Travelog for: Qah

Hello!

Today it was a bit above 0°C again and it was sleeting the whole morning. When it stopped, we decided to go to the forest again while there's still some snow left.

We found squirrel tracks.





Looks like someone's had a campfire on this small clearing.



We thought it'd be fun to play in snow for a while and that's what we did. We built a snowman, it was fun.









Time to continue our walk, but not without climbing rocks and trees.





Best wishes,
Qah

Hello again,

Teddy had found small Runeberg's tortes, so he shared them with us. Of course we had tea, too. These tortes are usually avaible only around the 5th of February, which is known as Runeberg's day.



Johan Ludwig Runeberg (5th February 1804 - 6th May 1877), was a writer and a poet, he's also the national poet of Finland. He wrote in Swedish and his best known writing is Fänrik Ståls sägner (Vänrikki Stoolin tarinat / Vänrikki Stålin tarinat in Finnish, The Tales of Ensign Stål in English), which is an epic poem that describes the events of the Finnish War (1808 - 1809). The first chaper of the poem became the national anthem of Finland (Maamme in Finnish, Vårt land in Swedsh, Our land in English).

Anyway, the tortes are named after J.L. Runeberg because it's said that he liked to eat them on breakfast. It's also said that the recipe is made by his wife Fredrika Runeberg, although it may be a variation of a recipe made by confectioner Lars Astenius on 1840's.



Today it's time to say goodbye to ZeeZee because he will countinue his journey towards new adventures. Perhaps we will meet again, someday, somewhere. Who knows.



Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

It snowed again and I wanted to go for a walk, while the forest is still snowy and beautiful.





I found a small pond, surrounded by trees. It was quite shadowy under the spruces and there wasn't much snow either. I decided to sit down for a while, because it was such a nice place.



A moment later I was already back on the path and continued walking.







The bridge crossing this muddy brook was nothing more than a few planks, very snowy and also a bit slippery. I made it to the other side without any problems - of course.



I climbed a tree and suddenly something happened. The clouds parted and I could see blue sky. That's something I hadn't seen for weeks.







I couldn't resist climbing this huge rock.



Seems that the amount of snow is too much for some trees and they bend under the weight.



Looks like the spurces are guarding this clearing. Perhaps they really are. Who knows.





Look, a faint reflection of light on water. Perhaps the sun is coming back from its holiday or perhaps it just teases us. Who knows.



It was a nice walk in the forest.



Greetings,
Qah

Hi!

Mr. Moose found Teddy's sled and of course we wanted to go to test it, but snow's mostly melted - again. After thinking for a while, Mr. Moose got an idea. We could go to the cottage, it's usually takes longer for snow to melt there.

That's what we did and look how much snow there still is. Teddy was lazy and decided to stay at home.



Time to go to sledding, then.



















It was so fun.

We walked around for a while before driving back to Turku.





Best wishes,
Qah

Hello

It seems that spring has arrived here, although it's still quite early. The weather was so sunny and nice that I didn't want to stay inside. So, I went to Katariinanlaakso (laakso = valley, dale) for a walk in a forest. It's a protected area, just like Ruissalo, but it's located on mainland.



It's said that Katariinanlaakso may be named after Lady Katarina who was the wife of chief justice Simon Lilliegren, they lived in the nearby Ispoinen Mansion on 18th century.

Then again, it's possible that the name is older and comes from Katarina Hansdotter, who was the lover of Johan III, the duke of Finland and later the king of Sweden on the 16th century.

According to a third story, possibly most popular one, Katariinanlaakso is named after the Polish princess and wife of Johan III, Katarzyna Jagiellonka. It's said that she came here with her knights, companions and servants to have picnics on this huge, flat boulder, which is now known as Katariinankivi (Katariina's stone).
(Katarzyna = Katariina in Finnish)



Here's a nice view to the sea and Hirvensalo, which is one of those islands that belong to Turku. There's still some ice left on the water, it seems.



I wanted to go deeper into the forest and chose to follow the path up the hill. It turned out to be longish climb.





Katariinanlaakso is a protected area, so the fallen trees are mostly left as they are - unless they are somehow dangerous or block the paths.



I wonder if there's some animal living under that huge boulder.



I took a short break at the top of the hill. It was nice to sit there for a moment and watch the sea.



After coming out of the forest I decided to go for a short walk to the beach too. The ground there was very wet and muddy, but I didn't need to worry about that because of these duckboards.



