made on a house in Las Cruces (Talavera) was accepted so we'll share more on that later! Our hotel holiday worked out great with Claire and Kaliecia in the room next door. Here are New Mexico pictures: caroling at the Mesilla Plaza, Christmas morning horseback riding & goat visiting, White Sands visit, Silver City vintage hat shopping and lunching - all in just the first week. Two more posts will follow this one.

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Festival of Light

2009-12-13T19:08:00.005+02:00

Here is St. Lucia about to proceed through Helsinki by horse-drawn carriage for today's festival of bringing light to the darkest time of year, and an article from today's news:

Sunday is Santa Lucia Day, the festival of lights. According to tradition, Lucia, a young woman dressed in white and wearing a crown of candles, brings light during the darkest time of the year. This year, Ellen Husberg, a student at the Swedish School of Economics in Vaasa, was voted in as the national Lucia during a charity fund drive. She was crowned by University of Helsinki rector Thomas Wilhelmsson at the Helsinki Cathedral at 5 p.m. After her coronation, she descended the steps of the Cathedral and lead a procession towards the city centre. Many other towns and schools also select their own Lucia. Over the next weeks and months, these young women and their entourages visit hospitals, retirement homes, prisons, orphanages and schools, bringing light, song -- as well as buns and coffee. Schools also have their own Lucia Day celebrations. Since there can only be one Lucia at school, many little girls, wearing store-bought plastic crowns, stage their own Lucia processions at home for their families. The Lucia tradition can be traced back to St. Lucia, an Italian martyr who died in 303 A.D. The Nordic Lucia tradition began in the 18th century in Sweden. In the 1900s, the tradition spread to the Åland Islands and to other Swedish-speaking regions in Finland.

I can really understand creating a festival of light at this point in the year! Best wishes to all for light and warmth this winter - and maybe some buns and coffee too.

Sharing Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T14:33:00.009+02:00

We did it - we had Thanksgiving on the day, and we both took Friday off too, so we've had a typical overfed long holiday weekend and it's been great. We invited several friends over for dinner on Thursday so they could taste the traditional turkey and trimmings and Gerald's bird was very well received - one Polish guest was fascinated that he cooked the whole bird and asked for instructions. I was able to find classic Ocean Spray canned (whole berry) cranberry sauce and Libby's pumpkin too, so the tastes were authentic. Gerald said my crab-apple sauce went great with the meat too. I harvested from trees in our yard a few months ago and cooked them whole, mashed & strained them into sauce and added a lot of sugar as it's very tart; it's bright red naturally so adds a nice touch of color to a plate. He said I 'out-Finned the Finns on that one' by foraging something right in the middle of town. Gerald also shared his sugar cream pies, and our American friend Angela did a green bean casserole, and her sweet potatoes with marshmallows dish raised not a little suspicion, as did a pie made from a pumpkin. But everyone was adventurous and very appreciative of our sharing this holiday cuisine with them. We had a house-full, and the apartment kitchen got buried in dishes, with people underfoot as we were setting the food out, just like home! I made cream of turkey soup yesterday, and have more stock for another day, and it looks like we'll have turkey and stuffing for dinner again tonight with the last spoonfuls of cranberry sauce.

We did not completely hibernate though after our big feast - we went to the big Picasso exhibit Friday - a comprehensive show from the Picasso museum in Paris, so we've had our taste of culture too. But staying awake is certainly a challenge now in this darkest time of year. We're at 6.5 hours of daylight now, but also in the midst of weeks of rain so that adds to the light deprivation quite a bit. Sunrise: 8:52am and sunset 3:24pm and we're still not used to evening beginning mid-afternoon. But today is also the first day that most Christmas decorations will be hung, so that should brighten things up. It's time for the excellent Christmas markets now too and, may I ask, where did 2009 go??

Our last first snowfall

2009-11-05T11:54:00.010+02:00

We woke to a white world this morning and it's still snowing now, steady but no blizzard. The seasonal shift is on with the hunger/fatigue/what time is it?? confusion but we are more aware of it this year, and maybe it's tinged with nostalgia as this may be our last true winter onset. Next year at this time... that's a saying we are now using a lot to adapt, as we look toward a move to the southwestern desert zone next summer. But we are also taking our vitamin D!

I currently am having some problems loading pictures from my camera so I'll share some BIG news instead. Did you notice the story of the world's largest cruise ship recently built here in Turku, Finland? It set sail last week, with a stop in England and then on to Miami. Having been on the ferry to Stockholm, which we all thought was huge, I cannot fathom the size of this vessel. The Swedes and Danes had a fun night watching as it passed under their bridge with a 2-foot clearance! That's after they lowered the telescoping smokestacks. Here's a bit from the AP:

KORSOER, Denmark — The world's largest cruise ship cleared a crucial obstacle Sunday, lowering its smokestacks to squeeze under a bridge in Denmark. The Oasis of the Seas — which rises about 20 stories high — passed below the Great Belt Fixed Link with a slim margin as it left the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage to Florida. Bridge operators said that even after lowering its telescopic smokestacks the giant ship had less than a 2-foot (half-meter) gap. Hundreds of people gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting for hours to watch the brightly lit behemoth sail by shortly after midnight (2300GMT; 7 p.m. EDT). "It was fantastic to see it glide under the bridge. Boy, it was big," said Kurt Hal, 56. Company officials are banking that its novelty will help guarantee its success. Five times larger than the Titanic, the $1.5 billion ship has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a small golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater. It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members. Accommodations include loft cabins, with floor-to-ceiling windows, and 1,600-square-foot (487-meter) luxury suites with balconies overlooking the sea or promenades. The liner also has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, and a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children.

There's some realtime video of the voyage at the ship's website www.oasisoftheseas.com if you are interested. And of course the quintessential Finnish quote:

Aboard the Oasis of the Seas, project manager Toivo Ilvonen of STX Finland confirmed that the ship had passed under the bridge without any incidents. "Nothing fell off," he said.

Masters of understatement that they are - a quality I find too rare these days.

So happy winter everyone! I'll return to readying the den for hibernation now, but hope to be able to post some of our own pictures again soon, or maybe some small news from Finland.

2009-09-19T12:20:00.011+03:00

We're back to our routine after some wonderful visits this summer and not having as many adventures to share, so I thought I share something else I enjoy here and that is Finnish stamp design - they are quite interesting and varied. The snowflake design is transparent and the sauna pictures are scratch&sniff with a birch aroma - Claire sent some of those on her recent visit. The post offices here sell a lot of other supplies and gift items too and are a great place to spend some euros.

We are enjoying a balmy start to autumn here so far, but do feel the chill in mornings and evenings; it's another month until official 'winter time' in Europe.

Suomi stamps

2009-09-19T12:16:00.007+03:00

2009-08-28T10:48:00.009+03:00

Claire has arrived for a visit and luckily the annual Helsinki Festival is still going on. She missed the French company Les Plasticiens Volants and their balloon procession through Helsinki but Gerald and I saw it. Here are some pictures and I suggest you look them up the web too, to see moving images - really spectacular in person though. We also saw a Russian clown troop last night, Teatr Licedei, performing "Semianyki", a hilarious mostly pantomime show of family life - they too have some online footage - and as Claire studied 'clown' this last year, she was very happy to catch this comedia performance. We'll also see the Belarus Free Theatre Sunday, so she'll get quite a dose of far away art this visit. Gerald and I saw Kraftwerk (German) and Buika (Spanish/flamenco) and so we've been getting around this festival all while staying in town, and all of it has been really inspired. Even the canoe exhibition in my neighborhood! Art everywhere to bring summer to a close.

Festival of the Arts

2009-08-28T10:33:00.007+03:00

Floating giant balloons! As I was happily watching the cute fish floating through the plaza, Gerald pointed behind me and there was a huge fanged sea snake emerging from a side street, then it chased the fish a bit and descended down into the thrilled crowd too. The kids were fearless. What a wonderful performance - the puppeteers just walked right in the crowd and the jellyfish in particular was beautiful with its tentacles opening and closing as it ebbed up and down. We couldn't see the others - a whale, a lobster, some seahorses, because there were so many people - more than the Madonna gig even! I'm so glad we got to see more of the festival this year as we won't be here for it next year.

Porvoo

2009-08-10T15:29:00.007+03:00

We had a busy July with a welcome visit from my brother Chris and his wife Jo. We did a bit of travel around the region - to Stockholm, Tallinn, and then to this small historic wooden Finnish village east of Helsinki. As I've posted Stockholm and Tallinn pictures before, here are some of Porvoo. It has an old fishing dock and a medieval cathedral that dates from the 13th century. We took a 3-hour boat ride on a nicely restored wooden ferry through the scenic archipelago to get there, then a one-hour bus ride back - a very pleasant day trip.

2009-08-06T23:01:00.009+03:00

We can hear her singing as I type. We walked down to check it all out and I took some pictures to share with you - as it happens! I am not a Madonna fan, although we are both from Michigan and near in age, but watching them mount this superstar enterprise has been interesting. I must admit I much preferred our evening listening to the 57 year old Chrissie Hynde & the Pretenders a few months ago - that is one rockin' chick! So - no pictures of the front of the stage as it's pointed to the sea, but here's our view of the scene in the neighborhood (continuing on page 2), including a young fan who couldn't get a ticket - isn't she cute? And they are still running the ferries to Tallinn beside the venue - we were on that same green and orange ship with Chris & Jo just over a week ago.

Hyvää Madonna Päivää!

