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.