Travelog for: HelgaHH

Hi again Mom!

Hostmom took me with her when she went to her Russian class this evening. It was held in Kaukametsä which is a congress and culture centre. I took a look around while hostmom was studying and found a cool miniature exhibition of felted toys and decorations.



Felted shoes! I bet those might keep your feel warm.








There was also a very old sewing machine:


Lastly, I picked some brochures of Kajaani. I'll study some sights and maybe we'll go see something sometime this week


Good night mommy! <3

~Helga

Look Mom! It's a beautiful day.



Let's go for a walk!
There's a funny sun dial by the riverbank. And a nice view to downtown Kajaani.


The Sun kissed my nose <3




Something is being built there... Hostmom said we'll go check it again one of these days because it's going to be something fun! I can't wait.


We walked past at a small park by the market square. There we found Per Brahe, the establisher of this city. Also, there was a playground - hostmom promised we'd come and check it out sometime.
   

Oh, Mom! You'll never believe what we saw next as we continued our walk.

Can you see what's in the background?



There are ruins of an old castle! This is pretty cool. The castle is from the 17th century.



We went to explore the ruins straight away.





We climbed up some stairs... They were really slippery but I could travel upstairs in hostmom's pocket.







Can you see me in this picture?? 



This sight was plenty of fun! We were getting a bit cold, though, so we headed forward to the city library.

I made a new friend today. He lives in the library. (:



I also climbed a cute fantasy tree which branches were decorated with country flags - for every nationality living in Kainuu (the province where Kajaani is located. Kajaani is the capital of the province.)





The tree had funny roots :3


On our way back home, do you even believe, something caught my eye! I could hardly believe it.



MY SIGNATURE TOY SHOP! ^_____^



Mom, I'm so happy. Hopefully you are, too. Miss you! <3

~ Helga

Today was fun!

We decorated some chocolate brownies that were shaped like hearts and stars. We added some melted choco and white chocolate, and even sprinkles on them and they turned out pretty delicious (: I took a nice bite from the one I decorated 
Here's some yummy pics for you to see.

Hi Mom!

Remember when I told you about something that was being built in Kajaani? Well, today we walked past it again and it had indeed advanced. At the moment it looks like walls of snow... and some of it was decorated with adorable heart sculptings. What will it be? A snow castle maybe? I can't wait to see what the completed thing will look like!




Another thing we did today was cinema! We watched a movie that told a sad story of a woman looking for her lost son after 50 years of being separated. I consoled myself with eating some candy we had bought...
This is my only evidence of the cinema experience for now - two pics from inside the building got a bit lost but we have high hopes to recover them when we go back to Kajaani



After the film I got a ride in hostmom's backpack and the next thing I knew was that we were in a train! It was full of people so we had to be very courteous with taking photos.

I tried to look out of window to check where we were going but it was pitch black outside already because it was very late in the afternoon.



Well, we eventually got somewhere - we were in a city called Oulu, and we had traveled 200 km to west. It was cold outside and we had to hurry a bit to catch a bus... which was also full of people! Phew, it was a very typical Friday's rush hour.
I will tell you about Oulu the next time I write (:

After the bus ride we arrived in Kiiminki which is hostmom's childhood hometown. Kiiminki is actually a part of Oulu these days (since 2013) but it's 20 kilometres away from the city centre so it was like going to another town.

There was somebody waiting for us:



It was Yuma who had flown there all the way from Alaska. We welcomed him warmly.

So that was all from today. A lot happened and I think we'll go to sleep now! Good night!

On Sunday we met some of hostmom's friends who have the awesomest pets. First we met some cats, and this brave kitty posed with us.




We took a car ride to see another friend. It was a speedy ride - during it we played the game of "77 Quirky Questions And Amusing Answers".



Helga: "Do you believe that Santa Claus exists?"
Yuma: "Aye, if I haven't got anything to eat all day!"



Once we got to our destination, there were some furry friends waiting for us. Guess what this is!!







It was sooo fuzzy and cute - a Shetland Pony! And its baby was even fuzzier, as you can see!
And here is Nala the dog. She was a very cheery and lively dog who loved guarding the ponies.

On Monday morning me and Yuma went out on the backyard to see if we could find anything interesting. Well, we did! First we climbed to a maple tree and from there I noticed some animal footprints in the snow. We went to inspect them at once!
They turned out to have been made by a squirrel and some pheasants that live around the neigbourhood.