I ended up to a place called Ruskeakallio (Brown Rock). It was a wonderful place to sit for a while before heading back to jinxed's.



Greetings,
Qah

Hello

Here I am at Halistenkoski (koski = rapids) and that's where I started today's walk on the riverbank.





I was just wandering around when I noticed this sign. It says that this is the archeological site of Virnamäki. People have lived here on the Iron Age.





This sign says that here is a burial site from the Iron Age. Without these signs it'd be easy to just walk past without knowing, there's nothing visible on the ground.





Then I wandered closer to the river, to enjoy the view and sunshine.









A little further away I found this broken sign that tells about sacrificial stones and the cups that are carved on them. People brought food and other little items and left them in these cups for gods, spirits and whoever they were worshiping. They also collected rainwater from the cups and used it for healing purposes.





Actually, these sacrificial stones with their cups are the only visible relics here and it's very easy to walk past them without noticing.

Greetings,
Qah

Hello!

Today I decided to visit Turku Cathedral. It's located near the Old Great Square at the center of the town.



The Cathedral is also one of the most notable historical buildings in Finland and one of the best-known sights in Turku. It's the only medieval basilica in Finland and together with Turku Castle it's the oldest building still in use here.

Here you can see the Cathedral and its surroundings in 1756.



The Cathedral was originally built out of wood in the 13th century. The wooden church was replaced by a new church built out of stone at the end of the 13th century. After that the Cathedral has been built, burnt and rebuilt several times in the course of its long history. The latest major damage was caused by the Great Fire in 1827.



Here's the statue of Mikael Agricola (1510 - 1557). He was a bishop of Turku and also the first person who translated the Bible in Finnish. He also wrote and translated the first books that were printed in Finnish. His work created the foundation of written Finnish, so he is known as the Father of written Finnish.




Turku Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the central church of the Archdiocese of Turku and the seat of the Archbishop of Finland.

Here's the main aisle of the Cathedral.



And the main altar.



There are probably thousands of people buried in, under and around the Cathedral. Some of them have some kind of memorials, but most don't. Here's the grave of Karin Månsdotter, the wife of Erik XIV. She's one of the most notable persons buried here.



I think this little detail is actually very cute. A cat has left his/her pawprints on the floor tiles a long time ago.



Greetings,
Qah

Hello,

today we arrived at BlackCat's house and were welcomed by Jonathan, Nayeli, Batty the bat and Pookee.

Let's have some fun,
Qah

Hey,

today we had a short walk and guess what we found? A boat in a garden. We were so surprised. And we don't know if it is decoration, or if the people forgot that they had a boat in their garden.
We also got to smell some flowers, which was really nice as well.

Love
Qah

Hey,

today we had a bbq all together. It was really nice. We had a grilled sausage and talked a lot.

Love
Qah

Hey,

so today we all watched the Eurovision Song Contest together. It's a song competition Europe has every single year. This year they had a guest country - Australia.
We had snacks and watched it for a while but then were tired.

The winner is this video here (CLICK). A really great song from Sweden.

Love
Qah

Hi Mom. Finally I have arrived at my host in Italy. The travel lasted too long but finally i could crawl out of my envelope. There were other Tv´s and other stuffed animals who welcomed me. There was also Simao, another Monkey from China. We talked about our travels and became friends. Greetings from SouthTirol

Hi Mom
Enjoying the View with my new friend Simao at the balkony and we saw a wonderful rainbow. It looked amazing an I am very happy to be here with Simao. He speaks my language I have a surprise for you Mom. Next week Simao and I will go to Prague with our host parents. I am looking forward to our travel. Bye and  many kisses. Your´s Qah

Hi Mom. Finally I am back at home and today I want to tell you about my journey to Prague.
We went there by train and it was a very long travel. We visited so many places and saw interesting things. Most I liked the Zoo There where so many animals. I can´t find words so I must show you the pictures. Also we visited the Torture Museum, a big Market, the Prague Castle, a big Musik Store and many other things. The food was excellent and also we visited a "Absinth Bar" and ate "Karlsbader Oblatsky"

I partly completed one of my life missions going to the Zoo

Miss you Mom, hugs Qah

Hi Mom. Today we made traditional Tiramisu. It´s an italian dessert with many good ingredients Simao an I are the chefs and responsible for the dessert. Our host mom gave us instructions to make it perfect. Well, look at the pictures