Travelog for: Kirin

Hyvää iltaa, rakas äiti!  (Good evening, dear mother!)

I´m sorry I have not been able to do my updates in time. Henna has been totally invading the computer, saying she is in hurry with her studies, humph! 



Can you guess where we are in this picture? 




Oh yes, we are up on a roof! 
Henna went to help the nearest neighbor, who is an old guy, to showel the snow down from his roof, and we went with her, of course.



Following the path starting behind my back we come to our own little cottage. 



We were watching the views while Henna was showelling, and helping her by shouting supporting comments. 




Then we went for a walk. First we took a bus to Leppävaara, which is a bigger suburban area, and from there we walked to the sea shore and then some kilometers over the ice.




Here we are walking towards the seashore, trough the habitated area. Rather similar little red cottage this than our own. 



We tested this birdhouse to see if it would be a nice recidence. 



We walked past Akseli Gallén-Kallelas ateljé. He was one of the greatest painters of the finnish national romantism period some hundred years ago. 



Then we came to the sea shore and started our way over it.
There had been people skiing. 



The wind was blowing the snow and forming small dunes over the ice. 



The reeds of the shores looked golden in the sun.. 







We saw a bridge too, but it was pretty unnessessary at the moment! 






We walked trough an island with nice pine forest. 



There we saw something interesting. Do you know what this is, mom? 



It is where people go ice swimming! 



There is a machine keping the water on the move, so that it doesn´t get properly on ice, but it is really icy!
Do you feel tempted to hop in for a little refreshing swim, mom?   I do not!



We saw people "flying" over the ice. They were using snowboards to slide over the ice pulled by "wings" or kites. It looked really great! 


We left the ice and walked trough Munkkiniemi, which is a part of Helsinki.



We saw a house where they had just dropped the snow from the roof, and I took this pic for you to see how much snow there was up on the roof. 



We walked to the Helsinki harbour.
Haha, it looked pretty different now than it looked in the autumn when we came here to the herring fair!  There was some ships in the ice. This one works as a restaurant nowadays.



You can see there far away couple of the big ships which go to Sweden and Estonia. 
Sometimes they need help of the icebreaker ships to get in and out of the harbour.





Then we saw the Esplanade park, which is one of the most popular places to spend time in summer evenings. Not much people there now. 



The benches weren´t very inviting to linger on.. 



So we walked instead a little round in Helsinki to see places covered with snow.
I´m sure you remember the Helsinki main railway station, although it looks so different now. 






And what about the Lutheran Cathedral, mom? 






Then we returned home and Helped Henna to make a snowperson. 

See you pretty soon again, mom!
Your loving giraffe! 

Hi, mom! 

I´m continuing where my last update ended.. 



So,  we made still some coldish trips amongst the finnish snowpiles. 



We warmed ourselves up on a campfire..



.. and saw the first pale signs of the coming spring (the melting ice)..



And giggled to Henna, who was learning to walk with snowshoes.  Have you ever tried, mom? This is one.



Then we were somehow suddenly running to the airport to catch a plane to Portugal!  Henna had bought some last minute cheap tickets and so we were litterally running.. 



Which was totally useless, though, because the plane was hours late as usual and we had all the time in the world to watch the planes. 






And to driwe round with the baggage carts. 



And to try different drinks from the coffee automat, which was also giving us tea and hot choc. 



After many hours waiting, the plane was at last ready to leave. It was already dark, and we didn´t even get a window seat, so we were just sleeping whole trip, or trying to sleep.. there was a baby crying on one side of us, and a guy making odd sounds with his nose on our other side. 



In Portugal everything looked so colorfull after the finnish whiteness! It was quite intoxicating to see all the glorious flowers 






Henna asked me what I would like to do with my days before starting my new adventure in Germany, and I immediately came up with the idea of camping in Sintra! 



Henna was too much glued to the computer to join us, but even better so! She gets too bossy sometimes! 

