Travelog for: Lemmy

It was a sunny day and we had the card so we went to a playground with the kids. I tried all the "rides" too! And drove a sand truck! And played sinking the ship  And that other thing we weren't quite sure what it was but I liked peeking in the holes and suprising the girls 

Autums colors are here!

Today we went to an event organized by the local electricity company. I saw the Moomin! Ok, I saw Moominmamma and Moominpappa and the brown creature that looks like a mixture of a kangaroo and mouse  My host complained that they hadn't learned anything (the organizers): adults were still blocking the view from most ofthe kids!

Well, we also saw different domestic animals - they let kids ride the donkey!?! And there was one older firetruck, free food a mini pig that was HUGE... and lots of people. Oh, and balloons!

After the event we took an "Architecture Sightseeing"  The two first pics show the main library on both sides (brown side and red side) The rest of the views are "just" houses in different use. Mainly living quarters though.

Today was a new sightseeing peek at the edge of the Old Town! That stone thingie is a fountain but the water doesn't run anymore as it's autumn. Can you see the colorful leaves? The Old Porvoo has been burnt a few times. mostly during wars but there is a story that one fire started from boiling fish soup! But that was in the 1760, nowadays they are more carefull in cooking 

Today I also got to see this town from high up! They have a sightseeing tower near the river and red shorehouses. The view was great! We continued to walk in the forest so that I got a new perspective to a few places that I've seen already. It was way cool! In the last photo I'm blocking the Castle Hill which I visited a week ago 

Well well... Here I am in the the capitol of Finland: Helsinki. It was a rainy'ish day but we were heading to a postcrossing meeting so there was some fun to be expected  My host had arrived early on purpose so that she could show me around a bit! In the first photo is the main post office, a very important place for a stamp collector and postcrosser  That statue of a man riding a horse show on eof the presidents, Mr. Mannerheim. They're planning a movie about him too! The building with big piles in front is the Parliament house.  All pics are taken on the main street. Oh yes, that white bench. It's not broken. It's a work of art in front of the museum of contemporary art Kiasma.

(links will be added later)

Oooooh! So this is the famous postcrossing meeting! People get together in a cafe and chat and write tons of postcards. Well, this time "tons" meant 192 postcards + some private ones. There were about 30 people and each one signed all the 192 cards! My host was the only one using nickname-stickers 

We (Alfie, Roo and I) had some chocolate and hot chocolate - and we're not afraid to advertise the cafe  One couple got presents! I can tell that postcrossers are a nice bunch, they treated us toyvoyagers with care too!

The cafe was in a big glass building. Indoors they alos had this huge clock - it say Helsingin Sanomat Office, which means the office of the biggest newspaper in the country. Hey, no-one came to take our picture! There was also lots of photos on display. They looked like some sort of ads and newspaper photos... Some of them were creepy, we took a pic of the less creepy ones.

After the postcrossing meeting we visited the Post Museum in the main post office. I saw tons of old and new postcards, stamps, an old mailtruck and an even older post horse! They showed mail&post and how they were delivered thru the time. They even had posters about postcrossing!

After visiting the Post Museum my host walked with me around the city center. I just wanted to see what it was like there  In photos 2 and 3 is the main railway station. Further away they had painted one walk thru to look like Paris! Then there was people playing, old and new buildings, an add for a Moomin play in the Swedish theater... The green photos are taken in the boulevard  I just looked at everything with awe and interest, it's a big city for a small fox like me. There are 500 000 inhabitants in this city that was built at the mouth of the River Vantaa in 1550 at the command of Gustavus Wasa, the King of Sweden. Helsinki has been the capital since Finland got independent in 1917.

Phew, it was good to get on the bus and head back to Porvoo after all the walking in Helsinki. here I am waiting for the bus from Porvoo center to the suburb where I stay. It's quite quiet on a Saturday evening.

We were all invited to a party: their brother turns 50! In Kerava we stopped only to pick up my host's sister.

Oh yes, before the party we went to a fair in Tampere. the fair was about elderly people and their services, recreation etc. My host studies the profession and her dad is just old enough to be interested  The first pic is taken at the gas station where we stopped on our way to get something to eat.

The fair was quite interesting. I saw also old money from different countries (I don't know what that had to do with elderly people) and old sport shoes. The shoes were there apparently for good, nothing to do with the fair, the hall is used in sports too. The fair did also show different sports suitable for elderly. One was bellydancing!

My host said that the best part in fairs is that you get stuff for free 

Finally we arrived to the place where the party was held. I did get a bit worried when I saw that the area was also used by psychiatric hospital. My host assured that none of the guests were currently patients. Wait?! Currently?!?

Ok, well, the city we were in is Nokia. Yep, the same where the company was first built. The one that makes cellphones (they used to make rubber boots).

The lake gave a very beautiful view. The house where the party was, was built before 1900! No wonder the decor was from that era too (or at least close). That's me with Roo and Alfie. We did have a ball with my host and her reletives! Happy Birthday My Host's Brother!

After yesterday we still had energy to drive.

This is where my host grew up. A small village east from Porvoo center. The so called centrum of Jakari has had a shop, post office and a gas station but now it's pretty much nothing. They do still have the school (grades 1-6) although it's also constantly under the threat of closing down. There's a sport field and that yellow building which you can rent for events. It's a nice and peacefull place to grow up.