Travelog for: Gary Boldie

Just a few minutes from the border we had a chance to do some last minute shopping. Although no-one has ever seen anyone cashing the stuff in the "tents". In that cottage is a huge variety of not-so-authentic music and dvd's. The security chief in me wanted to go and bust them - I had to tell myself I'm on vacationof sorts... Besides, I'm not familiar with all the laws on Earth... Outside the photo is also a restaurant and another shop with drinks and goodies. My mentor got only some snacks for the drive.

We're back in Finland! Only about a 5 hour drive home... Feeling a bit exhausted... Might take a nap with friends to digest all that I've seen. Life on Earth turns out to be quite interesting and exciting...

Finland turns 91 years today! Meaning it's the Independence Day here. Traditionally people burn white&blue (flag colours) candles but as my mentor doesn't have any she put a paper one on the window. Thius candle is made by her daughter.

Happy birthday Finland!

What's all the fuss about top tens? Alfie and Roo are shushing to keep me quiet. They say my mentor will explode or something when she hears about this. Youngsters, they like to exaggerate... 

Hey Delenna, come and take a look! You're in top10! yeah yeah, believe me! Most updates by user. Hey no need to scream that loud. Hey hey don't squeeze me that hard! I can't breathe! Thank you *cough cough*

Ok, now she's jumping up and down around the house singing - and smiling widely! I guess the youngsters knew what they were talking about...

What? A party? Way cool! I'm in!

When I first heard we would go to an Elf Workshop I thought my mentor had gone crazy after hearing she's in the top10... I don't believe in Elves. Not in the santas-little-helpers kind anyway. We went to a place called "Art Factory" which to some  is a pile of red tiles and to some a cultural heritage worth saving. Not taking sides on this one. Now I got carried on sidetracks...

The Elf Workshop turned out to be a place for kids to do different sorts of xmas things (decorations, gifts, wrapping paper...) from recycled materials. Ecological crafts so to speak. This workshop is open on weekends before xmas, starting from the end of November (costs 4e/kid). And they do different things each day!

My mentor and her girls went there last year and it seems to become a tradition. No wonder as the kids love crafts almost as much as their mom!

This time they made the following: wrapping paper, rope, window decoration, rainstick and streamer.

After the workshop we went to the other side of the building to take a look at the Christmas Market! They had all sorts of handicrafts for sale there. And a play for kids! It was called something like "Aunt Monica's Christmas Past". The kids got to do more crafts and write to Santa - and sang traditional christmas songs with the "aunt" and her friend Flora.

The "aunt" was a dude. I'm pretty sure of it. 

The last two pohotos show the surroundings. My first photos in my new hometown!

A former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari was rewarded today with Nobel Peace Prize! The whole nation is proud of this achievement! My mentor ordered a First Day Cover after a long pause - and some mint Ahtisaari stamps. She says this is a day to remember 

I met Santa Claus! And his wife 

I'm an old bear but I may still get excited over fictional characters 

Gingerbread cookies for xmas are a tradition in this country. Today we made some. First we chose the moulds; there were traditional figures (those that are red) and some Moomin but we decided to use only the special new ones. We used frog, hedgehog, unicorn, cat, puzzle piece, penguin, butterfly and falling star 

Then we took the dough out of the freezer and waited for it to melt. Then we started working! I rolled the dough with Alfie.  It's really hard to roll when the dough is still a bit frozen... But I'm strong! We made tens of cookies. Alfie got a bit "floury" so I dusted him with Roo.

Then we put them in the oven and waited. We didn't get to taste any ready ones as my mentor said we would decorate them tomorrow! Ha! Try and stop me!

We drove to the city to attend a xmas party in a park! Crazy! They had a huge tent there just in case it would start raining! Crazy, I'm telling you! There were a lot of kids so some pics are blurry on purpose. The local Lucia maidens visited the park and sang like angels! We got to eat rice porridge an gingerbread cookies. The cookies weren't as good as the ones we made at home...  How do i know that...  Ha! Don't tell my mentor 

On our way back home we stopped at this sightseeing tower. I got a good look at my new hometown Porvoo. The Porvoo River runs through the city into the Baltic Sea. The little red shore houses are the most wellknown tourist attraction of this town. The shore houses  got their present colour in the late 18th century. Red ochre paint was used to paint the shore houses in honour of King Gustav III's arrival from Sweden. All of the houses along his route were painted, in order to make them more beautiful. The red ochre also helped protect the logs from wind and sun damage. Exotic fruits, wines and spices were brought to Porvoo, and the shore houses also served as intermediate storehouses for coffee an tobacco. Today the shore houses are used as private living quarters and storage space.

In the distance you can see the church/cathedral, with it's new roof (it was totally burnt by arson 2 years ago). Porvoo Cathedral is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it gained its present from at the end of the 15th century (excluding the roof aof course).

When we got back home we started decorating the delicious gingerbread cookies. I started with the falling star with Alfie. See how good looking we made them!

I love my mentor dearly but she's not that good in the kitchen... This, my dear gazers is a lighthouse. See, there's even the light on top! There's also a pier and a boat (no, it's not a snail). My mentor makes a gingerbread building every year and every year it's a different building. I... well...

I believe we all will appreciate it when we get to eat it.

Hooray! We got to decorate the xmas tree! I put all sorts of decorations on it with Alfie and Roo. Storebought, made by the kids... Glittery and non glittery... It was fun, we got to climb on the tree too  It was good excercise.

We also decorated the rest of the house. The kids had made these window decorations. The red gnomes are older and my mnetor didn't remember were they old enough to be made by her or younger to be made by the kids. I can feel the xmas spirit...