We build a "Residence of wild toyvoyager tribe" to live in for couple of days! 
First we constructed the walls with branches.






Pretty hard work it was, but so cool! 



Then we were making the roof out of treebark (so that it kept water) and pinha needles and leaves. 






What do you think, mom? isn´t it great! 
Would you like to live in one too?



So we spent couple of days in Sintra forest and had a great time, making little expeditions to the nearby hills ,and just lazying around and enjoying the sudden summer. 





And having secret "wild toyvoyager tribe" rituals I cannot tell here beacuse they are secret! 



Our little hut was very comfortable to sleep in. 









But after couple of days it was time for me to go..  a bit hard moment. We were having a long talk with Zoe and promised to keep in contact. 

But on the other hand I was SO excited to be travelling again! 



So we were hugging goodbyes to each other and then I left!

Well, mom.. if you think I´m travelling by post, you are misstaken! 
It´s good Henna wasn´t with us, because I´m going to hitchike trough Europe and she would have never let me do that!  But you know, mom, how stuff little giraffe I am!
(I can almost hear Henna screaming when she finds out!)



Goodby, pals!
Let´s see how fast I get to Germany! 



See you soon, mom! 

Hello Mom,

I think I'm the fastest giraffe on earth!
I arrived this evening in Berlin.
Some nice guys helped me out of the envelop and gave me a warm welcome hug.



I gave them a card, some sweets and a little present.


Pieksi was allowed to open it. It was the rooster magnet I found on my journey to Germany.



Kirin

Hello Mum,

today Crawfish told us to go to the park. So we did. When she arrived she had a new tv with her. The little lady is called DuDette.


We just did some group pictures today.
First a "girls"-pic with DuDette and Crawfish.


Later we all climbed on a tree. Behind us you can see the new "Total"-tower.


When we were back "home" we started to talk about everything. I told Crawfish about the adventures I had with her sister Zoe. This world is so small! The boys prefered to take a nap. Poor guys.


See you soon,
Kirin

Hey Mommy,

I'm in the middle of the city and there's so much nature around!




Also near the central station! It is the main railway station in Berlin. 1,800 trains call at the station per day and the daily number of passengers is estimated to be at 350,000! 
From here you can do non-stop travels to Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Novosibirsk (Russia) or Astana (Kazakhstan).



There's Potsdam Square (somewhere behind me you can see Sony-Center).


This is the river Spree with a nice bridge. It is the main river of Berlin. It is approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) in length.


Here you can see the Haus der Kulturen der Welt ("House of the Cultures of the World" ). It is Germany's national centre for contemporary non-European art. It presents art exhibitions, theater and dance performances, concerts, author readings, films and academic conferences on non-European Visual Art and culture. This building is a gift from the United States, designed in 1957. John F. Kennedy spoke here during his June 1963 visit to West Berlin. To Berliners it is also known as the Schwangere Auster ("pregnant oyster" ). I found a funny sign. It is written in German and Turkish! In some areas in Berlin you have stores where everything is written in Turkish, can you believe this??? Btw the sign means: "Don't climb on the roof! Danger to life!"



Across from this building you can see the "Federal Chancellery". The inhabitants of Berlin call it "Waschmaschine" (washing machine).



I've been to the German Bundestag which is located in the Reichstag Building. The centrepiece of the building is the generously glazed chamber that is crowned by the dome. A funnel with panes of mirror glass reflects the daylight from above into the chamber.


My last stop was the Mauerpark. The name translates to "Wall Park", referring to its status as a former part of the Berlin Wall and its Death Strip. Today the park is one of the most popular places for young residents of Berlin, especially from the fashionable district of Prenzlauer Berg, and attracts basketball players, jugglers, musicians, and many other types of people. It is a crowded leisure ground and a site of sustainable improvised nightlife, especially in the summer, and has also become notorious for Walpurgis Night riots in recent years. There are two stadiums next to the park.


Love you
Kirin

Hi Mom,

today we walked a little bit through the districts Wilmersdorf and Schöneberg.
First we saw a playground. We all wanted to play, but we were too young. Hmm...