2009-08-06T22:37:00.014+03:00

There's a big party in our neighborhood tonight - 100,000 extra people are here to see Madonna performing her first concert in Finland, and tickets sold out within a few hours. 85,000 are inside the new concert venue they've just built about at the end of our block, and another 15,000 are cruising the perimeter. Here is the port area before the stage was built and then after - it's about 3 stories tall so it's set back a ways. They've recently cleared out a huge shipping and container operation from this port, ahead of building a new residential area soon. It's a whole new world tonight.

Midsummer magic

2009-06-15T15:37:00.003+03:00

Midsummer is celebrated on June 19th this year, usually with bonfires such at these on the shores of Seurasaari Island. If the weather holds (iffy forecast at the moment), we may go see them this year and I'll take pictures. In addition, the island's website shares the following ways in which to make the most of the special solstice forces:

MIDSUMMER SPELLS
In Finnish tradition, the Midsummer Eve has always believed to have magical qualities. People do all kind of spells and charms. Most of them are in some way or another, linked to ones love life.

Midsummer night´s magic

On Midsummer Eve, young people ate salty herring, which made them very thirsty. The person who offered a glass of water to you in your dreams was considered to be your future spouse.
Ruovesi 1919

On Midsummer Eve when you secretly put a table into the cooking shelter and set it with nine different meals and start to eat, then all the boys (girls) you have been dating will come and sit around the table; but only your future spouse will sit next to you.
Nurmes 1891

How the girl´s flame of love was lit: On Midsummer eve, the sauna was heated with old pine tree branches, the water was fetched from three different springs and the bath whisks were made of alder twigs, which were torn from the ground.
Liperi 1916

When four young girls eat bread and butter on a four road crossing at midnight`s eve, the pictures of their future husbands will appear on the road.
Pihtipudas 1939

At midnight on Midsummer eve has the water of the springs turned into liquor. Tammela

When you sleep at Midsummer eve, you will be sleepy the whole summer.
Kauhava

On Midsummer eve, the women used to go behind the door of a pigsty, kick the door and ask the pig in how many years they will get married. If the pig didn`t answer, it meant that they will stay forever unmarried.
Luvia 1938

The boy/girl who wants to see his future spouse has to borrow the wedding ring of a married couple and on Midsummer eve, dunk it in a sparkling spring of water. After this the girl has to wear boy`s clothes and the boy girl`s clothes and put the ring into the mouth. Then, when you look at a spring, you will see there your sweetheart`s picture.
Pielavesi

On Midsummer eve, people used to sit at midnight on a big stone which was in the middle of a field or on the top of a building which had been three times rebuilt. There could be more than one person, but you had to be silent and believe that what you hear will happen. A laughter meant pleasure, bells marriage, a child`s cry children, a cuckoo`s call the number of the years of staying unmarried, the knocking of a hammer death, a faraway rumbling big changes in life and the ringing of church bells the death of a close friend. Muurla 1928

On Midsummer eve, you have to put under your pillow nine pieces of paper, written on each of it a girl´s or a boy´s name. Next morning, you take one of them. The name on the paper is the name of your future spouse.
Kiikoinen 1935

If you wanted to hear the voice of your future spouse, you had to climb on the roof of a food shelter which had been three times removed and shout into the woods. Then your future spouse was supposed to answer from there.
Sulkava

When you come from the Midsummer eve´s sauna you have to put a stick of firewood between your teeth and go backwards to bed, then your future spouse will appear to you in your dreams.
Sievi 1936

You take branches from nine different trees and sweep all four corners of a four roads´ crossing.
Then you will hear the barking of a dog from the direction where you future spouse will appear. You have to throw the branches quickly away before the dog comes and frightens you so much that you become sick.
Tuuteri 1944

On Midsummer eve, it was usual to put seven cups on a table upside down and hide under each cup an object, for example money, a key, a ring and so on. Then a person who hasn`t seen the setting lifts a cup. The object you find, predicts your future: if there is money, you will become rich; if there is a ring, you will get married; if a key, you will become a lady of a house.
Ikaalinen

On Midsummer Eve, if you mix mud of nine different sources and spread it over your whole body, you will not freeze during winter time.
A parish in Kuopio 1936

On Midsummer Eve people, used to go to rye fields and gather dew from the grass and wash their eyes with it. Then they gathered the dew into a linen and hanged it out on a tree. After this you were supposed to meet your future spouse.
Vieljärvi 1943

from: www.seurasaarisaatio.fi

Around the world in 15 days

2009-06-06T21:21:00.005+03:00

We visited the US mid-May and went from Michigan to Indiana to northern California and back to Michigan before returning to Finland. We saw most everyone and had some quality time with the girls in the redwood forests and Blue Lake, where we caught an excellent show of the graduating MA students in Claire's program.

And I finally met Nolan - the newest member of the family. He's a happy and healthy California boy, and quite good too. California provided beautiful weather and vistas and delicious food too, and I got to visit my old neighborhood Noe Valley, in San Francisco, our last night there. It's still a charming part of town, though more high end than the late 70s when I called it home. Here's a picture of Trinidad, up north on the "Lost Coast" past Arcata. Everywhere we looked in California was like looking at a postcard. It was a crazy chaotic trip but we managed all the travel with no major glitches. Hopefully, as we just have a year to go over here, we won't need to cover quite so many miles and time zones (3) in one visit again. I do prefer vacations you don't need to recover from, actually!

Happy Vappu Day!

2009-05-01T16:10:00.004+03:00

Today all of Finland celebrates Vappu Day - or May day, and it's day for picnics in the park or barbecues in the yard. We joined friends in the main park in Helsinki, where everyone else was congregating and had lovely sparkling Rosé wine and snacks. The weather cooperated and so the place was packed - everyone was super friendly. I took a picture of our blanket neighbors - and they raised their glasses in a toast - very genteel! The celebration is for the coming summer and sun and also similar to our labor day. Students celebrate the coming end of the school year and they wear these jumpsuits covered with ensignas and buttons - and fright wigs, top hats, sparkly antlers - anything fun. Those who have graduated wear their white graduation caps and this does not have an age limit so it's nice to everyone donning them in such a big crowd. We also came across Gerald's coworkers by chance - they were going to try to play cell phone tag to meet at some point, and then we just walked just past them as we entered the park. We shared fruit skewers and goat cheese snacks, and they reciprocated with two types of cheese cake.

Everyone is still there partying but we've come home for a siesta, and if I were really mean, I'd snap a pic of Gerald zonked out on the couch right now - but I'll be nice and share these other views of Vappu Day in Helsinki - which include the return of the Messerschmidts too - a very festive day in Finland!

Return of the witches

2009-04-13T11:18:00.010+03:00

Although we are not yet seeing spring yet (and I will not share how grumpy this makes me), I'm happy to report the Easter witches did return last week to cast their spells and offer willow branches in exchange for candy. I guess we are now on the chocolate circuit, which is great. I was able to ask "kuva, ok?" (picture, ok?) this year, so we're doing better than last. We went out for sapas on Friday (Finnish tapas) at one of my favorite Helsinki spots, Juuri, and Gerald and I both got this perfect dessert. Chocolate cake, caramel sauce and sea buckthorn berry mousse!

I neglected to get a picture of the sapas, but here is their menu description with asterisks by our choices:

Sapas are small Finnish appetizers whose roots lie in hand-made cooking and Finnish food traditions
* Season`s mushroom soup and nettle and cheese pastie
* Lingonberry marinated salmon on maltbread, tarragon - garlic oil
Nettle marinated whitefish, blackcurrant - mustard sauce
Freshly salted whitefish with confit made of tomatoes
* Smoked small perchs from lake Pielinen
* Finnish baltic herring pasty with white radish salad
Crayfish - cottage cheese filled cabbage leaves, melted dill butter
* Fresh sausages à la Juuri, vodka mustard
* Worschmack of game, creamed sour bread
Slightly smoked reindeer heart with gelée made of rowanberry wine
* Beetroot and nut stew and small mushrooms
* Roasted swede with cauliflower puré
* Grilled salsify and rosehip jam

Here's the restaurant's link: http://www.juuri.fi/viinit/13?task=view
These sapas are fantastic and a great way to discover new cuisine.

We have mail

2009-03-24T21:27:00.005+02:00

A gift from home...need I say more? Thanks again, Tami & Lindsay!

A Black Swan

2009-03-24T21:18:00.003+02:00

Here's something I've never seen before (picture by Petri Kuhno). So beautiful! And the brief YLE article:

A black swan was sighted this week in Hartola, a town some 200 kilometres north of Helsinki. This is the first time the waterbird has been seen in this part of the country.

Petri Kuhno, the avid bird watcher who spotted the bird, says he believes that the black swan joined a flock of whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) migrating from central Europe.

The black swan (Cygnus atratus) is a large waterbird which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. There are also a few small black swan populations in central European countries.

Black Swans have a mostly black body with the exception of the broad white wing tips which are visible in flight.

Busy Neighbors

2009-03-16T15:41:00.009+02:00

We had a lot of activity in the neighborhood today. Two tugs just came to clear the ice and then pull the Eira coal ship back out to the gulf. Friday I took this shot of the bridge building crane operator coming down for his lunch break. Quite the commute! It was below freezing and light snow too.

Certainly puts the sense of working for a living in perspective. The most impressive thing was watching the crane assemblers a few months ago, in similar winter conditions - one climbed all the way to the peak of the structure and set the cables to balance the whole thing. I do hope they are making really good money.

Gerald is doing great. Almost two weeks since his gall bladder surgery and only one setback involving breaded/fried meat Friday, which he will need to avoid from now on. He's doing fine with most everything else, and has through this week off work too to get his energy back up. We're still in winter here and we haven't had the temperature swings they've had in the midwest. Just hovering around 30F, inching up by tenths of degrees, and not too much sun yet. But the paper reports today that migratory birds are beginning to return now, so that's a sign of things to come. This winter has definitely seemed longer than last, so the spring will be that much more welcome.

