Travelog for: Tilda

Between March 2008 and September 2008 Tilda's temporary mentor will be Stef.

Well, I have been sitting and waiting for a long time to get my chance to be introduced to you all. My name is Tilda, and as you can see, I am a kangaroo with large feet, just perfect for leaping all over the place! While I am very proud to call Australia home, I am eager to meet the rest of the world and meet new people who I can introduce to Australia in some way.

My name is short for Matilda, the name of a very well known kangaroo that my friend Bec grew up with. This is where I get my love of sports from I guess. The Hockeyroos are a particular favourite - if you don't know, they are the Australian Women's Hockey team, and are currently ranked as the best in the world!

I would love to have the chance to see them play sometime, as well as to attend the Commonwealth Games.

I've just started a topic in the forum and would love to hear from people all over the world.

I arrived to Porvoo! I was immediately warmly welcomed by Lucky-Ducky (a TV visiting this family) and the people. Especially the young girls liked me very much from the start! I felt very relieved and safe. The people were having afternoon snack and they offered me some Carelian pasty. It was store bought and my host said the ones her grandma used to make and her mom still makes are better. They have a rye cover and rice porridge filling. Very yummy even this storebought!

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Karjalanpiirakat

My host took some pics, they'll be uploaded soon!

Today we had a small sightseeing in the Old Town. My host and her eldest girl showed me the most well-known sight: the old shorehouses (those red ones by the river). The shore houses are now red, but they got their colour only 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.

Porvoo is second oldest city in Finland. The current wave of settlement began in the 13th-14th centuries. Porvoo was grated city status in the mid-14th century. Porvoo has fought for its very existence on serveral occasions over the centuries. At the beginning of the 16th century, Danes arrived by sea to destroy the city. The Russians burned Porvoo twice. In 1760, a Porvoo housewife made fish soup, and the fire it caused destroyed the majority of the buildings in the city. The last misfortune was the arson in 2006 that greatly damaged a key landmark of Old POrvoo, the cathedral. At the beginning of the 19th century, Finland was annexed to Russia as an autonomous grand duchy. Tsar Alexander I convened the first diet in Porvoo in March 1809. In Porvoo Cathedral, he gave a sovereign pledge in which he ratified the country's religion, its constitutional laws and the rights of the estates.

In the fourth picture I'm looking at the hill on the other side of the river. On that hill there used to be a castle/fortress a few hundred years ago. It's special to my host as she used to date her husband on the side of that hill when they were teenagers

And in the last picture I'm sitting in the car heading back to host-home. I just wanted to show you that I was put in a seatbelt - my hostfamily really wants to take care of my safety! 

This is how Old Porvoo looks at 9 o-clock on a Monday morning  Very quiet.

I got a lecture in history on the way to the "family-café":
Porvoo is second oldest city in Finland. The current wave of settlement began in the 13th-14th centuries. Porvoo was grated city status in the mid-14th century. Porvoo has fought for its very existence on serveral occasions over the centuries. At the beginning of the 16th century, Danes arrived by sea to destroy the city. The Russians burned Porvoo twice. In 1760, a Porvoo housewife made fish soup, and the fire it caused destroyed the majority of the buildings in the city. The last misfortune was the arson in 2006 that greatly damaged a key landmark of Old POrvoo, the cathedral. At the beginning of the 19th century, Finland was annexed to Russia as an autonomous grand duchy. Tsar Alexander I convened the first diet in Porvoo in March 1809. In Porvoo Cathedral, he gave a sovereign pledge in which he ratified the country's religion, its constitutional laws and the rights of the estates.

Porvoo has been an important centre of trade since the 13th century. Jokikatu and Välikatu have always been lively shopping streets. People came to the city to shop, spend the night, have fun and eat well. Today, this tradition continues as people enjoy the unique atmosphere in the streets, gardens, cafés, resraurants, hotels, galleries and museums. The buildings in Old Porvoo today were built according to a medieval town plan and are ofhistorical value in terms of their construction. The Old Porvoo district currently covers an area of 18 hectares, with 250 residential buildings and 300 outbuildings. Roughly 700 people live in this area. 

On the pics you can see the mentioned Jokikatu and Välikatu.
The pink building in the first picture is the historical museum housed in the Old Town Hall (1764). It features exhibitions from the prehistoric period and Middle Ages, clothing, jewelry, toys, vehicles etc.

That shop in front of which I pose on the crown is a toushop. They sell "old-fashioned" toys made of basically everything but plastic. The last pic is taken closer to the city center, showing the busy morning traffic on the main street.

