Travelog for: Twix

Early in the morning we drove to Helsinki, to see the Stamp Fair. It was quite small but stamps don't need much room, do they?  That big box full of stamps was my host's favorite - you could choose as much as you could fit in a small envelope with only 1 euro! She spent about 45 minutes choosing the stamps  We did have a look at the stamps that were on display.

After the Stamp Fair we moved on the other side of Messukeskus, to the Book Fair. You can probably guess that there were tons and tons of books  We followed the interview of Mauri Kunnas, a famous Finnish author who makes children's books mostly - but those books are loved by adults too. His books are translated in several languages.

Later we saw the Moomins! And last but not least a musical show with Pekka Töpöhäntä, a cat with no tail - and his friends. Both Moomins and Pekka Töpöhäntä (or Pelle Svanslös in the original language which is Swedish) are loved children's books.

We didn't buy much books, just a few children's books and a few comic books. Our feet were killing us from all the walking, but it was worth it! Especially the ice cream I had 

Halloween! Treats!! Candies!!!
Or at least I thought so when I heard my host was going to a Hallloween disco in the local school, to organize a "Fear Factor" with other adults. She was responsible for bringing the scary music (wolves howling, Dracula and Aliens soundtracks) and making "poison spider box" and "teeth&bones" box - they were really just yarn and pasta! But the kids who were supposed to put their hands in if dared didn't know that... It sounded so much fun - especially the buffet she mentioned... but she didn't take any of us with her! What a disppointment! She will have to make up for this...

This is the capitol of Finland: Helsinki. It was a rainy day but we didn't let it bother us much. Helsinki has about 500 000 inhabitants and is located only 1h drive from Porvoo.

In the first picture is the Cathedral at the Senate Square.

The next photos are taken near the Cathedral, next to some souvenir shops. The green phonebooth is not the regular Finnish phonebooth. You can hardly find the regular ones as everyone has a cellphone nowadays. My host guessed it's somekind of an attraction itself for the Finns - and not all tourists carry cellphones so... And it suits the small street it stands in! Next to it were that couple and their reindeer wishing people welcome to the souvenir shop.

One block away is the Market Square. As you can see there are huge cruise liners but also smaller boats and ferries (not all in dock at that moment). The big cruisers go mainly to Tallinn (Estonia) and Stockholm (Sweden) frequently. The building with the flag on top is the Presidential Palace. The president of Finland is Tarja Halonen, she's the first female president in this country. There's also the Uspensky Orthodox Cathedral

Next to the Market Square is the fountain statue Havis Amanda. It was sculpted by Ville Vallgren in Paris. It's naked so it made quite a fuss in the days it was revieled (1908).

After that is the parkway Esplanad and later the Main Railway Station and its surroundings.

Close to the railway station (on the mainstreet)  is the Parliament House close to the white building which is the Museum of Contemporary Art  Kiasma and the statue next to it is the riding Mannerheim (one of our former presidents).

And in the last pic a general view of the main street.

After all the walking in the rain we finally went indoors. The Postmuseum is located in the Main Post Office which is right next to the Kiasma. In the Postmuseum is an exhibition about the Finnish Post and mail - past and present. There was free admission as the new christmas stamps were issued today. I saw old mail trucks, loads of postcards, lots and lots of stamps... I just wish my host had gotten better photos in the dark...

Finally something to eat! But this raspberry cheese cake was worth the wait  And the hot chocolate! My host attended a Postcrossing Meetup (after all, she did "organize" this one) in a cafe in the Main Post Office. The Red Nose Day is a charity event to raise money for poor in the 3rd world. The postcrossers didn't raise money but used charity postcards as much as possible. My host used for example Fair Mail cards. Oh, and they had red noses too! I tried one as well, I think it fit me well 

We met other toyvoyagers too as one of the other postcrossers is a host too - thanks to my host 

Wohoo! I'm going on a cruise to Stockholm, Sweden! This is my boat, M/S Mariella (a Viking Line boat). It was really dark when we left so we could only see th elights of the city - and the Silja Line boat that left before us. Can you imagine, they had a sandbox on deck for dogs!?!

