Travelog for: Haris

Last weekend we visited the countryside.













I picked all these



Lots of apple trees

The other day we went to Essi`s mom.


View from her balcony



I helped to water the plants,and played a little hide and seek


Saw some art too


Me and Essi


Cute blue house across the street


Rowan berries,the first sign of autumn.


The old vicarage close to Essi`s place.It`s a restaurant now.



Time to say goodbye.I had such a great time Now I`m off to Helsinki.I`m excited to see the city again and meet all the postcrossers at the meeting!

Haaarrrr harr Haris arrived in Porvoo! I arrived in time to join my host in the International Postcrossing meetup in Helsinki! She'll go there next Saturday! Wohoo! I have travelling friends here too and they will come to the meetup too. 

Wohoo! I attended The International Postcrossing meetup in Helsinki! First we met at the Aleksis Kivi statue next to the Central Railway Station. I met many lovely postcrossers who were willing to pose in a photo with me Those photos I will show to my imajica later... 10 am we then started to walk towards the ferry that would take us to the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. Our guide, a postcrosser called pooca (who actually did all the work to make this meetup happen) told us about the history of Suomenlinna while we walked around. We took a group photo there too! And I found a spot that looked exactly like the Shire (from Lord of the rings)!

The russian postcrossers gave everyone a gift bag with cake, a matryoshka cell phone strap, a matryoshka pen and a small figurine. Paulo & Ana got a big matryoshka doll   Dandilion gave everyone a gift that included a postcard and a pair of ceramic dutch shoes (decoration). People went all "Awwww!" and "Thank you!" 

When we got off the ferry we had something to eat & drink. We had earned it! I shared Moomin lemonade and raspberry "doughnut" with Leonard, Banyo and Gary Boldie. Next I joined the people who went to look for postcards. Pooca knew some very interesting postcardshops! The first one was at the Market Square close to the ferry.

We also visited a Moomin Shop! It was full of postcards and books and dvd's (even in English!) and magnets and kitchen utensils and toys and... All about The Moomins!

After walking thru (and buying some postcards & stamps) the main Post Office we visited the last postcardshop which was under the railwaystation  There weren't many postcards but they cost only 10 eurocents/piece!

And then we joined the others at the Aleksis Kivi Statue again 

We took the metro to our restaurant. But before we got to eat we went to shop - for - some - postcards - again  The Hakaniemen Kauppahalli is an indoor market place and it was right next to our restaurant. The creator of Postcrossing sent the cards they had written & signed on Friday from the Kauppahalli as there was a mailbox where you would get special cancellation.

The cardshop owner was thrilled to get so many customers!

Finally! At last! I was starving! The kitchen of our  restaurant Sävel is usually closed on Saturdays but when they had heard there would be 40 people they gladly cancelled that talk  They had prepared us a buffet menu:

Salads
Pepper beef (bull)
Chicken BBQ
Rice / Potatoes
Water / Juice
Tea / Coffee
Bread
Tandor vegetable ragout

I shared rice & pepper beef & chicken bbg with the other toyvoyagers (Leonard didn't take the chicken for the obvious reason). We drank a lot of water as all the walking had made us almost dehydrated.

Some people passed around (like a really fast round robin!) a pile of postcards where everyone could take as many they liked. People started to sign postcards too. Soilian got birthdayflowers from us as it was her birthday!

After the meal we walked around the block to Cafe Java where we had the whole upstairs for ourselves. We continued to sign postcards which was quite a task... I can't tell you yet how many there were to be signed & sent as there might be a competition about it on the Postcrossing Forum 

My host had a rubber stamp with her username so she just stamped on the cards  She usually uses name stickers but those were almost finished so she had ordered a custom stamp online.

Huppu68 took photos of everyone (who hadn't been on the Friday meetup) with a crown on their heads and Manu the MeetupDuck in their hands. So my host wasn't the only one with toys 

More gifts were exchanged too! soilian gave everyone a small bag with postcards and stuff, dandilion gave us stickers, duffeli spread postcards, Lotty kept giving candy... 

It was all so much fun! I wish my host could join them tomorrow too - that way I could go too... We left about 19:30 (8:30 pm) to catch the metro to our car. I was exhausted but very very happy. I hope my imajica will ove these photos too!

Here's a photo of all the gifts that were distributed on the meetup yesterday. Very nice don't you think?

As I didn't have to leave immediately, my host showed me a bit around her hometown Porvoo. Porvoo is only 1h drive east from Helsinki. It has about 48 000 inhabitants in an area of 654 km2.

We walked by the river, from the newer part to the oldest. Those older, red shorehouses are Porvoo's most wellknown attraction. This is what the website tells about them: The shore houses are now red, but they got their colour only in the late 18th century. Red ochre paint was used to paint the shore houses in honour of King Gustav III's arrival from Sweden. All of the houses along his route were painted, in order to make them more beautiful. The red ochre also helped protect the logs from wind and sun damage. Exotic fruits, wines and spices were brought to Porvoo, and the shore houses also served as intermediate storehouses for coffee an tobacco. Today the shore houses are used as private living quarters and storage space.

