Travelog for: alfie langer

This's what my host was thinking when she talked about celebrating... We made a trip to the Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki! "We" means us toyvoyagers, my host, her kids and her dad. It was quite appropriate to have a "family outing" and us tvs meeting reletives  First I met my wooden cousins who were situated right on the other side of a football field! Not stupid, my reletives 

Before entering the actual Zoo, which is on an island, we had to go over a bridre. You could see the Cathedral and the Orthodox Church from there! Those places I saw closer in May.

The first zoo animals I met were my actual reletives, with fluffy fur and all: the brown bear. They had quite a nice place to live in - it's divided into 2 equally big sides, which means that if the misses starts nagging too much the sir can move on the other side... 

As much as I would've wanted to stay and chat... well, the reletives went for lunch so we continued our tour. I saw the European bison, a nice view to other parts of Helsinki, a reindeer, a lion (this was my host's favorite, for the obvious reason that she's a leo in zodiac)!

After that we played Noah's Arc  And I rode on a zebra (a wooden one though) with the kids! Then it was time to get homesick... I saw the red wallaby  Sigh...

There's nothing that good food couldn't fix! I felt better after having a feast with my tv friends Chokito, Ninni and Roo.

Our tummies full we went to check out the baboons (someone said the "EU should make a law that makes them wear pants"! LOL) and the mongolian wild horses. Continuing to the tropical side of the zoo (and that waterfall) after which we saw Miami Vice! The flamingos, you know...

And last but not least our group photo on the car we drove! After a nice and sunny day we all fell assleep while driving home... zzzz

We spent Sunday evening playing Moomin Memory/Pairs  The girls in the house had just got it and were eager to play. We took a round with just us tv's - and one local  The dog in the house (called Lurppa) won, Ninni & Roo came in second and I was the third. A gentleman let's the women win...  And I'm sure Lurppa won because he has "home field advantage"! 

It's been so very very hot here in Finland that we decided to drive to a beach. This beach is further away than any of the others, in the middle of nowhere - and totally worth it! The water doesn't get deeper untill far away (you can almost walk to the island you see in the photo) so it's ideal for the kids. So we played in the sand and water, enjoyed the sun, ate... Oh, and the view was quite nice too!

Ever wonder what happens to retired toys... Today I got one reply to that as I visited the Porvoo Doll and Toy museum. It's a small place with thousands of old toys (the eldest date back to the early 1800!).  All toys have been played with and loved. Some teddy bears have been cuddled so much their fur fell off. The toys are a private collection and their owner started the museum with her own money. It's a very popular tourist attraction.

Chokito is leaving to South Africa in mid-August but we held his goodbye-party already. With Batman-theme ofcourse! There was Batman candies, Batman cola - and a Batman Movie from 1966!
After the movie we talked about past and future adventures. Chokito is fun & energetic and I wish him all the best inthe future!

Today we went to check out the steamtrain! We were early so we took a look at the other things nearby the station. The station area is a well kept historical entity comprising of two lokomotive stables built in 1875 and in 1905, the station house from 1899, and an old warehouse with a long loading dock and a small railway yard. There was also this miniature railroad! We weren't allowed to touch it which was boring, but otherwise it looked fun. I really want one  Think how cool it would be to ride on it! There were other things to see too, including the old add.

Here it is: the steamtrain! It's big, it's black - and I loved it  These type locomotives built during years 1928-1953. The blue train in the last pic is called Lättähattu and it was fully operational in the 50's/60's. The Porvoo railway is an original part of what used to be the next oldest private wide gauge railway, completed in 1874, linking Porvoo town with the first railway of Finland, the Helsinki-Hämeenlinna line build in 1862. The only trains that run on this rail are these old ones that run only a few times per summer. They're a tourist attraction - or a chance to take "a walk on the memory lane" 

Bonjour! Comment allez vous? (Hello, how are you?) My host said we'd go to Helsinki but this looks like Paris to me! Oh well, I can tell you they were wall paintings 

Pour moi, une café latte s'il vous plait! (For me a milk coffee please)

PS: Sorry for all possible spelling errors!

While waiting for the tram I saw these pretty buildings. They must be quite old. There was this statue of a girl throwing a spear too. I think it looked nice with the water pool and all the green around.

This must be the most beautiful church I've ever seen! It's The Church of St. John. It is designed in Neogothic style by the Swedish architect A. E. Molander and built in 1893. It is the biggest church in Helsinki and has excellent acoustics, making it a popular place for concerts of large choral works in particular.

My host said it's her favorite too because it's red! 

Ok, now we finally get to the main part of my latest Helsinki visit... A cafe that had vintage travel posters on display! They were old Finnish travel adds and there's a book full of them. We bought a few postcards instead. The cafe was in that white building that is also the Swedish Theatre - apparently there's a Moomin play running (see the huge poster outside the building).

The posters were fun - and it was so cool to get the cards as both my host and mentor are postcrossers 

We (Roo and me) tried to catch some of the Olympics fever and watched the games. We couldn't see any (succesfull) aussies or britons so we decided to cheer for our host-country Finland  I'll try to catch a football (soccer) game too 

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday toooo youuuuu, haaapppyyy biirthday dear Delenna, happy birthday tooooo youuuuuuuuu!!!"

My host turned __ and made this self-portrait-cake 

I did get to see some football - or soccer to be exact. 

We had a new guest in the house: Lemmy! We showed the little fox around the house and told him tales of this family...