We left the older girls to play with friends and went to the library (me, my host and her youngest). We took some pictures on the way, just to show some regular street views. The first pic is taken towards the market place - malls/stores on both sides of the street.

In the library the pics are taken on the children literature side. I did a puzzle - the missing piece looks very familiar!
The last pic is taken from the outside of the library. It's really bigger than it looks from that angle.

This is the little girl taking care of me! Keeping me warm and dry 

I'm so glad I have my sweater! The northern wind is so chilly... The summer is over says my host and I can only agree with her. *brrr*

Here we're heading back home from the café and library. First pic shows the busstation, the second the market place next to it. Then we walked thru one of the parks. This one was called Runeberg's Park. It was named after the national poet J.L. Runeberg (see the statue).

Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877), who wrote the lyrics for the Finnish national anthem, "Maamme" (our Country), lived from 1837 on for 40 years in Porvoo with his family. He worked as a master at Porvoo gymnasium and lived in several addresses, lastly however in the empire style town quarter. He settled there with his wife Fredrika and his six children in 1852 and lived there till his death in 1877.
Poet J. L. Runeberg's home has been a museum since 1882.
The neighbouring block houses a collection of about 140 works of scuplture Walter Runeberg (1838-1920). The artist worked in Rome and Paris. His monumental works and portraits represent idealist classicism. There is a statue made by him of his father, J. L. Runeberg, in Helsinki and a smaller version in Porvoo.

After the park we crossed a bridge and I saw the river views. Those red houses are brand new. They're close to the old, red shorehouses and apparently the architects were inspired by the old ones.

"The first sign of Autumn!" said my host when she saw those colorful leaves. She said it will be very pretty when all the leaves are colorfull like these.

Orthodox churcs near the home.

And a view to the home That white house on the right is a retirement home.

Today we started a little trip to Tampere, a city about 200km from Porvoo. My host's eldest sister turns 50 and has a small party. In the car there were me, my host, her middle one and her toy doggie called Lurppa, TV Lucky-Ducky and my host's parents. My host drove and we stopped half way to the destination. The stop was a gas station/mall/cafe above the highway! We stretched out legs, my host's dad played moneygames - it's forbidden from people under 15 years so me and L-D just watched. We got to go on a slide too!

Birthday party! There were about 30 people and one dog celebrating my host's sister. Good eating, drinkin, company... That white&brown cake is soooo delicious! It's made with a secret recipe only my host's elder siblings (and their kids) know. Their mother gave it to them, so my host doesn't get it, but she does get to enjoy it

My host, her daughter and us TV's stayed over night...

here I am, in the city center of Tampere. It is located in the midst of a lake labyrinth - 200 lakes situated within the city limits! Tampere was established in 1779 by King Gustav III. Today it has over 200 000 inhabitants, being the 3rd largest city in Finland (after Helsinki and Turku). It's the 2nd largest student city (after Helsinki) and has for example 2 universities. According to a study in 2004, it was the most wanted place to live in! I don't wonder, it looks nice - and my host praises it too 

For example these things happened in Tampere the first time in the world:  
1974     NMT-phonecall
1984     biodisintegrating implant (Bioscience/Bionx)
1991    GSM-phonecall
1996      Personal Digital Assistant (Nokia)
2001    game- and photophones (Nokia)
2002     eCard (eTampere/Infocity)

More information here:
http://www.tampere.fi/english/tourism/index.html

That is me at the railway Station in Tampere - and in the train with my host, her daughter and my friends L-D and Lurppa. Our tour in Tampere wasn't that long because the little girl got tired in walking, we understand her. I saw some very nice sights on the way. I even saw Hämeen linna (Häme Castle)! In the picture it's just behind those leaves.

We arrived safely to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. There I am, in the Main Railway Station. I got to see a bit of the center as we walked to the buss station called Kamppi , which is quite modern (built last year) as you can see from the last pictures. It has 7 floors and 6 of them are filled with shops, stores, cafes...

We took the buss home  On the way I saw the Parliament House and the Finlandia Hall and the Finnish National Opera House.

It was a good trip, I enjoyed myself 

Greetings from Porvoo again

Today we visited my host's favorite sight in the town: the Linnamäki ("castle hill") where used to be a fortress hundreds of years ago. You can see the hill from down in my 8th September sightseeing (4th picture).

The hill is very "foresty" now and a good place to play Robin Hood I've heard  You can see the old town and all the bridges from the hill (on the right spot). The last picture is taken from the other side and there you see some regular houses.