Sunday Morning Musings

It is 10 AM here and cool (maybe ~60 F.) I headed out to find an Internet cafe or somewhere I can use my iPad to post these entries. Ironically, my plan to pack lite & leave my laptop at home has backfired. The B&B I'm at has great access via regular connections (those little snap in things at the "wall" end of all my computer wires at home) but no wi-fi!

The manager at the B&B looked up "free wi-fi" in Rauma for me & suggested the Café Sali. I've been there & knew how to find it easily. Two years ago, when we were here for Anne & Saku's wedding, we came here for lunch, at least once.

So, that's one problem solved. Now I need to put my photos on this site. Tomorrow. Hopefully.

Yesterday, Anne, the twins, and I went to her parents' summer house, near Pori, I think.
The afternoon started out quietly, with just the 4 of us. The weather was overcast, a bit rainy, but the temperatures are summer-like, at least if you are accustomed to WNY summers as I am!

Swans in the sea 

We visited with Lassi's dad, Anne's grandpa Leo, for a short time, just as long as we could keep the twins from wreaking chaos on his cottage! Leo, for his part, seemed to enjoy seeing the kids & did not seem the least bit disturbed by their exuberance. Rita told me later that it had been about 3 or 4 months since Leo had seen Aleksi & Jenny. At 89 Leo is quite sociable & reminds me a bit of my dad, the same age. I don't think Leo remembered meeting me at the wedding 2 years ago but he spoke to me warmly, in a little English, which I remember was quite good before.

Leo 

Rita & Lassi joined us in a couple of hours. Perhaps it is because I am on vacation, or it is a Finnish time thing, but schedules seem pretty relaxed here. With the twins grandma on duty, Anne & I headed to the sauna. My first of this trip. Really great relaxing experience. Last time the outside temperature was in the 20's (F) and sitting outside in the snow was pretty unique. This time the sea was blue & not frozen solid. We dipped our feet in & it was pretty cold, but felt good after getting really HOT in the sauna. I also got to experience the fresh birch sticks & leaves tied into a bundle that you whack yourself with to increase circulation & smells nice.

Sauna at Summer House

When we were done in the sauna, we rejoined the activity at the summer house, which had swelled considerably. Anne's sisters & cousins & spouses/boyfriends were there to celebrate their 1st annual cousins' golf tournament. With trophies & toasting!

Trophies for Cousins' Golf Tournament

                                         

It was very festive & obviously affectionate. While the cousins made/assembled dinner the "men" erected a tent to use as a dining room (also for the coming weekend) and Lassi barbecued tons of meat.

The meal was terrific. I think Anne's family are very good cooks because I have had only GREAT food here, so far & last time @ the wedding. Yesterday include roasted corn on the cob, familiar, but w/different spices, boiled new potatoes (which I washed in the sea w/Anne), a big salad with little cheese balls (mozzarella?) and 3 kinds of meat I never identified but were all good.

Golf Tournament Feast

We left as soon as we ate, because the twins had reached their limit & were too restless to sleep, despite Anne's best efforts. It wasn't early though. Despite the early dusk light, it was 10:30 PM as we drove away!

Today we go to one of Anne's ball games. Another excursion. More cultural experiences! I'm having a lot of fun, in a relaxed sort of way. If my friends & family think I am nuts, so be it. Developing relationships takes time. Getting to know a place does too. My instincts about Finland so far have been right: getting to know her will be worth it, if I take my time & pay attention!

Uusikaupunki. Try saying that 3x!

Anne & I on the waterfront in Uusikaupunki

Uusikaupunki Coat of Arms

Tribute to Fishermen of Usikaupunki

Our "field trip" today was to the pretty seaside town of Uusikaupunki, about a 45 min. drive from Rauma.  First , we dropped the twins off at Leena & Simo's country home where the twins happily greeted their grandma (Leena is Saku's mother, Simo is his dad.)  Anne & I were able to leave without a hitch.  "Thank you" Leena!

The drive was pretty.  Southwestern Finland is finally getting some mid-summer sun!  The fields are green and lush from all the rain; most of the flowers look familiar to me:  petunias, begonias, lupines, daisies, marigolds and lots I recognize but don't know the names.  Perhaps Finns are really good gardeners, or else the longer days of sunshine help, but everything green looks very healthy.

Lunch!