We had a welcome drink with a cool glowing ring and met the mascot of the cruise, Ville Viking, who is a big white furry cat. Our cabin was quite small but we all fit in. We checked out the Swedish money and the map of Stockholm. Our visit would contain lots of walking as there wasn't any place open on Mondays (starting now). So no museums or anything, just the city sights and maybe some shopping.

We had dinner in a nice restaurant, vegtarian burger, which was really tasty. And so was the icecream we had for dessert!

God morgon! As they say "good morning" in Swedish. We woke up for buffet breakfast as we approached the city of Stockholm. With our stomachs full we went up to the deck to see the views. When we fiannly docked we saw the front part of the boat open and cars come out. Soon it was our turn to go out 

Tadaa! Here I am, in the capitol of Sweden: Stockholm. The first two photos look at the old town (Gamla Stan) which we didn't visit. Then we saw the statue of King Gustav III, pointing at the Royal Palace on the other side of the street.

The Palace is the official  residence of the royal family and it was built during the eighteenth century in the Italian Baroque style, on the spot where the “Tre Kronor” castle burned down in 1697. It has over 600 rooms which must've been fun for the princesses & prince when they were kids: imagine playing hide & seek there... 

After the Royal Palace we were supposed to go play on a lion statue but they had made an icerink around it! As it was raining more heavily we decided to try some shopping. The mall called "Gallerian" had many delicious looking places but my host went to a toystore. Nothing to eat there! I did meet a lego Santa and wished for a delicious christmas 

Later we did go eat, at tle local McDonald's. My host had been searching for stamps to her postcards and she finally found a place next to the McD. She couldn't stop complaining how hard it was to find stamps - she went on and on about how easy it is in Finland as every little store that sells postcards also sells stamps... Lucky for her (and our ears) she also found a mailbox there.

Finally we got back to the boat. We had a little snack and checked the safety info... Something we should've done when we left Helsinki... I got a bag fullof Twix bars! I ate some and went back to the tax free to get some more 

There was that map on the wall, showing our route. The ship has to stop at Mariehamn to be allowed to sell tax free products. There was also another weird rule: they could sell snuff only on Swedish waters! Not that any of us was buying it, just thought it was a funny rule.

Morning! We arrived in Helsinki in the morning. Enough light to see around too this time! We sailed through a narrow spot - as you can see we could almost touch Suomenlinna Sea Fortress when we passed it  The Baltic Sea was very calm on our journey, thank goodness. Now we'll go home and rest - and eat some tax free candy... 

Ahhh! Aftermath of cruise... I ate my last Twix bars  Now I've eaten Twix bars in Sweden and in Finland!

Today we went to meet Santa Claus! There would be a "Grand" Opening of Old Porvoo's Christmas and Santa was scheduled to come by train! There's no regular operation to Porvoo by train anymore (not since the 70's), only during summers and special occasions - and with old museum trains (like stream locomotive or rail car). Today Santa came with the blue "lättähattu" ("Flat Hat") Dm6.

The buildings are the old train station and where they kept the trains in the old days. Some are left to be seen outdoors. Indoors, in a "store" of sorts, there was this tiny model train. We followed it for a while, while waiting for the real train to arrive.

And finally, I saw Santa Claus! He was really nice to me and said we had something in common: we both liked eating  And then he laughed like only Santa does 

We walked down the main street (see the christmas lights!), to the old town, where we did some window shopping before the Opening of Old Porvoo's Christmas. This Opening consists of speeches, some singing and Santa. Honestly, that's it! They did have Tsar Alexander I speaking too (even in Russian!). Santa spoke and sang with us and then he sdat in that big white "teepee" to meet kids and give candy. Oh, there was a torch parade but the torch holders were too small to be seen behind the mass of people.

They did have another Grand Opening - the Opening of Porvoo Christmas, last week. Which we missed beacuse of my host is... well, "absent minded" sometimes...  There would've been more to see... Oh, well. We did some more window shopping after the Opening. There's this MoominHouse on one window all year round - they just decorate it to fit every season and festivity. Hence, it was Christmas themed now.

By the way, do you know what those big, red bells over the streets are? Those hanging from the green stuff? They're plastic buckets!