This is a park which crosses both districts. There are many people, kids, dogs etc. esp when the sun is shining and it is warm outside.


Can you see the golden deer in the upper part of the picture? It is part of the deer fountain.


I think this is a nice place to live. You're directly in the inner city, but it feels like nature, because you have a park near your house.


That's all for today.

Love you
Kirin

Hey Mommy,

today we went to one of the flea markets in Berlin. It was really strange to see what people are selling and buying!



Then I went to the Gendarmenmarkt. It is a square in Berlin with 2 cathedrals and the Konzerthaus between them. During World War II, most of the buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. Today all the buildings are restored to their former state.
On my picture you can see the French Cathedral. It is the older of the two cathedrals and was built by the Huguenot community between 1701 and 1705. The cathedral was modeled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France.


This is the famous tv tower "Fernsehturm". It was constructed between 1965 and 1969 and with its height of 368 meters, it is the tallest structure in Germany. There is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The tower is part of the World Federation of Great Towers (WFGT).


Love you,
Kirin

Today it's the 1st birthday of Crawfish! We all cuddled her and shared some candies. There won't be a big party yet, but weekend is coming!



Later Alex decided to take some professional pictures of us. He didn't show us the results yet. Crazy cat! I hope I'm going to have a good picture!



Kirin

Today it was Crawfish's birthday party as we couldn't celebrate it before.

But first Alex finally showed us the pictures he has taken!
That's me!


We also took some group pictures.


We built a pyramid, but as you can see we are no artists!



Then we started with the party. First Crawfish got our birthday card which we all signed.



We gave her our present.


It was a passport with all her informations inside.



Then we organized some drinks. Delicious... aIiii Wuaaaandt soooam moooooure! Hiiiks.




Ki-hiiiks-rin-hiiiks

Hello Mom,

the weather was so beautiful! We all had a hangover from last evening, but some fresh air should help.
First we crossed a nice bridge.


We stopped at a lake which is called "Gremminer See", a lake created as a result of the redevelopment of the former brown coal strip mine of Golpa-Nord. At the end of the lake you can see Ferropolis. "The city of iron" is an open museum of old huge industrial machines. It's an open air museum which contains machines from the mid-twentieth century. They can measure to 30 meters high, 120 meters long and weigh up to 1980 tons. Moreover, the area is used for several events like opera or music festival like the Melt! festival or the "Ferropolis in Flammen".





Yours
Kirin

Today we went back to Berlin. First we passed some nice villages. Can you see the trains next to the car? And the beautiful churches?







Then we used the freeway. Did you ever drove about 115 mph? It felt like flying. Whooaaaa. So we decided to use the seat belt.


Back to Berlin we had to say goodbye to Mr. Furrington. He's going to Canada! I'll miss him a lot.


Kirin

Today we did a goodbye-party for Pieksi. First all of us took a party-mug of each home area. I couldn't find any Chile-mug, so I decided to take another one from South America.
Later we shared some sweets and hugged Pieksi.
Then he crawled into his envelope. We wish him a save journey.

Hello Mommy,

today I did a walk around lake "Lietzensee". And I walked around the whole lake!


There are really impressive buildings around.



I enjoyed sitting near the lake and just watch the other side of the water.


There was a tunnel. Hmm, I walked through it.


On the other side I found the rest of the lake.



And there were lots of big and old trees around. Can you see me?


By the way, spring already arrived in Germany!


Now my feet hurt from the walk, but I'm really relaxed from the sun.

Love you!
Kirin

Hello Mommy,

today I climbed up a hill. It wasn't easy!


But it was worth it! I had a wonderful view over the north-east of the city. Can you see the houses on the horizon?


The way back down was not better.


Yours, Kirin

Hey Mom,

today we went to school!!!


In our first lesson we had to paint ourselves. It was not easy, but have a look:



I think all of us did a good job!


Love
Kirin