Uusikaupunki is not a big place.  It is also known for its maritime heritage and the older wooden buildings reminded me of Vanha Rauma.  We parked the car and walked around their "downtown" which is dominated by the canal-like waterway (where a great many small boats are tied up) and their "new church" built in 1863.  We chose an attractive restaurant on the water called Ravintola Sualaspuar because of their beautiful view and their traditional Finnish lunch menu. 

On Anne's recommendation I had the katakampela (breaded flounder) with tillikastike (dill sauce) and keitetyt perunat (new potatoes.)  Delicious!  The local olut (beer) helped too.  I neglected to write that name down, but it was a good pilsner brewed right there in town.  We wanted to tour the brewery, but like many smaller operations in the USA, the tours  were given only on Thurs. & Fridays.

So, what does a good Catholic girl do when the brewery is closed?  She tours the churches, of course!   But first we had to go to Anne's favorite restaurant  for dessert.  Anne has known this place since her student summer job delivering vegetables.  Its charming name is Gasthaus Pooki.  http://www.viisitahtea.com/concepthotels/components/com_hotproperty/img/thb/12_gasthaus-pooki.jpg

More yum!

The German gasthaus (guest house) must be from their port connection; Pooki is Finnish, but I don't know what it means.  Although they thoughtfully brought me a menu in English, we knew what we wanted without looking:  Meringue with seasonal fruit and ice-cream.  The fruit of choice this time of year in Finland is local strawberries.  The meringue was great as were the berries and ice-cream, but the piece de resistance (forgive my bad French spelling) is the original Gasthaus Pooki caramel sauce, home-made of course.  

We needed to walk off those calories, so we headed to their new church built in 1863.   It was pretty enough but its most striking feature were three amazing brass candelabras (now electrified) we were told came from their "old" church, closer to the waterfront.   So we headed there.

The old church yard on the waterway side is dominated by a World War II memorial with a large pot of geraniums planted in front of every grave stone.  There is a depressing looking statue between the two sections of graves with the names engraved of each local soldier who died between 1939-1945.

Once inside the church you immediately know it dates from 1623.  The floor is marked with large limestone tiled grave stones many with iron rings in the four corners.  The burial dates and inscriptions (in a mixture of Latin & Swedish) are still visible on most and are from the mid 1600's to the late 1700's.  The church walls, ceiling, arches and pews are hand painted with a simple decorative style.  There is a definite maritime feel to the church as the ceiling looks like an upside-down sailboat painted with blue stars.  There are at least two miniature sailing ships suspended from the ceiling donated for "beautification of the church and in thanks to God."

 Such an old building, of course, was renovated and "added to" over the centuries.  Those limestone grave tiles were added in the 1640's.  Bells were acquired after 1643.  The "star" ceiling renovated c. 1735. The bell tower was built last and completed in 1775.

Pieta in Old Church, Uusikaupunki

According to the English translation of the pamphlet in the church, when the new church was completed in 1863, this old church was used as a museum for 75 years.  Then the old church was renovated (sometime after WW II?) and in 1976 an archbishop from Uusikkaupunki consecrated it for liturgical use again.  It is now used as a "summer" church in which confirmations, baptisms, weddings and summer events occur.  In 1979 Uusikaupunki celebrated their old church's 350 year anniversary.

In a pew Anne found a notice to this year's confirmation class.  She told me it said "Please put your confirmation cards here and turn off your cell phones."   Proving, I guess, this church is still serving the people of Uusikaupunki into the 21st century!

Uusikaupunki: Old Church & Windmill Park                           

The link above gives a YouTube video of the Old Church and the hilltop  "Windmill Park" Anne & I also walked through today before we left Uusikaupunki.   Drove back to Leena & Simo's for (more!) dessert and coffee around 4 pm.   We toured her beautiful garden and packed up a still happy pair of twins.  More on Leena's amazing Arabia coffee cup collection another time.
Tomorrow we go to the bank to buy rubles for our trip to St. Petersburg, Russia this weekend.

Time at Church of the Holy Cross

http://images.travelpod.com/users/austega/1.1220551380.church-of-the-holy-crossx-rauma.jpg

Today (June 26, 2011) I set out for the Sunday, 10 o'clock, Lutheran service at the Church of the Holy Cross in Vanha (Old) Rauma.  As of 6-27-11 I was still having "issues" putting my own photos on this blog. Try the link above for an image of the church (much better than my photography anyway!)