Squirrel's path:


Pheasants' path:


Sitting on a blackcurrant bush. I kinda wished it would've been leafier. (for softness, you know!)


We took a look at the front yard:




And slided down a pile of snow on a cool sled:





That was not everything that happened on Monday... I'll tell you about it soon

~ Helga

Hi Mom,

Here's a sneak peak of our trip in he city of Oulu on Monday, February 3rd. Photos will follow!

A Wall of Snow

<3 Helga

So on Monday afternoon we made a small trip to Oulu which is one of the biggest cities in Finland, areally and for population. There are a little over 190,000 inhabitants. Hostmom's homwtown Kiiminki is these days a part of this city - in 2013, four neighbouring municipalities were attached to Oulu.

We begun the tour on Rotuaari, the pedestrian area of the city centre were there are shops, cafés and restaurants.





Then we walked to the marketplace. We took a look at the surrounding buildings and to the pier.





At the marketplace stood a handsome building called "Kauppahalli". That's the market hall! We walked inside and asked one of the personnell if we could take a couple of photos. It was allowed.






Nom, lollies!

When we stepped out of the market hall, our interest was drawn by a stout policeman. He's called Toripolliisi. We learned that he is a symbol of Oulu - he's a very well-known figure and one of the things every newcomer will see when coming to the city. So, of course we wanted to say hello to him at once when we heard how famous he is!





Now we spotted behind our backs the very thing I showed you in the video yesterday. The wall of snow!





Some things left unrevealed as our camera run out of battery! Fortunately, hostmom said, this wasn't our only trip to Oulu - we will return there next week and maybe catch more of the city.

~Helga

Early on Tuesday morning we settled up for the Journey back to hostmom's place in Kajaani. There was a beautiful dawn, and we were very excited. The road was long but we saw many towns on the way (didn't even catch all of them on camera) and hostmom read us Around the World in 80 Days to pass the time.

We faced a bit of trouble loading the pics on my travelog so this time you'll find most of them on hostmom's TV blog which she has set up.

Here's something, though...

Hi Mom!

It's been a few days since my last post but here I am again
On Friday we took a bus to Kuhmo, a town 100 km east from Kajaani. That's almost as east as you can go before you'll find yourself in Russia!

We discovered that life in Kuhmo is just as peaceful as anywhere in the world... You can see by yourself here:

Sightseeing tour in felted boots (also called "huopikkaat" and "vinkkelit" in Finnish)





Waching telly...



Sitting amongst flowers...



Finding out that even the most suspicious individuals....



...may be able to stun you with friendliness if you give them a chance.



Taking your new friend for a walk...




Climbing tall and not so tall trees...




...and finding that one tree which feels like it had been made just for you.



Going chameleon with funny street signs...



Stalking pigeons...



And spending a night eating candy and watching an exciting and funny film with your current traveling companion.

Hi Mom! Today I have another small video for you. We went bicycling and I got to ride at the front with Yuma.

Look at me go!

Here, we also took a couple of pics!

Hi Mom!

It's been quite long since I last wrote to you. Hostmom says sorry for not doing updates but now you're going to get a few of them (:

So, the after we went bicycling we went to see that snow castle that's being built by the riverwalk - I think I mentioned it earlier.  We had lots of fun climbing up and down the walls and admiring the scupltures. There was a beautiful wall of snow hearts, a tunnel, a snow mushroom (or something like that  ) and much more.

I hope everything's wonderful back home! I miss you mama <3

A new ToyVoyager arrived today! Her name is Prajna and she comes from Bali - or actually, she flew from Germany where she had spent the last few weeks.

We welcomed her heartily.


She brought some gifts from Germany... A cool postcard and some candies (:



We decided to throw a party to celebrate her arrival so we blew some balloons and set a plateful of those yummies on hostmom's soft red rug in the livingroom.




Eventually we ate so much that we had to take a rest...



But afterwards we played a game of The Wobbling Tower. In it you take out blocks from a wooden tower and insert them on the top. The game ends when the tower (eventually!) crashes down.






Watch out there, Prajna...!


It ended with a bit of chaos but we got some good laughs out of it, too 




Happy together! (: