Travelog for: Emil

Hello

We were walking peacefully in a forest, when suddenly we noticed a monkey peeking from a hollow stump of a tree. He seemed friendly, so we went to talk to him. It turned out that he's Qah and he's a toyvoyager too. We invited him to join us.



It's spring in Finland, too. Look at these flowers. They're growing here and there in small groups among all the old, fallen leaves. Beautiful.



Huge old tree had snapped in two and the upper part had fallen down. The damage seemed to be quite recent, although the tree is very old and hollow. Perhaps the tree had finally gotten tired of standing still.



Unfortunately it started to rain and we had to rush back to jinxed's before getting soaked.

Best wishes,
Emil

Happy Easter for those who celebrate it and happy spring for everyone.



Emil

Hello

It's one of the warmest days of this spring and sun is shining, so we decided to go to the riverbank for a walk. There are very nice walking routes following Aurajoki (joki = river).

The river on this photo is Vähäjoki, a smaller river that flows into Aurajoki. It looks like we're on the countryside, but actually we walked only a couple of kilometers away from the town center.



Soon after crossing that bridge we arrived to Koroistenniemi. Here's a sign telling something about the area. This is a historically notable area: an old trading post and a church, where the diocese of Finland was located before Turku Cathedral was built. The diocese was then moved to the Cathedral on year 1300 or so.



A view towards Vähäjoki.



And a view of Koroistennimi. The white cross marks the place, where the church and the diocese were located. The river on this photo is Aurajoki and you can almost see the place, where Vähäjoki joins it. If you look carefully, you can see the tower of Turku Cathedral, too.



There isn't much left of the buildings anymore. You can seen some remains here and there, though.









Mr. Moose and Teddy arrived later and we gathered on a big stone that's probably been one of the foundation stones of the church.



We talked a lot, enjoyed the nice weather and had fun, but nothing lasts forever and soon it was time to say good bye. It's time for Gozer to continue his journey.



Best wishes,
Emil

Hello

Tomorrow is the first of May, which in Finland is called vappu and we're going to celebrate it. The celebrations start tonight, even the shops are closed earlier than usually and tomorrow is a national holiday.



The roots of vappu can be found from pagan spring celebrations and later it became the worker's holiday. Whatever the reasons for celebrating are now, the Finns gather their friends and/or families and do something fun. Like going out for a picnic and probably getting drunk, too.

Silly costumes are a part of vappu, too. Unfortunately we didn't have any, so we took some silly photos instead.



The weather isn't that nice, so we decided that jinxed's balcony is a good enough place for our picnic. So, that's where we went with our balloons and serpentine. Teddy brought us some traditional vappu snacks: crisps, funnel cake, doughnuts and mead.







We ate and drank a lot, maybe a little too much.



But who cares, we had fun.

Greetings,
Emil

Hi there

Samppalinnanmäki (mäki = hill) is one of the seven hills of Turku and there's a nice park, too. That's where we went for a walk today.





This old cannon is a memorial for the cannoneers, who were in the Winter and Continuation Wars on 1939 - 1945.





Hey, look. It's another memorial. This one is for all the veterans of Winter and Continuation Wars.





This statue is a memorial for G.A. Petrelius, whoever he was.



Here are some nice views to the town center.















The building here is restaurant Samppalinna.



This one's for the independence of Finland.



Here you can see a small part of Aurajoki (joki = river). The red building is Pharmacy Museum and Qwensel House. It's the oldest surviving bourgeois home in Turku, dating back to the early 18th century. Turku is a bilingual town and Åbo is its name in Swedish.



Here's a view from Aurasilta (silta = bridge). The nearest building is the town hall.



There's a nice cafe in Qwensel House and we decided to go there.



Then it was time to say goodbye. I won't return to jinxed's with the others, I'll start my journey towards new adventures instead.







Goodbye Finland. Canada, here I come.

Greetings,
Emil

Betzi, Prickles, Molito and Princess are waiting for Emil's arrival!

Hello Mommy! I made it to Canada safe and sound... When my suitcase arrived in the mailbox, I heard a lot of commotion from the outside and later realized it was all my new friends looking at my suitcase!  Betzi, Princess, Molito, Rico and Prickles all helped me come out of my suitcase and were so welcoming! I feel very small compared to some of my new friends!

I was greeted very warmly and soon even my hosts cat "Gibbs" was saying hello to me....There are a couple big dogs as well as two more cats too!

Everyone enjoyed the postcard and treats too...thank you for sending them with me. I am going to have a little rest now...my host Arlene says to tell you not to worry about me. And that I will have a wonderful time here in Kelowna!

I was both happy and sad today mommy...I was sad because I just arrived and met some great TV's and now two of them are leaving! But I was very happy too because we had a surprise party to say goodbye...I didn't know if I could keep it a surprise, but I did...I almost let the secret out this morning at breakfast and again at lunch but caught myself before I said anything...Both Betzi and Prickles were so surprised! We partied for a long time and then they had to pack there suitcases and leave.  But first Molito, Princess, Rico and I all hugged Prickles and Betzi goodbye....It is Prickles first journey, but I told her not to worry, she will be fine....she is off to Germany and Betzi is off to Oakland California USA!

Mommy, I am so excited, I don't know if I can sleep tonight....Tomorrow we are going fishing up in the mountains! So today my host Arlene made all of us life jackets for the boat....she also made us some fishing rods! When Molito, Rico, Princess and I all had our rods together, it was very fun! More pictures tomorrow!

I have been fishing...yes mommy, I have been fishing! It was so relaxing and exciting at the same time. I had on my lifejacket and it kept me safe, I held my fishing rod, but I didn't catch anything...but my hosts...they caught 5 fishes! I enjoyed the sunshine and the beautiful lake views...We had our new friend Sammie the seal come with us today... so Molito, Rico, Princess and I all had fun in the boat...we saw fish jumping out of the water, we saw a hawk (which kind of scared me because I thought he would swoop down and take me!), we saw bunny rabbits and blue heron...we also saw little frogs!

We fished for 4 hours and finally it was time to come into shore and eat! While our hosts built a fire and fileted the fish, we went down to see the beautiful view of James Lake...we sat on a tree cut out like a chair...then we saw what the fish looked like before it was cooked. We sat by the fire while the fish cooked...then we got a great shoot of the yummy rainbow trout all cooked up! YUMMY! Soon after we went exploring, we climb rocks, tree and then we saw a chipmunk watching us....Princess put a peanut on her head and in the picture, if you look really closely, you will see the chipmunk taking it off her head!

We went for a little hike and came to this fabulous pond. We sat on the edge and looked out for moose, but didn't see any today...and just before we left, we all went looking for a spot to place a new GEOCACHE...we found a wonderful place under a tree...then we went running through a pretty field of wild strawberries and raspberries! What a glorious day we had mommy!