This beauty was built at the end of the 15th century for the Franciscan Monastery around which Rauma developed, near the busy port, when Finland was still ruled by Sweden.  I do not know enough about late medieval architecture to accurately describe its style but I do know it was not the first church in Rauma.  The first, the Church of the Holy Trinity, was built in the 14th century.  It burned down in 1610, by which time, most of Finland was staunchly Lutheran.  At some time prior the Franciscans were routed and so the Church of the Holy Cross became the parish home for Rauma's Lutherans.

Church of the Holy Cross, in Rauma, Finland

 

 

 

Altar Window, Church of the Holy Cross, Rauma

Lych Gate at Church of the Holy Cross, Rauma

 This is the same church our friends Anne & Saku were married in on February 14, 2009.  Her parents live just a couple of blocks away.  For this North American, I am amazed to attend services at a real, live parish, still housed in the very same building built around the time Columbus discovered America!

Of course, I understood only two words:  hyvä and päivä (good and day) of the entire service.  The music was very traditional, and, of course, very Lutheran.  Most of the  hymns sung today were attributed to Martin Luther (1430's) or one of his disciples (1440's.) Perhaps because Roman Catholic liturgical music has become much more ecumenical in the past 40 years, I recognized several of the melodies.   That may also be because of my grandmother, Berthen Kennedy, who played  everybody's music as one of the only church organists in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, in the early 20th century.  As she played hymns at home she would always preface her selections with "This is Lutheran" or "This is Anglican," just so we'd know!

Like the congregation at the Church of the Holy Cross, their choir sounded a bit elderly.  The organist seemed quite good however and pitched the hymn  selections for "congregational" singing, which given the age of the average member, seemed (to me) downright robust.

I also learned why our Finnish friend Anne was comfortable attending Mass with us in 1999-2000.  The (Lutheran) celebrant at the Church of the Holy Cross (her home parish) today dressed in pre-Vatican 2- style robes, sang substantial parts of the liturgy, had his back to the congregation during preparation for communion, and preached from an elaborate, raised pulpit which Roman Catholics have abandoned wholesale, even in those older churches & cathedrals that still have them.


I would guess that only the young, female altar server I saw today at the Church of the Holy Cross would have been familiar to most North American Catholics who have attended Mass regularly since 1963.   Anne said she was surprised how similar our Roman Catholic liturgy was to what she grew up with here.   So I guess, maybe what we thought were "radical" changes of Vatican 2, were not really that radical, after all!


The Church of the Holy Cross also has very nice collection baskets, really 2-handled collection "bags" made of dark green velvet.  The handles are easy to grasp of carved/turned wood, and the round opening is no more than 6 inches across, but the bags are 8-12 inches deep.  Nice if you don't want your neighbor to see (or hear) how much you put in!  The ushers were all women, about my age, not young, but agile enough to conduct the collection in an efficient fashion.

What really distinguished this congregation from every Roman Catholic church I've ever attended in both Canada and the United States, was the behavior of the people as the last hymn was sung.  They only sang one verse, but instead of stampeding out the door, the entire congregation waited while the celebrant and the server processed down the aisle and then waited for an entire  instrumental  selection on the organ, and then continued to wait, while a lay woman made an announcement.  I think it was their equivalent of  "The Mass is over.  Go in peace & serve the Lord."  Only then did people get up and start to leave.  Very polite.

The rest of my day was pretty tame.  I had to resort to going to McDonald's for lunch and free wi-fi as everything else in town was closed for the holiday week end.  Anne called me about 4 pm to say she was making paella for dinner and invited me to join Saku & her and the twins.  Of course, I did.

Tomorrow we may go to the seaside town, Uusikaupunki, for lunch & some touring, if Saku's mom can babysit the twins.  Anne has only told me the name of the place several times, but as you can see from the spelling of typical Finnish names, my ears and tongue are pretty challenged!

But, as I am on vacation, it is all hyvä...

Hauskaa Juhannusta!

That's "Happy Midsummer/Saint John's Day!"  Until  I saw this greeting written in French I'd forgotten that this is also the feast of Saint Jean de Baptiste (of murky French Canadian memory.)  Thus the "Juhannus" part of the Finnish celebration's name.

