Lahti Ski Games 2013

Let's skip a few smaller updates and fast forward a few months, shall we.. It was the perfect weather in Salpausselkä, for enjoying the Lahti Ski Games.

Christmas time @ Laajavuori

Sometimes it's nice to take things easy and let other people take care of all the Christmas arrangements. Last Christmas we were relaxing in Jyväskylä, Laajavuori spa hotel for a few days. There was lots and lots of snow this time!

Wait, I think I saw an elf.. ;)

Christmas land @ Saari

Traditional visit to the Saari "Christmas land" event.

Open Door Day at the local fire station

Fun, and also education for the whole family. Held annually, every November.

Winter schedules for the trains

I generally enjoy winter time, but there's one thing I'm not particularly fond of - when there's a lot of snow, the trains are usually late.

This picture is from late November last year.

Angry Birds shop

Wow - while doing Christmas shopping I bumped into this "little" shop in the Kamppi shopping center. It's the "first permanent Angry Birds shop in Finland" according to Google search. I don't remember if I actually bought anything, but for some reason I decided to take a picture for the blog. Hmm.

Winter is coming.. (yeah, right! ;)

It feels a bit funny to write about last year winter when it was sunny, and almost 30 degrees outside today, but there are many updates awaiting I'm going to do just to catch up. So, coming up next will be some stuff from the winter 2012-2013 season!

Jätkäsaari scenery terrace

Oh yeah, I just suddenly remembered that I have a blog! ;) So, before we chronologically enter last year winter, there's one more update (I'm actually wondering a bit why it wasn't included earlier.)

Anyway, here are a few shots from Verkkokauppa.com terrace on a beautiful summer day last year. A year has passed, and this area looks pretty different today. The field where Madonna had a big concert in 2009, for an audience of 85000, is now crowded with brand new apartment houses - some of them are still being built.

There is also nice video game museum on the same building (ratio of the last picture is different because it was actually taken six months later).

Local beers! :D

Had a chance to try out this trio - and they all tasted really good! (Well, to be honest, Metsän Henki was my least favourite and Amerikan Serkku was the best.)

Valokarnevaali @ Linnanmäki

We've come to the end of October, and it's getting to be dark pretty early in the evening. The "carnival of light" at Linnanmäki is a nice attraction.

I think this might be a good place to stop the updates for a while. But, a few words of what's coming up next: a trip abroad! :)

Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki!

Finally had a chance to check out the new "local cafe", and go shopping for a new t-shirt and shot glass! U're warmly welcome to Finland, HRC! :)

Shopping center Willa in Hyvinkää

A few quick snapshoots from the opening weekend of a brand new shopping center, Willa!

Autumn glow in old Porvoo

We went swimming to Porvoo in the beginning of October, and took a small walk around the old town on the way back..

Finnish Hot Air Balloon Championships 2013 in Mäntsälä

Gentlemen, warm up your balloons! Actually I think this event is really nice. And yet so distinctly Mäntsälä. :)

MB Expo @ Jäähalli

And so we've made our way to the beginning of September when there was a lot of nice (and expensive) cars in Jäähalli.

Sirkus Florentino in Mäntsälä

A circus came to town at the end of August. The show was quite allright, though the kids! :)

Valkosipulimarkkinat 2012

Time to share at least a few new updates. This one is from August last year, from the traditional "garlic market" in Kerava. (Whoa, the Blogger default layout has changed a bit again!)

Rally time: Ouninpohja 2012 & Mäntsälä 2013

So here's one event from the past, and one from the very present. What's common for them both? Rally cars!

Last summer, in the beginning of August, we checked out the legendary Ouninpohja Special Stage at Neste Oil Rally Finland with my son. It was great. Some people criticize that WRC is more business than motorsport these days, and they're probably right. It was dreadfully expensive afternoon, but the event was well organized and a nice experience nevertheless.

Today we got to witness somewhat different level of rally experience. The national F-Cup's start-up rally, Ramirent Mäntsälä Ralli was held nearby. How convenient, particularly Special Stage 4 was run within a walking distance from our house, so we decided to check it out. The weather was cold outside (around -20c degrees of Celcius), but sunny, and the feeling was definitely there. The business aspect was conveniently toned down: just coffee, hot juice and warm sausages were available, and that was all we needed! :)

My Summer Tour of 2012: Day 3 (Lahti)

Late at night of Day 2 I had made my way back from Myllykoski to Mukkula camping.

The next morning was sunny, and Vesijärvi looked really beautiful. During the morning I managed to check out Neste Oil Rally 2012 start event site at Lahti Harbour. Then it was time to head back home to see my family.

Oh, a bit more about the Rally to follow later! ;)

My Summer Tour of 2012: Day 2 (Myllykoski)

In the evening I enjoyed some "summer theater". The play was called "Calamari Union 2012", which is clearly a nod to Aki Kaurismäki's 1985 movie. And it was great!

Until recently, Myllykoski was really known for a big paper mill that was shut down during 2011. This was a cold shower to the town's economy. In the play some unemployed paperworkers embark on a journey to find mystical Voikkaa in hopes of getting employed again as paperworkers (The town of Voikkaa is 30 kilometers away from Myllykoski and they used to have a paper mill too. However, it was closed already in 2006 but the play was set up like they didn't know that :).