Travelog for: Gozer

Hello mum!

We had a nice surprise yesterday, when Rocky Raccoon arrived. It's great to meet him again.



Finland gained independece from Russia on 06.12.1917, so today's a holiday to celebrate that. The Independece Day in Finland is usually a quiet day, spent with family and friends. Some people like to go to graveyards to honour those, who died defending the independece, when the Soviet Union tried to take over on Winter War in 1939 - 1940 and again on Continuation War in 1941 - 1944.

The official festivities start with raising of the Finnish flag on Tähtitorninmäki in Helsinki. Of course the flags are raised everywhere in Finland, too. Then there's a religious service in the Helsinki Cathedral, which is also shown on TV. We chose not to watch that.

Later on the day there will be a parade of the Finnish army, which will take place in different towns. This year the parade was held in Mikkeli. Too far away for us to go to watch it on the streets, but we watched a part of it on TV instead.



In the evening there's the president's party. This year was different, because the party was held in Tampere instead of the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. That's because there are renovations going on in the palace. The party is shown on TV, too, so people can watch how all those who are invited shake hands with the president and what they are wearing. The people who got invited are usually veterans of Winter and Continuation Wars, politicians, celebrities such as musicians, actors and artists, other people who have succeeded in their field of work, etc. We watched a part of the party, too.

It's traditional for Finnish people to light two candles on every window of their home. Due to the lack of suitable places near windows, we chose to burn candles on the living room table instead.



After that we watched the 1955 version of Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier). It's a Finnish movie based on a novel by Väinö Linna and it tells a story about a company in the Continuation War. Watching that movie is one of the Independence Day traditions, too, it's been shown on TV every year since 2000. The book and movie both are classics that every Finn should read and watch - and why not people from other countries, too.



Best wishes,
Gozer

Hello

Jinxed went to do some Christmas shopping to the town center. Rocky and I decided to tag along, although it was getting dark and raining a little.



We stopped to watch the Christmas window of Stockmann. It was very nice with some moving animals. There were many children watching the window with their parents, too.





Then we went to Christmas Market that was located at Kauppatori.









Greetings, Gozer

Hello

Today we went to the cottage to look for a Christmas tree. It was more exciting and fun than just buying a tree from the parking lot of a nearby market. Of course you can't go to any forest and grab a tree that you like, it'd be stealing. Jinxed's parents own a part of the forest around the cottage, so it was fine for us to look for a Christmas tree in there.

It looks like we won't get any snow for Christmas. Temperature is something around +5°C and it rains a lot. Feels like an autumn instead of a winter, which is kinda sad. Luckily the rain stopped while we were driving to Lieto.





















After a lot of searching we found a suitable tree before it started to get dark again.



Greetings, Gozer

Hi again!

Today it was time to wrap the Christmas presents. Teddy, Rocky and I helped until we ran out of wrapping paper and jinxed had to go to buy some more.







Best wishes,
Gozer

Merry Christmas!



In Finland Christmas is celebrated already on Christmas Eve with family and/or friends. The traditional Christmas dinner includes different casseroles, ham, turkey, fish, and different salads. It's tasty and there's usually so much food that you end up eating it at least the whole Christmas.



Santa Claus brings the presents, sometimes in person and sometimes he just leaves them under the Christmas tree.



Hugs,
Gozer

Dear Gozer,

Thanks for your updates!

Hello

Yes, it's Turku Cathedral again.

Here you can also see the huge Christmas tree in the front of the Cathedral. It's a yearly tradition to look for a huge and beautiful tree that would be worthy to become a Christmas tree for the Cathedral.



And here's the reason for our quick visit. We wanted to see this Nativity Scene, it's made by an Italian artist and is in the Cathedral only for this Christmas time. Actually we wanted to see it already on Christmas, but didn't find enough time even for a quick visit.



One more look towards Aurajoki and the Cathedral when we were already walking back to the car.



Greetings,
Gozer

Hi!

Another toyvoyager, Emil arrived here today. We talked a lot, mostly about being a toyvoyager and what we've seen and done on our adventures.





Best wishes,
Gozer

Hello

The weather seemed to be sunny and nice, although somewhat cold. We decided to go out and have a walk in a nearby forest. Teddy was lazy and chose to stay at home. I told Rocky Raccoon and Emil that I've been in the forest earlier, so I could guide them around, if needed.



This spruce was so huge that there wasn't any snow under it. We sat on a rock to enjoy the sunshine.



This is an old forest and it's mostly left as it is, so you can see lots of old and fallen trees there. Here's one of those and you can also see the huge spruce a bit better.





I was watching, when Rocky and Emil climbed on an old oak. I wanted to climb up there, too, but unfortunately I was too big to sit comfortably on the notches of the bark like the others did.





We saw rabbits' tracks here and there, but no rabbits themselves. Maybe we were too scary for them to show up. It looked like they had searched something to eat here.





Look at all this ice. It's quite artistic, isn't it? It was very slippery to sit on that rock, but we managed to get a good enough grip of the icicles.



Here's one of the fallen trees. Looks like it has been lying on the path a long time. We had to climb over the trunk to be able to continue our adventure.



We saw a somewhat funny-looking birch. It seemed to be ideal for building a treehouse. We couldn't resist climbing up.





Despite all the walking and climbing we started to freeze, so we decided it's time to go back to jinxed's home and have some hot juice.

Greetings,
Gozer

Hi mum!

Today we went for a walk to Linnanpuisto (linna = castle, puisto = park) and the bank of Aurajoki. Linnanpuisto is surrounding Turku Castle, so that explains the name of the park.

Turku Castle is another of the most notable historical buildings in Finland and it's also the oldest surviving medieval building in Finland. The castle was founded in the late 13th century and it's located near the mouth of Aurajoki. Originally the castle was built on an island, but the ground has ascended during the centuries so much that the island is fully connected to the mainland.

The castle has been through a lot during it's long history. It's been built, burnt, rebuilt and extended many times. The latest major damage was caused by an incendiary bomb that hit the Medieval keep on 1941, when Soviet Union was air raiding Turku during the Continuation War. After that the castle has been renovated and restored to its 16th century glory. Now the castle is one of the most popular museum in Finland.

That's what we saw, when we jumped out of the bus. The white part of the castle is the Renaissance bailey and behind it you can see the eastern tower of the Medieval keep.





Here's the entrance to the courtyard.



The courtyard, eastern tower and entrance to the Medieval keep.



Here's an old well on the courtyard. Maybe there's still water in it.



There's also a cafe in the Renaissance bailey. Seems that no one wants to sit outside in January, which I can understand. It's too cold.



A view to the courtyard from the entrance tower. Look how thick the walls are.



We wondered where this door leads. It's locked, so we couldn't find out.



Here's the entrance to the castle. We didn't go there this time, because you can't see much of the inside without buying a ticket anyway.



Here's a corner of the inner courtyard.



After seeing the courtyards we wanted to see the castle walls from outside, too. Here you can see the two different parts of the castle.





Here we are in the front of the western tower.





The western side of the castle is probably most commonly seen in photos, postcards, etc. It's also know as the symbol of Turku.



Here's the only round tower of Turku Castle.





We also walked a bit on the bank of Aurajoki. There we saw some museum ships. Here's Suomen Joutsen (Swan of Finland) facing towards the sea.



A nice view of Aurajoki.



Here's another museum ship, Sigyn. She's facing towards the sea, too. It looks like she's been coverd for winter.



This small ferry is called Föri. It transports people across the river for free.



Greetings,
Gozer

Hey

Rocky Raccoon told us that his mum has found a new host for him. So it's time for Rocky to continue his journey.



It was time to say goodbye, but maybe we'll meet again. Who knows?



Before Rocky crawled into his envelope, Emil, Teddy and I gave him some chocolates. Now he won't become too hungry before reaching his destination.





Yours,
Gozer

Hi Gozer,

Nice to see your updates! There's no snow here. It's just raining or hailing. 
Give my regards to Emil. I've been his host. He was my first TV!

Have a great time!

Hug,
your mum Emjay

Hello

Today we had to wake up a lot earlier than usually, because we were going to catch a train at 7:00 am. Jinxed is going to a weekend trip to East-Finland to meet some relatives. Of course we wanted to tag along, it's a great opportunity to see another part of Finland.

Here we are in the train somewhere between Turku and Pieksämäki.



We saw lots of forests and lakes from the train and also some villages and a few towns.



Greetings,
Gozer

PS. Emil says hello.

Hello

It turned out that our destination was Eno. It's a village in Pohjois-Karjala (North Karelia) that has been a part of the town of Joensuu since 2009.

Today it was nice and sunny, but also very cold - something between -15°C and -20°C. No one wanted to stay outside, but we still went for a quick walk to the beach of lake Pielinen. The view there was very beautiful.



















Greetings,
Gozer

Hello

Today it snowed almost the whole day. Here's more snow than in Turku. In the evening we went outside to play for a while, it wasn't as cold as yesterday.





Here's an old well.



Then we went inside a small building that turned out to be a sauna. It's an old sauna. First you have to carry the water inside and then boil some in the big cauldron by burning wood under it. The sauna stove is heated by burning wood, too. There's no showers, either. You're supposed to wash yourself in the sauna by mixing boiling and cold water in a wash basin. I think this kind of sauna is more atmospheric than the modern ones.





Here you can see a part of the sauna stove in the corner and a part of the big cauldron in the front of those.



Greetings,
Gozer