I am told we will celebrate with a big bonfire.  My son-in-law Jared would like that.  I've seen big piles of brush, awaiting the match.  More telling, are the crowded supermarkets and signs in stores telling customers those stores will be closed early today (Friday) and for the rest of the week end.  Many people begin their month long holiday this week, like my friend Anne's husband, Saku, who will be joining us at his in-law's summer house today.  This is their twins' (Aleksi & Jenny) first Juhannus.  I wonder if there will be a special toast "kiipis" for them?

I've spent the last two days with low-key shopping and eating out.  Rauma is pretty easy to find my way around.  I am still walking, although I took the bike for a "spin" on Wed. evening towards the harbor.  I didn't go very far, fearing I'd get lost.  I keep forgetting that it NEVER gets dark & I can't really get lost here. 
But I'm not having any trouble sleeping, thanks to my handy little satin "sleep" mask.


Yesterday I walked to the Post Office which is part of a shopping center complex around a large grocery store (one of the K City Market chain.)  There is a florist, a pharmacy, a bank, clothing, fabric & household goods stores as well as the P.O.  I was so taken by all the neat stuff that I didn't notice it was raining until Anne called me.  She picked me up and we went to the bus station where she dropped off a parcel to be shipped.  We used to do that too.  I remember my mum shipping stuff at the bus station when I was little in Canada.

Because of the rainy weather, we went back to Anne's house & baked cookies (chocolate chip, yum!) and planned our trip to St. Petersburg.  We ordered Russian "rubles" at the bank where Anne's sister, Mina, works this summer.  We looked on-line for prices to gauge how much money to take.  I'd like to go to the ballet.  It looks like this time of year (because of the tourists?) only Swan Lake is playing.  Of course, very classic, but a bit boring! 

We took the twins with us to dinner (although they already had eaten) at the Buena Vista, Kanalinranta 5, a nice, but casual place in downtown Rauma.  It had a "toy" corner set up for children that Aleksi & Jenny took to right away.  With a play kitchen and lots of toy trucks, it kept them busy while we ate, at least, our salads.  I have noticed that more places here are really "child friendly."   It is very nice for families.  Anne told me that the last time they were there (recently) she noted one of the wooden high chairs was broken and she had told the management.  This time she brought some wood glue with her in case they hadn't fixed the chair, but they had!

Planning a quiet evening again at the B&B, my peace (at the computer) was disturbed by a fire alarm.  Eventually, several young men drifted out to the lobby.  None speak Finnish (or English) very well.  No fire trucks arrived.  So, I called Jussi the proprietor again.  He told us how to turn off the noise and detect (on the control box monitor) which room had set off the alarm.  Apparently, it was the smoke alarm in #23.  A contingent of curious young men set off for that apartment at the end of the offending corridor.  Those occupants had been cooking something smoky.  Duh.  This place really does remind me of a college dormitory, with its mostly youthful contingent of engineers that work at the nuclear power plants near here.   Friendly, but just a bit dorky.  No surprise there. 

Spent the rest of the evening reading the Margaret Atwood novel The Year of the Flood that I borrowed from the Rauma library.  Tomorrow, the seaside summer house & Juhannus...  

2011 Juhannus Fire at Anne's Parents' Summer House

Maritime Museum

  

Yesterday (Tuesday) I went to the Rauma Maritime Museum.  It is housed in a large, attractive, old house that (I was told) was used as their "Seaman's School" until the mid 20th century.  It is very well done, I think for a specialized collection.  There are many real, life-sized, beautiful examples of ship art such as those painted ladies that adorned the prows of sailing ships.  I saw a couple of unusual ones, like a polar bear!

The collection was organized by era, with the sailing ships' stuff in two or three rooms and the more modern merchant marine articles in another couple of rooms.  I took lots of pictures of the radio and navigation equipment for my dad, the former (Canadian) merchant marine.

I regret that I don't know how to read or understand spoken Finnish, as there were many well preserved examples of sailors' correspondence to folks back home in Rauma (from the 1800's) as well as audio recordings of Finnish (more recently retired) sailors' memories.

Even the Ladies' bathroom was striking, with an ancient, but working (!) porcelain toilet with a blue pattern of flowers, a brass sink and a wall display of blue & white procelain fixtures from a 19th c. sailing ship that used those items in its passenger rooms.  That room, as well as the rest of the house, was full of beautiful, dark, wood cabinetry. 