Havoc-Wreaking Urban Rabbits

2009-02-19T10:29:00.013+02:00

I just realized I've neglected sharing one of the challenges faced here in southern Finland, as I read a news article today. Rabbits are taking over - I see rabbits every other day or so as I look out the window or walk through town. They are causing extreme damage to the foliage all over the area, and city gardeners have put screening around the bushes and greenspaces just outside our apartment. As you can imagine, the animal control officers have to manage this with a lot of sensitivity - as a threat of rabbits is - well - maybe not our typical view of them. Here's a news excerpt:

Contrary to what some might think, Antti J. Rautiainen is no shotgun-toting Elmer Fudd stereotype lurking obsessively in the bushes of Helsinki yearning for the chance to blast a bunny on sight. Although he has been working full time since November as the head of the city’s rabbit control project, he insists that there is no personal wrath involved. "I try to keep a low profile, as rabbits raise quite a bit of emotion among residents.”...Shotguns, bows and arrows, traps, and ferrets have been used in the effort. A few dozen have been caught by ferrets.

I remember Gerald calling to tell me he'd never seen such big rabbits on his very first visit to interview for his job nearly two years ago and it certainly sounded odd - I think he said they looked like dogs. They are actually offspring of released pets and have thrived in the relatively mild winters lately, and without many natural predators. They say a few very cold winters would naturally cull the population. I have to admit I hope that can wait a few years as this winter feels rather cold enough.

Change of plans

2009-02-10T22:31:00.003+02:00

Well, we didn't make it to Spain. Gerald is dealing with gall bladder attacks and as they've been increasing it's time to get it out, so we are winding our way through this different system and he should be on track to have the surgery within a few weeks. Not to worry - he's actually been doing fine for over a week now and we've got the diet piece figured out as best we can. Here's a picture of Gerald's Playhouse as he just set up his cute vintage Macbook to do his music sequencing. And we are definitely noticing the longer days now - the change is quite dramatic and welcome.

"hääyöaie" - I have no idea how to say it!

2009-01-29T21:41:00.007+02:00

I have to share this excerpt from YLE News:

People hear the world differently

...Sams has also studied how Finnish brains are honed to detect sounds in Finnish speech that foreigners may not be able to discern. Listening and hearing are closely tied to environment. That said, foreigners hear the Finnish language in a different way than native Finns do.

People learning Finnish may find it impossible to hear or detect certain sounds or sound combinations. Only Finns can hear or properly repeat the word "hääyöaie", a compound of hääyö (“wedding night”) + aie (“intention”). This word is chock full of Finnish phonetic sounds, says Sams.

“These findings are of course baffling to an extent because we are under the illusion that we all hear our surroundings in the same way," adds Sams.

And this, another fun Google Translate try from the Finnish:

"Stones can throw those who did not make himself never any kind of errors."

As I rode to class today, I sent a text to Gerald that puzzled him - which is fun. I spelled the train stop Kera in three different phonetic ways (Kay-rah/Care-a/KehRa??), as whenever we say it, the conductors ask us to repeat it, then they say it with ever so slightly a different intonation. We're talking a four letter word here. So, I've just returned to studying Spanish! It's much easier than Finnish and I no longer feel so dreadfully inadequate. I hope to use it when we return to the US in the ESL field, plus I just love the language. My teacher is a young Polish woman, here to study Spanish and also Finnish, and teaching me with English too - how's that for diversity? Gerald and I have a quick trip to Barcelona next week, since there was a very cheap fare offer and he needs some sun, so I should get some practice. We'll have some pictures to share soon. Asi, amigos, hasta luego.

Napapiiri

2008-12-29T18:54:00.000+02:00

Here's our second and last video installment from Rovaniemi, this one from Santa's Village, where we did cross Napapiiri (the Arctic Circle) which you'll see as a line of blue lights strung across the plaza. Again, pardon my amateur filming, and we are experiencing some technical difficulties so these video entries may not appear too often! Technology is our friend - let's repeat that several times and it may become true. Any way - hope you enjoy these too.

A walk in Rovaniemi

2008-12-29T16:01:00.000+02:00

First try here to load video - and it didn't want a merged version so here are separate, very amateur videos of our walk in Rovaniemi. It's my first attempt to use the camera and to film in Finland so sorry for the lack of polish, but I hope you enjoy actually following us around in Lapland.

2008-12-24T12:05:00.002+02:00

Happy Holidays! Christmas peace has just been declared for all of Finland via a broadcast from the cathedral in Turku, and so we send along wishes of peace to everyone. We just returned from a short trip to Rovaniemi to experience the solstice up past the Arctic Circle where though the sun does not rise, light does bend up over the horizon in the atmosphere. Just over a hour north by air. So it wasn't completely dark as you can see in the picture from our hotel window at around 3pm, but it was a half hour later in the main square. We enjoyed dinner the first night in a Lapp Kota - a tent made of reindeer hides (inside the restaurant), and we did eat reindeer too - it's very nutritious meat and a vital industry for the Sami. (And it does not taste like chicken!) Odd that the temperatures were between 25-33F in the Arctic, while most of the northern US was frigid, but it was warmer than average, though with a noticeably deeper chill than in Helsinki. Two pages of pictures follow.

2008-12-24T11:45:00.002+02:00

Here's Gerald at the wonderful Arktikum museum of Lapland science and art which we thoroughly enjoyed, me putting my hand into an elfin ice sculpture handprint, me waiting for the bus - next stop Arctic Circle! - and the Arctic Circle signpost in Santa's Village with a blue neon line running above the plaza along the circle.

Rovaniemi

2008-12-24T11:34:00.003+02:00

Here are some pictures from our first visit to Rovaniemi and the Arctic Circle - Napapiiri. Street decor, Gerald at the Rovaniemi airport Arctic Circle signpost, and flying back toward the sun at around 3:30pm on our return.

Hybird Holidays

2008-12-11T19:41:00.000+02:00

Red Apples
by Finnish Artist Helene Schjerfbeck

We combined our delayed Thanksgiving with the observance of Finland's Independence Day on December 6th and we have the leftovers to prove it. We had Gerald's American coworker join us, but I was a bit disappointed not to provide her with pumpkin pie. I had found one can of Libby's pumpkin last year but no luck this year. Oh well, Gerald's turkey was delicious, we were overwhelmed by various potato dishes, and a pear/lingonberry pie with plum ice cream did an admirable job as stand in for dessert. We once again watched the President's Ball on TV like most here do, so our hybrid-hybird holidays merged well enough. And the turkey pasta tonight wasn't horrible either.

Next up, we're having a short Finnish get-away just before Christmas, so I hope to have something unique to share afterward. Stay tuned!

A trip home

2008-11-22T11:31:00.000+02:00

An unplanned trip home at the end of October proved to be a necessary balm after learning that we lost my sister, Mary Jo, at what seems such a young age of 55. So I did see family in Michigan and also her family in California. This allowed me to visit Claire at her new school in northern California and to drive through the redwoods for the first time - an amazing part of the country. My niece shared that my sister always wanted to drive through a redwood tree when Claire and I told her we stopped at that tourist trap after our visit, and as I had never considered such a thing before, maybe we had some 'guidance'?? Then I was able to go to class with Claire one morning and I can attest that she is working very hard in her program. They do acrobatics on a springy floor that was wonderful to bounce on, and the teachers are very focused and skilled. It is a physical theater program - so she will soon be very strong. Such a beautiful area too, for such intense study.

So yes, a trip home, sometimes sad, but not in sum. Here's a memory - my dad built this lounge chair when I was four and Mary Jo six years old, and when the paint was finally dry enough we sunbathed in our sunsuits. I can still sense the happiness of that summer day, on this snowy Helsinki afternoon.

Winter Time

2008-10-25T11:38:00.000+03:00

Here is a picture of the Crusell bridge that is being built just outside our windows, named after a Swedish clarinetist/composer (not a string player?). We have all kinds of big machines, dredges, barges or other unidentified objects appearing at any given time as they prep the canal for the bridge. Now that it is officially winter time, meaning we put our clocks back one hour tonight, I think we'll be okay for the noise that comes along with the machinery, as our double windows really block much of the sound. But it has been hard to have to close windows on nice days due to noise. This is the way it is around Helsinki - they are building everywhere. Once the bridge is built, I can walk right over to my office directly across the canal, if it's up while we are still here. I imagine one day they will ferry in the roadbed, and I'd like to see that engineered into place. Once done, this will be quite a beautiful structure.

With all the machines coming and going, though, the swans are keeping scarce, so I haven't had updates on them. I have seen one family with ten (!) cygnets a few months ago, and more recently one with two, but I imagine they'll find another spot to overwinter. And we are rapidly losing our daylight, already noticeably shorter but luckily the fall really stretched out nicely and was so colorful. Now we're feeling the winter nip in the air and the winds are picking up too.

Tomorrow Finland holds its municipal elections and there are posters everywhere with the candidates' pictures and numbers. Here they just plug in numbers to place votes, and there are about 39,000 candidates for all of Finland so they also have a candidate finder program, where you can use a computer program to find your choices. I did a unit for my students with some US election terms, like mudslinger and lame duck! They are all very curious about the US election, and I showed them a copy of part of my absentee ballot too. It's nice to find a current events lesson of such interest, and of course they are voting adults too. I have a new class on Business Writing starting next week, so I'm back with the marine engineers again, and they do need my help. My other classes are mostly in corporate offices.

