Travelog for: lucky-ducky

We got out of the park and I (and Watson) calmed down ("Thank God!" my host said!  ).

This is me at the statue of "The 3 Smiths".

That is me looking at the Parliament (the building on the left) and the National Museum (that tower further away).

And the final photo taken in the buss: the Opera House.

I got so tired... 3,5 hours of sightseeing... I surely had a good night sleep ZZZzzzzzZZZ

Here I am, having a rest by the pool (which is in the balcony), catching the rays... 

We threw a goodbye-party to Twinette Kani, a new Toy Voyager. The kids did most of the job, my host (their mom) wrote the sign. I ofcourse was able to give good advice to the young bunny 

This's just one pic, more to see in Twinette's blog (not much of me there so...).

Another Train!

My host showed me the steam train of the old days (well, it was built 1952 so maybe not that old). This one travels short distances a few times per summer. This was the last day it was here this summer - and we almost missed it! But we didn't. It's pretty don't you think? In the nostalgic kind of way...

Read more about it here:
http://www.steamrail.fi/

I'm still here  This is what you see from the balcony of my hostfamily. Those statues are made by my host's younger sister - quite skillfull ain't she?

It was such a nice weather my hostfamily decided to walk to the Old Town for an icecream by the river 

In the photos you can see a kiosk by the river (not the one we bought the ice cream from), the church roof being renovated (not the green blanket over it anymore), small market place in the Old Town (selling old and new stuff), me in the pocket of my host-dad (I could see very well from there), shop of local handicrafts, USA flag (I got a bit homesick...  ) ---

And when I got strawberry icecream! It was very yummy but I think I ate too much... 

It has been raining more and less heavily. Seems like the summer is coming to an end here. But there was a light in the dark days: we saw this beautiful rainbow! The girls wanted to go looking for the end of it, to find a pot of gold - but the rainbow started to fade quite quickly so we stayed at home, warm and dry.

We visited my host-mom's parents, again. This time she remembered the camera... They live only about 20km from my host. It's in the countryside and my host wanted to show me other than city views for a change. My host lived there her first 19 years. She has many good memories of the neighbourhood.

My host's mom likes gardening. In the pics there's only a few of the flowers they had in the yard. Only one sunflower but that one was soooo long!

The school my host went to (grades 1-6) is right next to their house! They had only about 20 students at that time altogether. Everyone knew each other and was friends. Sounds very nice.  My host wants her girls to go a small school too, instead of one of the huge ones in the town.

We went for a walk and some students happened to be playing soccer at the nearby sportsfield. We stayed there for a while looking at their games. Although in the morning it looked like it would rain, we got a nice warm (hot) sunshine 

Here's the rest of our walk in the countryside. In the second pic there's the local Volunteer Fire Department. They have only one car but it has been enough for this small village. They get help from the town FD if needed.

We saw fields of, ummm, rye? Oats? Anyway, we saw only a glimpse of water - the sea is closer here. My host is trying to figure out where she could show me some sea/archipelago as I didn't see the ocean I crossed... She's very nice to me, don't ya think? 

We would've walked further but the girls got tired and we forgot the pram.  That yellow building you see behind the trees in the last pic is the Jakari Estate/Mansion. Such a small place and they have a mansion of their own! It used to be a huge deal in the old days (like a hundred years ago or more), having many buildings and cattle and so on.

Now the building where the cattle used to be (you can see some of it in the first pic, right corner), is a garage where they fix cars. On the other side of the road was a pigsty - it doesn't even have a roof anymore. When my host was a kid she used to go there although the signs said no (Unauthorized Entry Forbidden). Each and every time after going there (usually with friends) she had the same nightmare where men started chasing her from the pigsty all the way to the town! After 4 nightmares she stopped going in the pigsty. I would've stopped earlier although I am a brave ducky... 

Another toyvoyager, Tilda from Australia, came for a visit today! She brought gifts with her too, although I didn't get any... I was again able to give good hints to a fellow voyager I'm beginning to feel like being the Yoda of toyvoyagers! 

More about me later again.

Hi again folks!

Here I am, on the way to Tampere where my host's eldest sister throws a birthday party - she turns 50! Not my host, the sister.

My host drove and we (me, TV Tilda, host's middle one and her toy doggie called Lurppa, my host's parents) enjoyed the views. We drove 200km and stopped once half way there. The stop was a gas station/cafe/mall above the highway. My host's dad played money games - it's forbidden from people under 15 years so me and Tilda just watched. Besides, he lost his money...

Me and Tilda got to go on a slide too! What a good way to stretch our legs 

My host's eldest sister turned 50! She threw a small party for about 25 people. Good eating, drinkin and company That brown&white cake was so delicious I had to lie down for a while... We got some of it with us when we left, yummy!

She got many cards of course. My host made the one with the origami whale! The birthday girl is into scubadiving, hence the underwater theme in the card (so my host does not think her sister is a whale!).

Well well, here I am, in the city center of Tampere. It is located in the midst of a lake labyrinth - 200 lakes situated within the city limits! Tampere was established in 1779 by King Gustav III. Today it has over 200 000 inhabitants, being the 3rd largest city in Finland (after Helsinki and Turku). It's the 2nd largest student city (after Helsinki) and has for example 2 universities. According to a study in 2004, it was the most wanted place to live in! I don't wonder, it looks nice - and my host praises it too 

For example these things happened in Tampere the first time in the whole world:   
1974    NMT-phonecall
1984    biodisintegrating implant (Bioscience/Bionx)
1991    GSM-phonecall
1996    Personal Digital Assistant (Nokia)
2001    game- and photophones (Nokia)
2002    eCard (eTampere/Infocity)

More information here.

I can hardly contain myself! Another train trip! And this time for 2 hours! That's the railway station in Tampere and the rest is me on the train 

I got to play in the train - I even drove a toy train! I also sat down and watched the views, for example Hämeen linna (Häme Castle). Lurppa had been on a train before so (s)he acted cool but Tilda was almost as excited as me! But just almost...

We arrived safely to helsinki, where I had been before and took the buss back home to Porvoo. We were a bit tired but happy