Feels good

2 be back the hood.. Though temporarily. ;)

Wroclaw

Had some business here, though only paid a quick visit. So, Wroclaw is another nice city I'm adding to my list of places I'm looking forward returning to on a better time.

Summer 2011 update 16/16: conclusion

Hmmm, seems I made a bit of counting error at some point of the way.. I'm already "out of events".. :)

Anyway, I had a nice time during summer of 2011 in overall. I wasn't able to accomplish anything major, mostly small domestic trips. And actually I didn't even have much of a holiday - I was spending most of the summer at home taking care of my kids, on a so-called "paternity month".

But not bad, given that I had two out of the following three - time, the kids & money (if unsure, please check past updates and figure out which of those I was mostly missing..)

Summer 2011 update 15/16: The Bothnian Sea Coast Tour

This was the second overnight trip I had a chance to take all by myself. It took two nights, actually.

My initial goal for the first night was Uusikaupunki. I stopped at Forssa and Ahvenisto on the way. In the morning I checked the Saab museum, and then headed towards Rauma. I stopped at Olkiluoto on my way to Pori. I had a stopover at Ulvila, Irjanne and Leineperi until I finally arrived to Nokia and set up the tent. The next morning I continued heading home, stopping at Parola.

Whew.. yes, it was a bit rushed perhaps, but still fun. A kind of family man's lotsacheap-thrills mini-vacation. ;)

Summer 2011 update 14/16: Padasjoki pt. II

We went camping with my son to beautiful Padasjoki. He was excited about spending the night outdoors, but managed it very well after all. There was also Elomarkkinat at Arrakoski.

Here are some pictures from the buildings at Arrakoski. :)

Summer 2011 update 13/16: Neste Rally @ Koukunmaa

Wr-ooom! It was my first time as World Rally Championship event spectator, at Neste Rally Finland Special Stage 7 - Koukunmaa. As I didn't have previous experience I dediced to play it safe and we arrived on-site some three hours before the start.

In the end I feel it probably was a good decision to come early, as there was already some traffic packing on the road. But of course, arriving early with my son with me, and he was a little impatient at times. Luckily we had chosen a spot very close to the stage finish line, there was the Rally Shop and a plenty of helicopters landing and taking off to keep us entertained.

Later in the evening I went to see Lahti Historic Rally Special Stage 3 along the same route.

I'm not converted as a rally fan yet, but of course I can't say it would not have been interesting either.

Monster Jam @ Helsinki

I decided to post this event update as attendning the "Freestyle Mania" really felt like a fresh(!) breeze from America to me. That may sound odd? I think only Americans can come up with sport events like monster truck racing or (WWE style) wrestling, and fill up Helsinki's biggest indoor stadium, the Hartwall Areena!

There were many things about the event I loved. The presenter speaking English with true US accent and trying to warm up the rigid Finnish crowd: "And remember, he'll do one more donut [with a monster truck], only for you, as you've been such a wonderful audience tonight.." That translates to me something like "Hey now c'mon, let's try it again, you are such a quiet crowd and we're really having a hard time getting you to make some noise!!" Haha! :)

And it was all about the merchandise, the excess of toys, T-Shirts and caps available, as well as popcorn mugs and all the exotic stuff you know you really don't need, but you buy them because the kids love them.

Sure, the tickets were expensive, the merchandise was overpriced (compared to the US), and the toilet queues were exessively long (as usual).. But as this kind of tour comes to Finland once in a year or two, we tried to love the show to the max. My wallet feels somewhat thinner, but so what, I feel happy and it seems my son got some inspiration to his child's play too. ;)

I'd love to go and see it again.. in ten years here, or definetely sometime sooner in America!

Summer 2011 update 12/16: Linnanmäki

Speak of the big and the bold. It's a really nice (but also expensive) amusement park hear the centre of Helsinki.

In the dark Autumn time (like now) they arrange the Valokarnevaali ("Carnival of Light").

Summer 2011 update 11/16: Tykkimäki@Kouvola

I'd really like a chance to get to know Kouvola better. This time most of our minutes in the city centre were wasted on just driving around and looking for McDonald's.

But, yes, Tykkimäki is a nice amusement park. I feel it's slightly "in the middle of nowhere", but it has good rides and it's also a bit cheaper than Linnanmäki.

Summer 2011 update 10/16: Puuhamaa@Tervakoski

Puuhamaa was something different than I expected, in a nice way. My son also seemed to like it very much, but next time we'll need to come for the whole day as we didn't have time to visit the water park section at all!

PS. It was quite a crowded place but in case you're wondering where are all the people: most of the pictures were taken a moment after closing time, on the way out.. :)

Summer 2011 update 9/16: Porvoo

So let's get this thing going again.

Sometime in mid-July the weather was really nice, again, and we visited Kungsbacka's Farm (again) and Old Porvoo. Wanha Laamanni is a reputable restaurant on convenient spot for tourists at the top of the church's hill. It was dreadfully expensive, a bit overrated I would say, but I must also admit that snails in garlic butter tasted pretty yummy. ;)

Summer 2011 update 8/16: Nõmme Seikluspark @ Tallinn

One more update, and I believe the first half of my last summer stories is pretty much told. We've reached mid-July, wo-hoo.. :)

We took a day trip to Tallinn and headed to Nõmme Seikluspark to climb in some trees. :) I read afterwards that Flowpark in Turku should be pretty similar. It was a really nice experience, though I was quite exhausted as it takes a lot of physical fitness and endurance to manage all the tracks through. It may seem easy from the ground level.

On the way back to harbour I had a moment to check out the Ölletorn restaurant which I've wanted to see for quite some time. It was nice, but admitted, nothing that special. I confirmed, however, that they do have a large selection of Estonian beers. And waterpipes!

(Yes, there's also Suomenlinna one more time.. taken from aboard the Viking XPRS :)

Summer 2011 update 7/16: Loviisa (w/Svartholma)

A.k.a. The Ehrensvärd Designs pt.2 as Svartholma sea fortress plays a part in 1800th century Finnish (or, Swedish/Russian as well) military history alongside Suomenlinna.

We planned a day trip to Loviisa, but the visit to Svartholma took so much time that we actually didn't manage to see much else than the Laivasilta salt sheds area.

Summer 2011 update 6/16: Suomenlinna

One of Helsinki's top attractions is a maritime fortress from the 18th century. It's included on the UNESCO World Heritage list and a great place to visit especially on summer time.

I had thoughts initially to label this update as "The Ehrensvärd designs, part 1" as the fortress' construction was supervised by Swedish military architect Augustin Ehrensvärd, and there is actually a second place designed by him that we visited this summer..