Gerald returned from his 2+ weeks in the US for work, but was able to see Kaliecia the last weekend and they had a fabulous time seeing the Blue Man Group in Vegas. The night before he left for the US, we tried to get to bed early before his dawn departure, but then a helicopter started some kind of dragnet operation along the canal right outside along with a police boat in the water. Both were scanning the area with spotlights and I thought there was some international invasion of some kind or maybe someone's yacht got stolen - something really serious. Well, here's what Google translate gave me, from what I cut and pasted from the paper:

"Drunken man caused extensive searches Ruoholahti in Helsinki late Friday evening. Events began when the guard found the shore, heavily intoxicated man's wet clothes just before midnight. The man said he is being friends with the water resource. He however could not tell humalatilan, where or how the accident had occurred."

I guess the guy had a few and decided to go for a swim. Humalatilan is some conjugation of drunk. The limits of Google Translate!! I am glad they finally added Finnish this year though. I have to work around what is produced to find meaning, as you can see, and it gives you some idea what we are up against in trying to learn Finnish - the structure is just so totally different. I am in Finnish class again, a perk provided by my job, but it's still quite a struggle. I'm sure the Google site works great for other languages though. It's quite a useful tool.

Now, as we fall back, I'll just have to rework what time it is where everyone is - a constant challenge. Happy Halloween soon! Have some candy corn for me.

First Nobel Peace Prize for Finland

2008-10-10T16:47:00.000+03:00

The announcement was just made that the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari has won the first Nobel Peace Prize for the country. This brings recognition to the way Finland has steadily worked to bring greater peace to the world. Ahtisaari has acted as a peace negotiator in several conflicts around the world for the past three decades, and just last week he was also awarded the UNESCO Peace Prize. It's a good day for this deserving country.

Peace and love!

2008-09-20T23:31:00.003+03:00

We took the overnight ferry to Stockholm and then a train down south. Växjö is a wonderful small town - sort of a cross between Dexter and Ann Arbor - and most bizarrely, we ended up staying in a hotel that was sited exactly where my grandfather lived until emigrating to Canada at age 4.5! My great grandfather was a foreman at a match company that housed its employees too. It was torn down in 1926 and later our hotel was built on the same location. We were able to go as far back as the 1820s in the one day spent at the institute, learning that my great-great grandfather was a wall-builder/bricklayer - working independently; my other great-great grandfather made rope for the navy in Karlskrona, in the longest wood building in Sweden, which still stands. We found out my grandfather Gunnar was born with a different name - Uno - and probably renamed as a tribute to a brother who died young, and that threw off the research for a short while. And Claire had the insight to ask about the ship register at the end of our long day, when I was getting overwhelmed with details, and we found it.

Växjö

2008-09-20T22:45:00.002+03:00

Växjö is the town in southern Sweden where my grandfather was born and I have always been curious about those roots, especially as he died young and I never knew him. So being just next door in Finland made a research trip finally possible. There happens to be an emigrant institute right in Växjö, so I planned a trip there with Claire in July. The researcher found a picture of the exact ship for us - the Romeo that my grandfather sailed on. Sweden keeps such good records that I'm sure we could have found out much more, had we had the time. But in just this one trip, we discovered so much. My great-grandmother, Clara Sofia, traveled from Sweden initially without my great-grandfather, Frans Wilhelm, and brought along her seven surviving children. The youngest, Lilly, was still nursing, and an older female cousin accompanied them. She sounds like a very strong and courageous woman to me. Claire was not actually named for Clara, but it's nice to have the coincidence. After our research and a few days in Växjö, Claire and I then returned to Stockholm and were able to tour the Old Town/Gamla Stan, the next day and here's a costume shop we found and Claire goofing off at the Nobel Museum cafe. That evening we ferried back to Helsinki. The trip was more fulfilling than I could ever have imagined. I'm really grateful for Claire's help, as she hadn't been sure she could manage the trip, now that she's on her way to grad school in northern California -- literally - just now in a car, just about half way there, due at Kaliecia's in two days. And I'm back to teaching now so blogs will be a bit less frequent, but classes are noticeably easier this year. Happy Autumn, everyone!

Tallinn to begin Year 2

2008-08-20T22:15:00.000+03:00

We have just entered Year 2 of our adventure and we did so in Tallinn, Estonia. It's so close, just 1.5 hours by fast ferry across the Gulf of Finland. We stayed one night so we saw a good amount but are looking forward to returning since it's such an awe-inspiring town. It has been very well preserved for centuries, and just out of Russian rule since 1991, under which it was somewhat ignored for years, hence not modernized nor bombed as other European cities have been. Here are a few pictures of the city walls and towers which you can climb into, for a real taste of the past. We highly recommend a trip to Tallinn.

This trip brings our mileage to the following totals for this past year:
Laurie - 41,620 miles (66,966 kilometers) and Gerald 59,864 miles (96,330 kilometers).
Whew!

Sights of Tallinn

2008-08-20T22:09:00.002+03:00

Here are the newer orthodox church, buildings in the main square, and a xylophone concert we happened upon - they played the Flintstones theme song, and Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys - you just never know what you'll hear!

My roots are showing!

2008-08-03T20:15:00.001+03:00

Gerald's coworker, Mikko, kindly invited us down to the Central Market Friday evening for a once-a-month (in summer) car show. He's full of details about any vintage vehicle and was the perfect guide. People cruise around the market area and park where the market vendors are usually found, and it was packed. Being from Detroit, I felt it my duty to share with you the coolest rides, and that turned out to be several pages (small picture format, so click on them for better detail). There were odd Russian cars, the 3-wheeled Messerschmitts, a rare Opal, so many cool vintage American cars, including one with the air-conditioner still entact, a Buick like Chris K. and I used to cruise around in, and a Challenger just like the one in which I learned to drive, and a truck BBQ for the requisite Finnish sausages. We couldn't believe we were all the way over here in Finland. Enjoy the show...

2008-08-03T20:10:00.001+03:00

2008-08-03T20:03:00.001+03:00

A Helsinki Car Show

2008-08-03T19:54:00.001+03:00

Pihlajasaari Island

2008-08-01T15:16:00.000+03:00

We noticed a nice old wooden ferry boat traveling up and down our canal the last few months and we discovered it went to an island nearby with beaches and a restaurant.

We hopped on the ferry for a ride last Sunday and had lunch on a shady terrace among the trees, and then walked along the paths and rocks. The ferries to Tallin pass so close you can feel the engines humming before you see them pass above the treetops. The Finns appear to love stretching out on the rocks as much as the sand, and so we did the same, though without any padding not for too long. Just fifteen minutes from home and such a different world - you can see Helsinki in the bottom picture and our neighborhood is just beyond that port. A perfect summer outing.

Midnight sun eclipse

2008-08-01T14:35:00.000+03:00

We were in the path of today's total solar eclipse but only partially. This is a picture I got with my camera of the reflection in water in my frying pan in our yard, and the cloud cover provided just enough filtering. You can see the small moon bite out of the left side of the sun. The full eclipse is available from NASA at their Exploratorium site and I just watched it live - they also had cloud cover that cleared just in time there in Mongolia. It was wonderful.

I'll catch up on postings now, with a few more to follow shortly. Sorry for the delay - more travel to blame, happily!

My big surprise - France!

2008-06-27T21:42:00.000+03:00

For my birthday, Gerald arranged a surprise trip back to Versailles and Paris. I did not know where I was going until we reached the check-in desk at the airport and the attendant was quite amused. (It was my first guess too - we think alike.) We had stayed at a plush hotel near the chateau in Versailles some years ago and had a memorable dinner in a nearby bistro (above). So we did both again this trip, plus added a wonderful creperie to our favorite dining spots. Our room had a view of the chateau - here it is at sunrise on our last morning, and here are the bath's French doors.

I'd never been in Paris in the high season, and we went on Saturday afternoon. As it was also a city-wide day of music, it was totally packed, and hot too. We're acclimated to the cooler Nordic summer now so it was a challenge. But an excellent one, nonetheless. I was able to use my rusty French, since Claire wasn't there as interpreter, and we did find the tea shop we were looking for (Mariage Freres) after inadvertently walking almost across Paris. We were on the right street, just at the wrong end. Sunday we saw the dressage performance of the Versailles equestrian school - and they had one segment where they brought young horses into the ring and just let them frolic. They rolled in the dirt, nipped each other, and played tag - it was so unique and charming. Dining alfresco that warm evening capped off our long weekend. Gerald really outdid himself with this perfect surprise. It all began with a rainbow over the chateau (and Gerald) on our arrival. Like magic!

More of Berlin

2008-06-27T21:18:00.000+03:00

The wall ran in a zigzag through Berlin, and there's a brick path you can see in some places to show where it stood. We think we ate our last dinner directly on top of where it once stood. Here's a display of parts of the wall near our hotel, in Potsdamer Platz. It's hard to even imagine where it stood now - with all the city bustling about.

More somber is the Holocaust memorial, on five acres surrounded by buildings, one with a fancy rooftop cafe - typical of Berlin's contrasts. As you walk through the blocks they overtake you in size - it's intense, thought-provoking, but beautiful too.

It was a wonderful trip, highlighted by seeing the bust of Nefertiti the day before we left - this doesn't really do her justice as she's behind glass. There's a whole island of major art museums so you can see quite a bit in one day. Again, I tagged along on one of Gerald's conference trips, so we're keeping to our goal of seeing Europe while we're here. Berlin was a very pleasant surprise.