There is a nice gift shop (where I indulged!) and the friendly lady at the front desk helpfully directed me to her supervisor for further information when she begged off from answering my questions, excusing her English language skills.  Like just about everyone I've encountered here, her English seemed fine to me.

After the museum I was ready for lunch and I met Anne & the twins at the Cafe Sali.  We are going to pick up the bicycle today!  Ha! Ha!

Getting to Rokin nokka (Roki's Beak) or "the end of the road"

Today I slept late and took my 2nd independent walk through Rauma.  My destination today was to get to the public library.  I remembered what it looked like from the street and inside when Anne took us there 2 years ago, when we were here for their wedding.  But I didn't have a clue how to get there from my B&B on foot. Armed with a map, I set off and found it (and a few other places on the way) within 30 minutes.  Not bad for a tourist, eh?  I'm finding that Rauma is not a big place and laid out (easy) for tourists.

Amazingly, at the library when I asked for temporary borrowing privileges, the English speaking librarian gave me an appliclation (4 lines!) and a real library card, for free.  First, she asked for my passport, which I'd left back at the B&B. For identification, she readily accepted my New York State driver's license. The Rauma library card is very pretty with an image of old sailing ships.  Being the library geek that I am, I will treasure it as one of my trip keepsakes.  She said if I lost it I'd have to pay.  I said, OK and kiitos (thank you.)  Then she took me to the English language novels section (a decent lot on several stacks) amd left me to browse happily.

After that I used the free wi-fi to write my earlier/previous blog post and send some e-mails with my iPad.
Getting hungry, I headed out to take some photos (which I still can not figure out how to get on this blog, but I'm working on it!) and find a cafe´.  Not finding one quickly, I decided I needed to drink a sugar-y something, and I stopped in what I thought, at first, was a convenience store.  I bought a coke and sat down at a little table & soon realized I'd wandered into a betting parlor of some sort.  I can't remember the name of  those places at home (never having placed a bet anywhere but at a race track before)  Anyway, I sat there for a few minutes watching a harness horse race on a TV & very OBVIOUSLY not placing a bet of any kind while I drank my coke.  I got some very curious looks from the other patrons as I left, smiling.

Wandered back to the B&B, ate my lunch and took a nap.  This is quite the peppy vacation (not!)

Anne picked me up around 5 PM and we went to her parents to fit her mom's bike to me.  Lassi was there to put air in the tires and oil on the chain as Rita has not used this bike in several years.  He lowered the seat and I tried it out, for a very short bit.  I forgot to wear real shoes & only had on my slip-on sandals.  I think it will be OK for riding around town once I know where I am going.  Like to Cafe Sali or the library or to the Varjonen's home.  Using a bike will save me time (vs. walking) and Anne gas!  I told Anne and Lassi that I haven't used a bike for more than 10 years.  (I know Mark, my husband, is thinking:  like more than 30 years!)  But I am willing to try it & I think it will be fun.  To my family:  Anne has a helmet for me to borrow as well!

Wheeeeee!

Rokin nokka (Roki's Beak) or "the end of the road" is the place where Anne & Saku moor their boat to go to the island where their summer house is.  It looks a bit like the Conesus Lake boat launch, but with several inlets.  We drove out to see it because it is not far from their house.  On the way Anne stopped so I could take a photo of some of the wild lupines that are blooming all over Finland right now.  Having tried, unsuccessfully, to grow lupines at home, it is breathtaking to see whole fields of them and lining the roadsides.  They grow wild in Maine and other places in New England, so maybe it is too warm in western NY for them?

Wild Finnish Lupine

After our little trip to the coast, we went home to play with the twins, make a family dinner and hang out.  It is fun to see the twins developing in front of our eyes.  Anne and I are joking about Aleksi & Jenny speaking English already as they are "mama-mama-mama-ing" and "dada-dada-dada-ing" all day long.  Since those are NOT Finnish words and "mama" is "aiti" and "daddy" is "isa" in Finnish, I figure my grandson, Erik (about the same age) is speaking Finnish now too!

Anne drove me to the drugsore on the way back to the B&B tonight to get some hydrocortisone cream for my eczema (hands) and the pharmacist we consulted was quite helpful.  I may have been able to find it myself, but it is nice to have Anne & all the well-educated, English-speaking Finns I've met so far, to help me.

But because I'd like to see her again and be forced a little to learn more Finnish, I am going to accept Saku's mother's invitation to tour the countryside near her home.  Leena (again, forgive my spelling of Finnish names!) is a wonderful hostess, and I'm looking forward to whatever she is planning for me.  I mentioned to Saku at dinner that I would be looking for a maritime map of Rauma's coast to give my dad, the former (Canadian) merchant seaman.  The Rauma Maritime Museum is on my list of things to do here.  Saku immediately got up and fetched a 1984 copy of veneillykartta SELKÄMERI, Småbåtssjökort BOTTENHAVET.  (I just typed all that because I've been waiting to use all those diacritical marks on those Finnish letters!)  It is a maritime chart mapbook of the western Finnish coast.  Anyway, Saku offered it to me, saying it was "out of date" and I could just rip out the page I wanted.  I'm finding this sort of thoughtfulness and generosity is typical of the Finns I'm meeting.  I told Saku my dad will enjoy the whole thing, illustrations and depth markings.

Back at the B&B, my blogging was briefly interrupted by a guest who needed to contact the B&B proprietor, Jussi. I was happy that Anne put his phone number in my (temporary, because I'm borrowing it) local cell phone.  So, I got to speak again briefly with Jussi.  When I checked in last week, he promised to meet me for lunch sometime & mentioned it again tonight.  I told him (truthfully) I would like that very much.  We agreed to "do lunch" after the midsummer holiday.

Tomorrow I will explore Vanha (Old) Rauma some more...

Women's Football in Nokia

With a nice sunny sky overhead Anne & the twins picked me up yesterday about noon & we headed out for Nokia to see her team play. Anne has played American football in a women's league here for about 3 years. Of course, she has been on a "baby sabbatical" for the past year. The team is called "Ghost Hunters."

Nice uniforms!

Nokia is about 16 km from Tampere, a larger Finnish city, famous for resettling refugees. Nokia is famous for making cell phones. But, as Anne pointed out, they made rubber boots & "tyres" before that.

It was a pleasant afternoon. Sunny & warm in the sun, but not too hot. The twins were contented sitting with us for the 1st half, tolerated us munching on sandwiches and later they ate their lunch from a jar. Anne's team won 39 - 0. Yeah, Ghost Hunters! The other team is very new.

The ball park was one the town maintains, a beautiful place, with a perfect green field, nice lines & goals, bleachers (though we sat on our blanket on the grass) and snack bar. After the game we chatted with Anne's friends and drove away. We drove into a heavy rain most of the way back to Rauma.

Turku Time

Although I was up in time for breakfast at the B & B today, Anne & the twins took a little longer to get ready.  Nevertheless, we were on the road to Turku, Finland's old capital city, before 10 AM.
Our goal today was SHOPPING  and to pay for our excursion to St. Petersburg, Russa in early July.  The travel agency is in Turku and they still had Anne's passport/visa.  I still had to pay for that trip as well.


We stopped for lunch at the IKEA superstore in Raisio.  It is a very family friendly place with a cafeteria-style restaurant, high chairs, microwaves for baby bottles & nursing/changing stations in the dining room & bathrooms.   I'd never been to an IKEA store & was pretty impressed.  The food was pretty good, I thought, although I am not that fussy when I'm really hungry.

Anne says IKEA is super popular with financially strapped younger people & families here and I could see why.  The store had a decent selection in just about everything from household furniture, kitchen/living/dining/bed room cabinets and what looked like an unlimited number of household accessories.  The prices did seem reasonable compared to the limited # of other places I've been to so far (on this trip & 2 years ago when we were here for Anne & Saku's wedding.)

After we wore the twins out (they are 11 mos. old and have a limited tolerance for SHOPPING!) we continued to Turku proper.  Again we headed to a shopping/commercial district near the centre city.  Turku is much bigger than Rauma and more diverse & cosmopolitan-looking.  More gritty.  There is a pretty big cobblestone-paved market where we stopped for a cold drink outdoors.  While we sat there we heard a Rasta band (blond dreadlocks & all) and later, a fireman's marching band, in what I have to assume were very Baltic style uniforms.

