Travelog for: Drovius

Hi Mom!

We toyvoyagers are soooo excited! We will go on holiday tomorrow! Our host mom will go to Helsinki and Tallinn, and we will go with her! Yay!
We will be back on August 13, so you won't hear from me until then. But please don't worry, I will have a great time! 

In preparation for the holiday we studied some travel books and looked at the city plans!

Talk to you soon!

Hi Mom!

I'm super excited! We travelled to Vienna today and then to the airport! We checked the luggage in and then went for a small snack! Finally it was time for boarding! We travelled to Riga first where we had to change planes and then took our second flight to Helsinki!
Late in the afternoon we arrived in Helsinki and took the airport bus to the city center. From there it was only a short walk to our hotel!
After this journey we were pretty tired and decided to go to bed early! 

Hi Mom and welcome to Helsinki, Finland's capital!

To get a first impression of the Finnish Capital, we took a "Hop on, Hop off" bus! It was a great tour, around the city center and then down to the harbour. These tours are great! You get some headphones and then they tell you a lot of interesting stories. We stopped our tour at Helsinki's Cathedral. It is a beautiful white building and you can see this Cathedral from many different points of Helsinki!
That was a great first day in Helsinki!

Hi Mom!

Today we took the boat to the city of Porvoo! It was a long trip, three and a half hours. It was also a really hot day and we enjoyed the wind on the boat.
In Porvoo we had lunch first in a nice restaurant near the sea. Then we went on to explore the city. It is a cute little town, with small wooden houses, restaurants and a few shops. The streets are all lined with cobblestones!
We went up on this little hill, with the church on top. But we were not allowed to visit the church as there was a wedding!
We enjoyed the view from up there.
Because it was so hot, we then relaxed in a park and ate some berries. There are stands that sell berries everywhere in Finland!

Soon it was time to travel back! Unfortunately the weather on the way back got a little ugly and it started to rain.
Wow, we are exhausted now!

Hi Mom!

Today we went to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Suomenlinna! You have to take a boat there, but it is just a few minutes trip. So we went through the city to the harbour. We also visited the famous Stockmann store. Down at the pier we also visited the market, where you could buy lots of delicious food.

Then we travelled to Suomenlinna and wandered around this old fortress. We saw the canons and explored everything. All this exploring was really exciting but we were also happy when we were finally sitting in a nice cafe for lunch!

Bye!

Hi Mom!

Today we left Helsinki and took a speed boat to Estonia's capital Tallinn. We first deposited our luggage at the hotel and then went on exploring!
To get a first impression of the city, we took a tour with the classical hopp on, hopp off bus. We learned a lot about the city. Then we strolled a bit through the old town.
That's all for today! Tomorrow we have to get up early as we want to explore the old town properly!

Hi Mom!

Today we visited Toompea, the old town. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can find so many old buildings here, all beautifully renovated. There is so much history to explore here. We also saw this beautiful orthodox church, which was even more beautiful on the inside, but we weren't allowed to take pictures there. You can also see me in front of a touret of Toompeas castle, it's the one with the Estonian flag flying, which is the seat of the Parliament!
In the evening we went to the highly recommended Oude Hanse, a really great restaurant in the style of Medieval times. We had a huge dinner there, with bear and elg sausages, honey beer and some schnapps.
What an exciting day!

Hi Mom!

Today we visited the famous Kadriorg Park! It is a wonderful place to spend nice afternoons. There is this great swan lake at the entrance to the park and also a wonderful cafe.
People go there to have a walk, a run or just sit on a bench and read a book. We also saw the President's residence. Then we went from this park to the sea promenade where you can find a huge monument.
We also visited the KuMu, a museum for art. We saw an exhibition and then had a bite to eat in the restaurant there.

So Mom, tomorrow we will go back to Helsinki and then we fly home!

Hi Mom!

We are back at home now and of course we had a lot to do: There was the laundry, and giving away the souvenirs.
So we enjoyed our free time at home at the balcony.

You can see that our host mom has a small vegetable garden on the balcony. She has tomatoes there, cucumbers, beans, pomegranate, herbs, pepper, but also flowers.

We really like gardening and of course also eating the vegetables!

Hi Mom!

Today we met new friends: Truska, a funny pink bunny, and Tigger, our host mom's own toyvoyager. Tigger is just here for a few days while his Mom is organizing a new host.

We talked about our travel adventures and they asked about our vacation. So we showed them some souvenirs, for exampel our Moomin postcards! They also really liked our Moomin cookie cutter 

We also showed them the pictures of our vacation!

Hi Mom!

Today we received some nice souvenirs from our host-grandma. She has just returned from a visit to Berlin.
She brought us viewcards that have an original piece of the Berlin wall on it!
And then we got pasta with the famous Ampelmännchen, the small men on the traffic lights. There were also Gummibärchen- Ampelmen and a cookie-cutter. Maybe we will make some cookies sson! Look, I stuck my head through the Ampelmännchen!

That was a really nice evening! 

Hi Mom!

Today we went down to the South, to the Weinstraße (literally wine-street). It's the area of Styria where they grow wine. This part is famous for crisp, dry white wines, for example Welschriesling. You can see me in the wineyards.
It's almost time for the grape-harvest and you can see that the grapes look ready! We could see that the walnuts are ready too!
And of course we saw all the famous pumpkins - they are used to make the pumpkinseed-oil!

It was really beautiful there and a really lovely landscape. Of course we also went to a Buschenschank there, that's a small restaurant in the wineyards, where you can eat a kind of ploughman's lunch, with ham, bacon, good bread and some spreads! And of course you also drink a glass of wine!
That was a really great afternoon! 

Hi Mom!

Today it's time to travel on and guess what? I'm coming home!
It was a bit sad to say Goodbye to my new friends, but I look forward to seeing you again!

So, see you soon!
Bye!