Berlin

2008-06-27T20:17:00.000+03:00

Germany is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Air Lift and also their recent soccer (football) win against Turkey, so they are now in the finals. We were there a few weeks ago for the first time and people were already wild in the streets celebrating the earlier games. You could hear a collective roar from all over whenever there was a good play, and most cafes and restaurants had big screen TVs set up. We're not fans but it was interesting to see all the enthusiasm. Berlin is very lively and having seen some postwar images of its devastation after WWII, it is amazing how much it has been built up, mostly in the 90s, so lots of modern architecture, as you can see here beside the Legoland giraffe. They've kept the shell of the Kaiser Wilhelm church as a memorial, at the end of the main shopping street, and some buildings retain their bullet and shell damage too.

The Reichstag was rebuilt with a glass dome by an American architect, and is now a tourist exhibit. It's shown here from our boat tour, as are the cafes along the Spree River which I think would have been East Berlin.

More US visit pics

2008-06-04T15:49:00.000+03:00

We were able to visit Gerald's family in Indiana and here's a picture from his Aunt Jean and Uncle George's farm, where we sat listening to giant bumble bees slowly hovering around the rafters of the porch. The Indiana days were the warmest of our trip and we spent a lot of time outdoors. When we were up in Michigan, we had a chance to go to the Common Grill in Chelsea for lunch, where we had our wedding lunch last year, to celebrate our one year anniversary with my mother and brothers.

And in other news, just as we celebrated Kaliecia's graduation so recently, Claire has now decided to attend the MFA program at the Dell'Arte school in Northern California. She's ready for the change from New York, and when she sent me pictures of her visit, I once again remembered just how beautiful California is, and what a great location for some indepth study of acting.

I'm done teaching for the summer and here's the site of our end of the year party, on Valkosaari Island. It's a boat warehouse in the winter. Fun to take a ferry to a work function!

Finally, a swan update - seems that they did not suffer too much from overwintering in Helsinki as you can see in this picture. Shortly after I took this picture today, another mom swam up with 4 cygnets and they chased her away.

Kaliecia's graduation

2008-06-04T15:25:00.000+03:00

We returned to Helsinki after 7 flights in 2 weeks, culminating in an upgrade to business class after rebooking due to airport problems, so for the first time we were able to recline and sleep on our way back over the ocean. We had great visits with everyone - the peak of which was watching Kaliecia graduate and as promised, here's a picture of her with that fun flat hat (in that modern cphone pose), plus one of her with one of the ceramic art pieces she had exhibited in the student art show. There's another of Claire and Gerald browsing through all the interesting pieces in the show.

Off to the US

2008-04-23T20:20:00.000+03:00

We'll be off to visit the US for the next few weeks, particularly to attend Kaliecia's graduation from the University of Utah, pictured above, on May 2nd. Hopefully we can catch a picture of her in a funny flat hat to share on our return. We'll miss Vappu Day on May 1st here in Finland, which is a country-wide party akin to Labor Day in the US, but also an end-of-year celebration for first year university students too. And I'm wondering when it will be getting dark when we return, as it's still light after 10pm now. The next big holiday will be Midsummer on June 21st, the summer solstice, and we'll report on that one. Back soon!

Stockholm - Norrmalm

2008-04-12T14:10:00.002+03:00

Here are pictures taken from Norrmalm - the city center. One of the first beautiful things I noticed was the iron filagree spire of the Riddarholm church; there are city bikes for anyone to use; then we came across a guy catching a big fish right in town - it's in the net; ; and a rather symbolic clock on a building in the business district. We loved the Arlanda Express train from the airport right to the center of town, the excellent food everywhere; the exquisite architecture and a generally friendly vibe on the street. Being early April, it was also quiet as we walked into neighborhoods, though I can imagine it gets hectic with summer tourism as there is so much to see. It's not cheap but it is definitely worth a visit - one of the great cities of the world, to be sure. I've posted two more pages with pictures.

Stockholm - Djurgård

2008-04-12T13:42:00.001+03:00

Here are pictures from the island of Djurgård. We rode a very well maintained historic trolley (the #7) to the Nodiska Museet where we saw cultural exhibits of the Sami, Swedish homes, and dress, and shoes (and where we'll return to see table settings through history as it was closed this time), the interior hall shown here, and then we saw some mounted police as we made our way back to the hotel. The Skansa outdoor musuem and the Vasa ship exhibit are on this island and we'll explore those another visit. I do recommend riding the trolley on its full run too.

A weekend in Stockholm - Gamla Stan

2008-04-12T12:58:00.001+03:00

Gerald and I took a quick flight to Stockholm last weekend - and we even got a sandwich on our 45 minute flight on FinnAir. We really were impressed with this city. It was my first visit to Sweden where my grandfather was born and I'll return to research that soon. Gamla Stan is the medieval heart of Stockholm, on a small island that you can reach walking over from the center of town. I've posted pictures of a great pancake cafe, a statue on a small plaza by the royal palace, the palace guard on duty, and the parliment building traverse, all found on an easy walk across Gamla Stan.

Summer -- time

2008-03-29T17:32:00.000+02:00

We will be moving our clocks up tonight, and this is called summer time. Not to be confused with summertime, as we had a true blizzard this past week and I was late for class for the first time due to transit problems, which is not bad after a full winter. Today is warm and sunny despite the snow.
While we are often on the metro, we really do enjoy the quiet and cute trams here in Helsinki. These pictures are of the #8 which is the tram in our neighborhood.
They give such a good sense of the neighborhoods they travel through, given their slower speed, and they feel a little timeless in a way.

Daylight update - we are speeding ahead now with much longer days, gaining over five minutes a day with a half hour more of daylight than Michigan now, heading for that June midnight sun.

Below is a picture of a schooner, the Kathrina, that is docked by the central market these days. It has a cafe aboard but we haven't tried it yet. I was quite surprised to read the engine specifications - small world!

Attracting witches to your door

2008-03-16T17:09:00.000+02:00

One way to attract Easter witches to your door is to decorate a woven star on your door with colorful feathery chicks. Despite the fact the you may have bought the star at a Christmas market, it just may fool them. If they do come, be prepared with Kinder Eggs (chocolate shells with small toys hidden inside), to give to the witches after they sing this song,

Virvon, varvon tuoreeks, terveeks, Sinuelle vihta, minuelle lahja.

I touch you with my magic branch  - That will refresh you and keep you well.  You get the branch, I get a reward.

Then they will tap you with a virpomavihta — pussy willow branch, that they have decorated with colorful feathers (just like the chicks on the star) which they give to you in exchange for a treat, casting a spell of good fortune on you as Spring approaches.

These are the ACTUAL WITCHES who came to our door today and we were prepared! I was nearly ready to concede that as we are in a locked apartment building, and we have those odd names on our door, we may not be lucky to have a witch visit this Easter, but then the doorbell rang. Children this young don't have much if any English yet (though they start by age 9 in schools with at least one language) but we successfully made it through the ritual, I'm happy to report, and they even consented to have their pictures taken. You can see how brave they were, indulging the over-excited foreigners.

Hyvää pääsäiänen!

Some cultural reflections

2008-02-17T15:38:00.000+02:00

This mural is found in the Sea Horse restaurant in Helsinki and this image is their own, as they don't even allow photos of it. It was painted by Alvar Aalto back in the 30s and has been maintained since then, as has the rest of the decor. The food is straightforward Finnish - fish and meatballs and such, and we first found it in the late summer and had a nice meal with slightly surly service, as was the case at the beginning of our second visit with Claire and Kaliecia in December. The visit was turned around by a happy-go-lucky customer at the next table who decided to buy the entire restaurant Irish coffees. I then had a nice chat with a woman at his table who was somewhat embarrassed by his grand gesture, as they'd already had their fill of champagne. The buyer was a gold dealer we think, and so we toasted him with our coffees and he interrogated Claire about all the people he knew in New York - but believe or not - she didn't know the same people. Claire and I suffered a bit of caffeine insomnia as a result but it was worth it for an unusual night among the much more usually reserved Finns.

We sometimes laugh at the cliché of the quiet Finns as they can be very talkative, especially once they get to know you well. But there is some truth in it, especially in public spaces. I'm actually also prone to this trait so I'm very comfortable with the non-communicative style of public transport, for instance, and sometimes, if I'm in the front of a train heading to our stop at the end of the metro line, I cannot tell if I'm alone on the car or not, just by listening. I find it rather peaceful. Easy to get lost in thought. I do imagine it can be disconcerting for more gregarious types. Although when the transit cops come through checking everyone's tickets, it's intense. They travel in packs and all wear the same jackets and seem to enjoy their collective and domineering power. The 80-euro fine is definitely incentive to stay legal.

This past week the senior students celebrated the day before exams by parading through town standing in back of large open trucks and throwing candy out to passersby. Neither Gerald nor I had candy hurled our way but I did see a truck of them go by as I rode a train to a class. Now they are all buckling down and studying. It was also Valentine's Day, which is celebrated much less here and is instead called ystävänpäivää or friend's day - so Gerald and I agreed to be each other's friend here in Finland. And a belated hyvää ystävänpäivää to you all!

Potatoes - that's what Gerald has to share. They are everywhere. The main dish we have often is pyttipannu - a diced potato and beef or ham or sausage dish that is total comfort food. I can get bags of it frozen for an easy and quick meal after busy teaching days, though I feel compelled to add vegetables to it for nutrition (the Finns might not approve).

I'm glad that my teaching and our apartment location has given me a new appreciation of the maritime industry. Several of my classes are with a power company that builds BIG engines, for ships, etc. As I write, one of the big coal boats is sitting quietly across the canal on this Sunday afternoon after unloading yesterday. It's the one in the last post pic. And I few weeks ago I had a tour of the power plant factory floor and it was fascinating. There are engines as big as a small house, and then there are also parts that still need the care of hand work by specialists. I hope the best for these skilled tradespeople, considering the paper industry's mass layoffs just north of here, causing the same economic chaos of Detroit up in those factory towns. While Finland has some of state-of-the-art tech and design industries, it also has relied on some classic trades in wood and paper that are going through downturns. I do have to say my dad would have been very familiar with the strong work ethic here. This coincides nicely with the strong appreciation for the need to take time off to travel, or have kids, or just retreat to the mokki (cottage) and bake in the sauna.

There is a general sense of keeping a healthy balance in life here - and I hope the Finns can sustain this as the global market brings other pressures to bear. We are looking forward to our first summer when at midsummer, everyone basically checks out for a full month at least. We have to start saving our euros now to gas up the Z and explore!

Six months in Suomi

2008-02-16T22:53:00.000+02:00

We've now made it for half a year here in Suomi (Finland) and we're doing okay. We've just had a brief cold spell with temperatures under 20F and so our canal has a thin layer of ice over most of its length. This may be the extent of our first Helsinki winter. The canal picture was taken at 4pm and still plenty of daylight so we're happy. We're gaining about 5 minutes and 25 seconds of daylight each day now. I don't know why the gulls like to sit on ice but they do, lining up in formation and hanging out in the sun.

Below are a few more pictures from tonight - one is a small park in the center of town, with a nice statue from the 20s of a female javelin thrower, with an idle fountain that should be flowing in a few months, and the other is a fellow metro traveler in costume - why? We don't know. Such is life here - we see odd things and then later discover what they were about - although snowmen on subways may be an anomaly.

Almost through with Tammikuu (January)

2008-01-25T18:47:00.000+02:00

Here we are with one week left in January, and yesterday was the first blustery snowfall that gave us much accumulation, and now it's mostly gone from some rain as the temperature rose just afterward. It's been a most unusual winter in Helsinki. And a busy beginning to the year. I feel fortunate to have started this ESL teaching here (though it has kept me from blogging as much - I'll do my best). It is going well. I'm less stressed about everything since I know my way around better now, and I know the students a bit better. I think I'm helping them so there's that satisfaction too. Gerald had to go to Lisbon this week - and we can feel a little sorry for him because he was so busy with meetings he didn't get to sightsee at all, so he doesn't feel he even knows the town despite spending 3.5 days there. He did call me from the hotel patio a few times when he was absorbing the 64F degree sunshine on breaks.

We got this rug last weekend and it really pulled the living room together - it's a Persian Tabriz Mahi that is based of the design of a fish, appropriate with the canal right outside.
The craftsmanship is amazing. The saleswoman called it 'food for the eyes', translating a Finnish saying, and it is that. She also said not to get it cleaned, and the best thing to do for cleaning is to put it upside down in a fresh snowfall, then shake it off. We have years before that's necessary though.

Another local custom I find interesting is that Finns believe in putting their babies outside for naps every day, even in winter, well swaddled of course. If it's well below freezing they wouldn't, but otherwise the kids are sleeping on patios and balconies all over town. I thought this was so unusual until I told my mother about it and she said she put us all on the porch to sleep too, all bundled up, in Michigan winters. I was happily surprised to learn that, since it does seem to be a very healthful habit. I couldn't have managed it with Claire on our NYC 5th floor fire escape - that would have been cruel, but we did walk out and about in the cold and she slept well in her snuggli.

I should also share the latest sunset news: we had sunset at 4:12 this evening and we will gain 4.41 minutes of day tomorrow, so we've already gained an hour since the solstice. It's a very noticeable change, particularly on clear days.

Onnellista uutta vuotta!

2008-01-04T22:11:00.000+02:00

Happy New Year! We couldn't decide if we should head to Senate Square for New Year's Eve, as that is where the official fireworks display takes place. We wimped out, contemplating standing for hours in the cold, and are we glad we did!
We ended up comfortably sipping our champagne and having fondue while watching almost all our neighbors provide an amazing display right out our living room windows. As we are on the canal, many come here to set their fireworks off over the water. We even turned the couch around to face the windows, so we wouldn't crimp our necks - total wimps - it was fantastic. People were all gathered along the walkways below drinking their champagne and were generally well-behaved, and luckily we didn't witness any mishaps.

On New Year's Eve, we ventured out of town on a train to the village of Fiskars, formerly the tool & scissors foundry town, and now home to craftspeople and artists. It was mostly closed up, but we did visit the small house/turned-museum, and Claire took this beautiful and classic Finnish picture that day. We'll drive the Z back there in the spring.

And here are a few more pictures from the holiday: at the Ice Bar, about the size of a walk-in fridge but fun anyway and such chic attire; and I'm happy to report, I was finally able to vanquish Gerald in Scrabble. It's been a while since we've been able to outdo him. And no we did not play in Finnish.

The girls are back in the US safely and ready for busy years, with Kaliecia graduating in the spring, and Claire beginning to teach in a theater program in New York public schools. It was a nice, long visit but felt too short at the same time.

Finn Family Christmas

2008-01-04T21:22:00.000+02:00

Our first Finnish Christmas was a success. We managed to fulfill most of the requirements of the holiday: plum tarts and rice porridge and later ham on Christmas eve, gifts exchanged that night, but none of the typical casseroles yet. And then Christmas day is a quiet stay-at-home day here and we had glögi and gingerbread. On the 26th, we walked to a wonderful circus right in the neighborhood.

We also made it to an outdoor Christmas market where Kaliecia got herself a bear (karhu) bonnet, which came in handy as it was windy and rainy many of the days the girls were here. I read today that this was one of the darkest Decembers in Helsinki with only 20 hours of sunlight the whole month! The worst was 6 hours - imagine that. It compounded the girls' jet lag to have such dark afternoons, and they never fully adjusted. But the days are growing a few minutes longer each day this far north, and we had brilliant sunshine today and more on tap for tomorrow.

Here are the girls in Senate Square and Kaliecia took an interesting shot of some balconey supports on our way to the Design Museum in Helsinki. We also visited the National Gallery to see some compelling Finnish art. Claire and I went to a Moliere play in Finnish at the National Theatre, which is a spectacular venue. She filled me in on the story line.

Swan update

2007-12-16T11:10:00.000+02:00

The swans are still in the canal and it's nearly time for them to head south before the water freezes over. They go to warmer waters of the Baltic. A woman in my conversation group said not to feed them now as it encourages them to stay. Unfortunately we did see someone feeding them yesterday and over the last week we had some freezing in the canal, but it's melted now and warmer temperatures in the low 30sF are forecast this week. So maybe the swans will be fine for now - something must tell them the right time to go. I watched one of the big gray babies glopping through the slush right at the shore line and he didn't seem too pleased, so that may be part of the signal to go. The one standing tall is the dad I think. They spend a lot of time splashing about as they preen. Then they go upside down to grab seaweed snacks. And my favorite is when I see them sleep/floating late at night - so peaceful. It's all very amusing.

I saw my first Lucia Maid procession at a work reception Friday evening - a Swedish/Finn tradition to bring light to the darkness. We gathered at the language school for glögi - which is mulled wine and berry juice and delicious. The lights were dimmed and two girls started the procession by singing some carols. Then they sang a particular Santa Lucia song (with the Italian song as base) and four young girls came in, each carrying a single candle and wearing long white dresses, while the Lucia Maid among them had a wreath of candles on her head (electrical, for safety I assume). They all sang a few more songs and then the older girls sang a particular song as the four proceeded out again. It was totally charming. They scooted back in the room soon after in their normal attire to grab some treats.

I have to share a funny interchange with a student the other day. We were practicing small talk - a common request in language classes here - and she was telling me how she raised 'ducks' and got awards for them and all, and so I asked was this on a farm, and did they raise them for food - for eating? She looked totally aghast that I could ask such a thing, and I wondered that someone could become so attached to water fowl. And then it came out that she raised 'dogs', Borzoi hounds actually - a beautiful large Russian breed, and we all had a good long laugh. Proves that I can be of some use in pronunciation, those g's can be tricky. Since the second language company hired me, I will now be teaching a total of seven classes a week after the holidays. I travel all over the Helsinki metro area and so I'm learning fast how to get around. It's challenging but also giving me a window into the working world here as I meet with engineers, bankers, and executives who I doubt I would meet otherwise. They are all insistant on working with a native speaker so I am in demand for once! And they do need help with fluency. They will speak very haltingly with me and then a moment later read a bit of text with almost no errors. So I will blog as much as time allows with all this welcome work, and certainly we'll have some holiday pictures when the girls arrive in just five days now!

Here are some dogs--I mean--ducks among the swans.

Independence day

2007-12-05T14:06:00.000+02:00

On December 6th, Finland will celebrate its 90th year of independence. It's a national holiday with the main event being a formal reception and dance at the president's palace. Here is an excerpt from President Halonen's website - www.presidentti.fi/en/ - which is where I obtained the coat of arms above too:

"As in previous years, invitations had been sent to all members of the Government, Members of Parliament, the Finnish Members of the European Parliament, senior civil servants and members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Finland. Also among the guests will be Finns who have distinguished themselves in some way or another and persons whom the President and Dr Arajärvi have met in the course of the past year. About 1,900 guests have been invited in all."

Other people joke about not receiving invitations and they stay home and watch the reception line on TV for hours, to see and judge all the formal gowns, and I plan to do the same. I think we also put candles in the window in remembrance of war veterans. Ninety years seems so young, particularly when Finland has such ancient roots too. And of course it's a day off!

Another sunset

2007-11-28T16:29:00.000+02:00

Here's the sunset on November 28th, near its 3:25 official time. We are at 6 hours 35 minutes of daylight, whereas most of you have about 9 hours and 25 minutes. It's hard to gauge the time in the evenings and we tend to want dinner too early. Just a few more weeks of these shortening days. Hibernation is tempting. Gerald is resisting the cave tonight though, out bowling (!) with his coworkers.

That jet in the picture looks to be heading straight for the North Pole.

Museu Serralves, Porto

2007-11-17T12:24:00.000+02:00

We are back in Helsinki, arriving at 2am Thursday with an inch of snow to greet us, which was a huge contrast to how I had spent the previous day, touring the contemporary art museum and grounds in Porto - the Museu Serralves. I didn't even need a jacket and I was just awed by the beauty this park right within the city.

Serralves garden

2007-11-17T12:18:00.000+02:00

Here are more pictures from the garden, including a Claes Oldenburg trowel sculpture, a school project of container gardens, and the working farm with a school group.

Porto houses

2007-11-17T11:56:00.000+02:00

Here are some of manor houses I saw on the main boulevard in Porto, such a contrast to the empty shell of a building posted here, also on the main boulevard. The old church features the azulejos tilework typical to the area - you'll notice some on the manor houses too. And here also is an Art Deco storefront in the historic center area. Some buildings of that era have been maintained very well, including cafes I'll need to catch on a future visit. We were too busy being wined and dined by Gerald's company - one night having a private port cellar tour and then a dinner in their dining room too - quite an elegant evening.

2007-11-13T02:40:00.001+02:00

We're at day 5 of our trip to Porto, Portugal, and we've luckily had unusually nice weather, according to the 'tripe-eaters'. That's what the Porto denizens call each other given it's a local delicacy, so hopefully it's not too rude for me to use the term too. I haven't had the tripe yet and probably won't, but I've had lots of nice grilled fish, and we were amused to watch a little girl eating a little octopus (served whole) a few nights ago, obviously a perfectly normal dinner for her. It's a confusing city of great opulence beside sad decrepitude. It seems the really old buildings in the center of town are often abandoned as people opt for more modern housing and there are many shells of buildings everywhere. We did go up the coast and find a wonderful beachside community - Foz do Douro - and it's as nice as can be with a long seaside park and cafes right on the beach, some with couches and also lights on the surf at night. Gerald loved the rugged rocks and there were sandy beaches too. Further up the coast was the main port and unfortunately some factories spurting dark smoke at regular intervals, but it wasn't pervasive into Porto - I don't think. The pace is very nice - people don't speak English all that much but with sign language and rusty Spanish, we're easily making our way.

We won't have time to explore up the Douro Valley (the New York Times ran an article in Sunday's paper on this area's wine-making, which was fun to read sitting just downriver) but that is certainly a future trip for us as we do find this area intriguing. Gerald was in heaven on Friday when we went for lunch to the Taylor & Fladgate Port warehouse across the river for a tour of the warehouse and then a first class lunch. He could even have a Cuban cigar with his tawny port, right at the table - yes it's that different here. So - see how he just fits right in?

We were very surprised to hear Finnish instead of Portugese as a young couple were seated near us - we chatted a bit as they left and they were very pleased to welcome us to Finland, while in Portugal. We left Finland just after the school shooting tragedy and it was such a shock to everyone in the country, so quite a sad time there. They all lit candles in their windows as condolences the night afterwards and I was sorry to miss participating in that.

We are enjoying a reprieve from the Helsinki weather as Gerald's boss called today and said it was snowing and raining there. I was out in a sweater this afternoon, and had to use sunscreen yesterday. It's chestnut days in Porto and there are sellers roasting them on the streets this week - an event marking autumn here.
I'll add more posts with pictures now.

2007-11-12T21:36:00.002+02:00

Here are three pictures from the beach community just north of the city center - Foz do Douro, plus one of a small cafe where we had dinner in the center, the first night in town.

2007-11-12T21:28:00.001+02:00

Here are boats on the river from the walkways on the bridge and beside the river, plus one of Gerald with the port warehouses in Gaia behind him. Gaia is just across the river from Porto. Then a rooftop shot from the bridge. That was quite an exhilarating walk.

Bom dia de Porto!

2007-11-12T21:18:00.002+02:00

Here are pictures from our first visit to Portugal, and to the Taylor warehouses across from Porto in Gaia. We had to walk up a stone street to get there. The cask markings are Arabic in origin and the top one is based on how much a woman could carry in a bottle on her head - something like that - and the other is how many cart loads - ask Gerald - he'll do the math for you. It was very fragrant in that warehouse - and I wondered about the effects of osmosis. And those are lemons I found in their gardens.

Helsinki at noon

2007-11-02T12:21:00.000+02:00

It's starting to look very different up here! We did turn our clocks back one hour last Saturday night so we are now considered to be in winter. Here's a view at noon on November 2nd, looking down our street at a new sports dome they just put up last month, and yes, that bright object low in the sky is the sun.

Notice the long shadows of the trees and in the canal shot. By 4:30 (16:30) the sun is past the horizon and by 5pm (17:00) we are mostly dark. The dome was a suprise when I returned from the US. Previously there were old modular school buildings in that spot. Over a few days right after we moved in, they were disassembled and carted away, and the very next day they had already laid sod and kids were playing sports - not a moment wasted to repurpose the space. I'm guessing they will use the dome this winter for indoor play but they are still clearing the area around it now. It's starting to sound really different too - the wind from the sea was slamming the building last night and was still pretty strong early this morning, when I left to teach my first English conversation class. And yes, I have now passed over the frustrating hurdle of being trained for a job but not yet having experience when all postings require it.

One custom new to me is the use of small reflectors - they are actually required for people walking around after dark and you see them strung onto purses and backpacks. Reflectors were created by a Finnish farmer, though his purpose was to locate his livestock. I got myself a Moomintroll version yesterday. The Moomintrolls are charming and very popular children's book characters from a Finnish series that I found years ago in New York for Claire back when she was small. They have a whole theme park here too but it sounds overly commercial - the books are great though.

At least we have brilliant sunshine today - it really helps. And it's currently 45F which must be the high for today. We keep getting warned about the weather to come so we do wonder - I'm hoping life in Michigan and Utah has prepared us to some extent. They are forecasting flurries tomorrow - but Kaliecia already beat us with snow in SLC weeks ago. Our apartment, like most here, is very well insulated with double windows and doors and is often a bit too warm, as are stores and other public buildings, but it seems a preference to be warm and cozy (big concept here) inside to conteract the chill outside. And just as we begin to acclimate now, we'll be off to Portugal to confuse ourselves further. I'm not complaining!

[3:30pm update - the sun has very gradually lowered but has moved due west so we have sideways sun this time of year! Luckily our apartment has lots of windows facing west so we get a good deal of light - so far anyway.]

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-27T14:15:00.000+03:00

Here is our first Finnish design attempt. Rather a retro 60s looking lamp I'd say and also appropriate for Halloween being black and orange. We are definitely experimenting and it's fun. Come over for dinner - we can see the food now that we have light. Halloween is somewhat newly celebrated in Finland, but I don't think we'll have trick-or-treaters come by. They do parties for the children instead.

Here's a sunset Gerald captured last weekend when we had several sunny days in a row. Now we are socked in with a mist that would like to be rain, but it just can't manage it. Not wet enough for an umbrella but almost. We may not have too many more sunsets to share in the near future.

Work news: upon returning from the US, I interviewed at at language school and they've hired me on a freelance basis, to teach a small English conversation class at a bank, so no more lady of leisure waiting for Gerald to replenish the bon-bon supply as I recline on the chaise. This nicely coincides with my also leading an conversation group for one of the women's clubs in town too, still to be arranged, and now I can start tapping into the ESL training I got this summer. We've been here just over two months now, and in our apartment one month. We now have a TV so we can catch up on news with the international channels, and I do enjoy the Finnish news too - it's a different way of watching but I'm getting a little more out of it each day. And Gerald has a new expresso machine so he can now get a decent cup of decaf - not common here. Sounds like we are getting more and more stuff - but most will be sold when we leave Europe because of the wiring differences. Still, we are circumspect about accumulating.

Gerald got his car upgraded to the Finnish standards this week. They had to install small sidelights which are extra turn signals on the front fenders and also an extra red light in the left brake light that's a fog light for low visibility conditions. So he's ready to pass inspection now, and then we'll put the Z to bed for the winter in its indoor parking spot. We just passed an apartment house door where someone was bringing their studded snow tires out of a storage room. Harbinger of what's to come.

We're off for a quick trip to Oporto, Portugal in a few weeks, as I tag along with Gerald on a work trip. It's ranging in the 20sC there while here we are 7C today so we'll enjoy the warmth (although it won't compare to the 91F when I arrived in Michigan just two weeks ago!) I'll be sure to get some pictures to share.

Our neighborhood

2007-10-07T21:10:00.000+03:00

Here are a few pictures of our new neighborhood. The container port is just a few blocks over and so we can watch the machinery at work. It's interesting and not at all annoying. It will all be moving to the other side of Helskini within two years and this area will get more built up then. And we learned we are across the canal from the energy company's coal bins, when we were surprised the other morning by a big coal ship that arrived in the night. They spend the day unloading with their onboard shovels and it's somewhat mesmerizing to watch. Saturday morning it was about 54F and cloudy, and I looked out to see a water skier. More posts soon after we both return from quick visits back to the US - Gerald for a conference and me to celebrate my mother's 84th birthday!

Moved in

2007-09-29T11:37:00.000+03:00

We are in our new apartment in the Ruoholahti neighborhood of Helsinki finally. There was a different container outside the apartment when we arrived on Wednesday, up on stilts, and our stuff was all in there. We are almost out of boxes now on Saturday and are dealing with the chaos of how to use the extensive closets in this place. That will take a while. One thing that's quite different is the Finns take their lighting - all of it - when they move. So I was on the hunt for lamps all week, and we'll be back at it today. I think it's that lighting here is of very particular designs, and mostly very expensive, so it's assumed you'd want your own style and to hang on to your investment. We'll be more frugal. I'm talking overhead fixtures too! We had lights in the kitchen, hall and bathrooms the night we moved in - plus candles that resurfaced in a timely manner for our first dinner.

The next night was the first wow sunset, as the clouds broke on the horizon and filled the place with mauve light.

We are at the end of the block and by a shore walk so we see all the dog walkers, which is great. Then we also have a resident swan family with four cygnets that naps right outside our windows. They are very tame here. Plus a guy who does a quick dip in the water every morning. I'm curous to see if he also does this through ice in the winter - it's very common here!

As to water fowl, here's the loon looking out over the canal - see the boat too? If you want to view pics larger, you can click on them - but they may get huge, fyi.

Until Monday, I thought we were going to be sleeping on the couch as we did not bring a bed due to the different European bedding styles, but after much internet research, I found this whole bed at a great sale price (ale in Suomi) and a store I could actually find right in town. So I was able to buy it and have it delivered Wednesday evening, and Gerald got it put together before the sun set completely too. It will take a while but each thing is coming together, bit by bit.

Kahvila dinner

2007-09-20T19:19:00.000+03:00

We have been lucky to find ourselves staying across the street from a nice cafe, the Kahvila Suomi, which also happens to have been the location of a popular Japanese film (Kamome Shokudo aka Kamome Diner aka Ruokala Lokki) a few years back that draws a lot of Japanese people in to take pictures and have a meal. It's a small place that is very relaxed with great people running the kitchen, serving typical Finnish dishes.

The Finns like a big lunch and this place serves that mostly, though if we can make it before they close at 6 we can have early dinner. They already know us and kindly help us translate the menu. Tonight we both had the smelt plate with bean soup and salad to start - all delicious. People have asked about the food so I thought I'd share pictures here, plus Gerald helping the tourists record their pilgrimage to the diner.

School days cool days

2007-09-17T21:14:00.000+03:00

I just finished my Finnish homework. We did make it into a beginning Finnish class at the university on Tuesday evenings. Our first class last week went very fast and our instructor spoke mostly Finnish so we had to intuit a lot. Of the thirty or so people we have in the class there are more than a dozen nationalities and sixteen different languages spoken. With the speed of the class I don't think we'll get much of a chance to get to know the others which is unfortunate, since they must all have interesting stories as to what brought them to Helsinki. Things I learned - there's a language in Switzerland called retoromanian which I had never heard of, and the Finnish word for Russia is Venäjä. People were using it thoughout the class and I couldn't decipher the meaning until I turned to the woman behind me who is Venäläinen to ask. There are so many times where I wonder about the derivation of a given word as the roots are so different. We both definitely now have a much more empathetic sense of how isolating it is for people who don't speak the language where they live - you miss the subtleties and humor that native speakers just take for granted, and must communicate on the most mundane levels. Being barred from media is frustrating, though we've got the internet of course, but we miss our Sunday papers. We aren't encountering any hostilities at all though, and the Finns are very adaptable linguistically. It's impressive. That and our fellow students who speak four languages and are learning a fifth with us.

We are in our adjustment phase as we deal with more paperwork and try to settle into this interim routine, but we move to our apartment next week and retrieve our things from the container so that should help us feel more settled. And the Z should be here tomorrow! I'll take its picture soon. It's the sense of being on vacation that is wearing off now - that and the very cool fall weather. I can't wait to get some other clothes out of storage.

I was getting a bit concerned that the aforementioned and pictured here Totally Black (cue Superfly theme song here) licorice ice cream bar was just available in the summer, since I couldn't find them lately, but I found one at a bigger market down by the harbor tonight. I braved gale force winds on the walk over - not really - but it's a harbinger of things to come right here on this northerly coast. We're acclimating day by day.

2007-09-10T16:45:00.003+03:00

2007-09-10T16:40:00.001+03:00

Here's the windmill and water mill house, plus the boat house and the tar boats within.

2007-09-10T16:23:00.001+03:00

We found a house with a roof steeper than Third Street! And also a nice swing to substitute for the one Gerald likes to reserve for the 4th of July at the lake. Though they don't have fireworks on this island - they do have a huge bonfire at Midsummer. Here's the restaurant where we ate a light lunch of salmon soup and bread. We opted for the cafeteria line over the pricey dining room, and sitting on the terrace was very pleasant. Down the hill from the restaurant there is a small pier where people can arrive by boat.

Seurasaari Island

2007-09-10T15:59:00.002+03:00

After a few weeks of regular rain showers each day, Sunday looked to be especially nice so we found our way to Seurasaari Island by a quick bus ride from the center of Helsinki. We were looking for one of the seasonal summer restaurants that are found on small islands around the city, a few of which I've posted pictures of earlier. These will close down soon so we wanted to try one while we still had the chance. What we didn't know was how extensive the historical exhibits are on the island, and we only saw a portion of them so we'll definitely be back to see more, and to go to the museum too. There is a Lapp cottage and a tree hut for storage, an interesting fence made of logs, a little summer house, plus some nice swans we saw on our way off the island and the bridge back to the bus. Seurasaari is a must-see in Helsinki.

A short sail

2007-09-05T19:18:00.001+03:00

I got out of town today. Gerald worked from home recuperating from his cold, so what did I do? Stay home and nurse him? No - I went out to sea instead. It's actually one of the last warmer days, I'm guessing (~60-F) and so I took an afternoon sightseeing boat out around the Gulf of Finland into the east archipelago. Since he had his sail last week, we're even now. We do hope to get to one of the summer restaurants before they close for the season too. I'll post the two I saw here. They are out on small islands near Helsinki and you catch a boat out to them from Market Square where I caught this ride. I was out for just under two hours, and what a change of scenery in such a short time. I'll post pictures of island saunas, the granite that underlies this whole area, a tiki hut someone is building (I'd like to see what that looks like in five months), and the old market from the water. I didn't wear quite warm enough gear but it was invigorating! The schooner that sailed by was so beautiful - I think her name is Astrid.

Out of town

2007-09-05T18:50:00.001+03:00

Ensilumen & fireworks

2007-09-01T17:22:00.000+03:00

It was a busy week. particularly for Gerald working all week at various locations around Espoo (pronounced expo with a b) and last week he should have won a transportation badge for getting on all the various transport systems in two days, including trains, trams, buses, subways and a sailboat too. He's really getting a hang of it and we now have our travel cards so we don't need to pay per trip and just walk on and ride. Mass transit works great here and we're happy to be able to use it all the time. Here's a picture of the metro stop in our new neighborhood - a 3 or 4 floor descent! I made my way up to the University of Helsinki early in the week and had a helpful chat with the administrator in the English Department. As school is just about to begin most everyone is all staffed but she had some good suggestions for me otherwise for teaching and editing work.

Ensilumen means first snow as I decipher it. When looking words up in the dictionaries, we seldom find the exact word and have to make uneducated guesses on what the parts of the word may mean. So when watching the news the other day (trying to learn the language by osmosis) I saw a nice lakeside picture with snow and titled Ensilumen or something close to that. It's a reminder that we are here in this country that has the arctic circle running right through it, and way up in the top of the country it has gotten to 0-C and so they did get a dusting of snow. For the last week the winds have been coming from up there so it's been cool here (50s & 60s-F), but also really interesting. We've seen two rainbows as the rain will pour down in one spot and bright sun will be shining just a few blocks away. The air is very clear too. They do say it's unseasonably cold so I hope we do yet get some of those warm fall days that are so pleasant in Michigan.

It was a week of contrasts - probably typical for expats - like the rain and rainbows. I decided to walk over to the Design Museum Thursday and happened upon an exhibit of vintage Marimekko dresses, evening gowns and fabric designs- it was a fantastic surprise. Then yesterday I got all pent up trying to sign up for Finnish classes for us online, and encountering the majority of those sites in --- Finnish! Like this emphatic note: Kurssille täytyy ilmoittautua henkilökohtaisesti koulussa. Kela-kortti ja työvoimatoimiston asiakaskortti mukaan! Huh? We finally settled on a course at the university's language centre so hopefully we can get registered for that. Then Gerald was too fatigued from his busy week to go up to a fireworks competition last night, so I found my way onto the roof after he went to bed and saw the most awesome and unusual fireworks (well the top two-thirds which showed above the roof tops - pictured here in the daytime) that I've ever seen.
All different shapes and colors - some like Saturn. The moon was out and I had the terrace to myself so it was a very magical hour on the skyline of Helsinki. I only learned today that the terrace is not really a public space so I feel lucky to have inadvertently snuck out there last night. Next year this event is a must as it is done on a bay right in the middle of Helsinki.

We met the owner of the apartment we will be renting this morning and we're all in agreement on things so we'll settle that this coming week, and he was very nice which is reassuring. We should be moving in the last week of September. Jet-setter Gerald is off to Denmark for a meeting Monday and returns Tuesday. In the time I've been writing this entry it has poured rain and now the sun is fully shining, and I'm listening to Michigan Radio - since Gerald wanted to hear Car Talk. We get it at 5pm instead of 10am. And I'm so happy that Gerald got us wireless again today. We've been sharing one ethernet cord and we're not used to that! Oohh - really dark clouds coming this way - that Baltic is quite fickle.

Second trip to the market

2007-08-26T21:10:00.000+03:00

Here are some pictures from our second market visit on Saturday, 8/25.