 I'd like to spend more time in Turku, but today after we picked up Anne's passport /visa (& paid our bill) we shopped at a large H&M store, window shopped the Merimekko store and generally wore the twins out.  They both have a healthy set of lungs which they use to great effect when tired or cranky.

We got back to Rauma around 6 PM and Anne dropped me off for a quiet night catching up on the sleep I didn't get last night.  The midnight sun thing is keeping me up I think.  That or the coffee!  Will use the sleep mask more.  Tomorrow we go to Lassi & Rita's summer house near Pori.

Getting there is NOT half the fun!

Well, I've been in Finland now for a couple of days.  The flight to NYC was easy.  Waiting at JFK could have been nicer.  Terminal 8 was pretty dreary.  The gate for Finnair didn't open until 2 PM and the flight did not board until 5 PM.  So, I was just "there" without any internet from noon ...

The flight to Helsinki was CROWDED!  Many families w/children.  Noisy children.  But my seat mate was a quiet young man going to St. Petersburg to study Russian.  He hardly said a word for 7 hours.  I slept.

It was raining in Helsinki when I got here Wed. morning.  I had trouble finding my bus to Rauma so I took a cab into the city proper.  That was was probably stupid, but at least I got a bit of a tour and this way I found the correct bus with no problem.  I ended up taking an express, or "pika" in Finnish.  Which only meant  I didn't need to change buses (or transfer my luggage!)  It still took 4 + hours and went through MANY little towns.  Much rain.  The temperature is almost identical to what we have in WNY at this time of year.  Having been in Finland only once before in FEBRUARY it is nice to see green, green grass, leaves and flowers here now.  Even if it's raining!

Downtown Helsinki

Leaving Helsinki, going west

Our friend Anne met me at the bus & took me straight to my B & B.  Very nice.  Apparently, I am the only tenant not working at the local nuclear power plant construction.  All the others are men & they are gone by 6 AM every day.  Pretty quiet place.   Very comfortable.  Anne fed me and then I went to sleep.  For 15 hours.  The fact that at this time of year it NEVER gets totally dark here did not deter me from sleeping.

B&B at Karjalankatu 18, Rauma, Finland 26100

My Room # 31 at Karjalankatu 18

My Room's Kitchenette

 My first conscious day in Finland (Thurs.) started at noon and I met Anne & the twins for a walk to downtown Rauma.  Not raining today.   We walked around (more to orient me) and had lunch at a sandwich place and walked some more.  Ended up at Rita & Lassi's home for cake & coffee.  For those of you who do not know:  Rita & Lassi are Anne's parents.  They have a lovely home in "Old " Rauma.  I did not appreciate how nice their yard was when we were here in FEBRUARY.  Now their yard is very pretty with flowers (blue & yellow iris, azaleas and lilacs) and shade trees.  They have a fountain and 2 nice patio tables and chairs.  Anne parked the twins (11 mos.) alseep under a tree while we adults had coffee & cake.  Having afternoon coffee with friends apparently is an institution here.  A bit like "tea time" in Great Britain, maybe?   Sandwiches are big here too.

The rest of my day was spent shopping for food with Anne and looking for adaptors for my devices which ALL need charging now.   I played with the twins while Anne smoked the salmon for dinner.  Saku was working late & joined us after 9 pm.   The endless "dusk" light deceived me and it was after 10 pm before I got back to my B & B, 11:30 pm before I got to bed.  I keep waiting for it to get "dark" but it doesn't!  Ever.
Very strange to see kids (teens) walking home past my window at midnight in the (nearly) full daylight.


Tomorrow we go to Turku to pay for our trip to Russia.

got my Russian Visa today!

The agency that our local AAA uses came through & my passport was returned to me today from Washington, DC with the Russian tourist visa I need for my 4 day tour of St. Petersburg from Helsinki in July.

I've started to pack. My bedroom floor is littered with "piles": piles of gifts, piles of non-clothing items (like toiletries in little sizes) and lists of "stuff" to remember! Yesterday I mailed (to Anne & Saku) a sizable box of insulin pump supplies that I'll need so I don't have to pack 1/2 a suitcase full of infusion sets, reservoirs, etc. My "loaner" insulin pump was delivered today ( to take so I have an extra w/me.)

Still looking for a place here locally to buy some Euros. No commercial bank will sell me any in Hornell, NY anyway.

My dear husband Mark has made dinner. More news tomorrow.