In the last photo you can see ahill, called Castle Hill. There used to be a castle/fortress hundreds of years ago. Now there's only the hill and the castle moats left. The castle lives in the Swedish name of the town though. Porvoo is called Borgå in Swedish: borg = castle, å = river.

Today I had a look at the very center of Porvoo. I saw the busstation and the market place next to it - and many shops!

I have now packed myself and am heading towards Macedonia! I can hardly wait! Mumble is in the same mailbox waiting to go to another direction 

Well, finally, here I am...in Macedonia!! Who would have thought!! If several months ago someone told me I would come here, I wouldnt have believed it!! But there you go

Im not exactly sure when I arrived here, since Ana, my host, was out of town, so i had to wait for her to come back...but honestly, i dont mind it...it was nice to be able to idle a bit, after all that excitement in Helsinki...that was soooooooo fun but a bit tiring as well, since we were on the run all the time, going to places and hunting for postcards.....so taking some time off to get some rest and sort my impressions wasnt bad at all....and Ana is also rather lazy, so i think that the two of us would get along just fine

I know she is tired and has a bunch of things to do, so I guess we wont do much tonight...but I hope tomorrow she will take me out for a bit...I know nothing about Macedonia and where she lives, so im really impatient to take a glimpse of the surrounding here!

Soooo, this could officially be called my first day in Macedonia!

We woke up rather early, just to find some grey skies...which aint really promising =|
But Ana said she had some things to do out of the house, and she promised to take me with her...so i can hardly wait...but oh yeah, i need to wait for her to finish her coffee first...i cant believe it that i will have to put up with a coffee addict here!! Is it gonna be like this EVERY morning?? oh boy 

Finally we set off and headed to the city centre (pssst, dont tell her that i told you, but she actually went to buy postcards  )
But just as we left the house, a small drizzle started....but fortunately, while we were out, it remained as a drizzle only...otherwise we both would have been soaked to the bone.
They have a nice city centre, but Ana told me that due to the weather, it was rather empty, so thats why it was beautiful...otherwise it can get too crowded...well, we managed to take a few pics there....i had the urge to try all the benches on our way, but I think that Ana read my mind and gave me a fierce look since she had no intention to be running after me, taking pictures, while its drizzling....so i had to surrender.





She finished what she had to do rather quickly, and since the weather wasnt nice, we didnt walk around, but just headed straight back home.
Did I tell you? Ana has two cats, but I managed to see just one of them...and thats such a weird cat. He was taking a nap, and I came to him since i wanted to have a picture taken...but Kimi, as he is called, just took a look at me, and went back to sleep...he didnt even sniff me!!! Im offended!



But I must say that Ana has a really nice garden with loads of pot flowers on the terrace....and i would love to play here often!



Shortly after we came home, it started to rain heavily, so we didnt have much choice but to again spend the time indoors...hmmm, this is not how i imagined Macedonia...i really hope they dont have the English kind of weather, otherwise i would die out of boredom 

Ok, I hope tomorrow would be more promising...though from what Ive overheard about Ana's plans, i think i will have to be on my own again...or maybe befriend her cats and see if they wanna hang out with me....I guess ill have to wait until tomorrow....and go to sleep now....

Well, it was a lazy Sunday i must say...Ana had loads of work to do, so i tried to stay out of the way...ok, honestly, i had to stay out of the way, otherwise, i risked that she would have asked me to help her with the dishes and the dusting and the vacuum cleaning etc etc etc

we got up early again....i cant really figure out this habit of my host to get up early on weekends, even though she feels tired and sleepy...
as usual, the day started with a cup of coffee, and just today i discovered this huge collection of mugs Ana has....there are so many of them and such nice ones, that Ana promised to take a picture of me and a mug quite often And i took a sip while she wasnt watching....mmm, tasted nice i have to admit



Afterwards, as i already said, Ana was doing her stuff, and i decided to entertain myself...and today i had the honour to meet this other member of the family, who just like his older brother, didnt pay attention at me ((



you already met the brown guy...the yellow one is called Foxy...i dont know if its coz he is yellowish or coz he is crafty as a fox...i just wonder if these two cats do something else but sleep...

well....then some entertainment started since Ana went to watch the F1 race....and i had to watch it with her, since ive never seen something like this before...a bunch of cars going wwwwrrrrrrrrmmmmm, wrrrrm, wrrrrrrrrrmmmmm.....



And i was glad to see Ana was satisfied with the result in the end, since Kimi ended up on the podium (oooooh, this is why her cat is called Kimi!!!)

(its the guy in the red)





and Kimi gets his trophy



aaandddd champagne time!!






uhmmm...the afternoon was sportish again...but this time the mood was in the totally opposite direction...the guy Ana was cheering for, was losing big time....and Ana was immensly frustrated and annoyed.....i was hungry and needed to go to the bathroom, but i didnt want to interfere in such moments, so i decided to stay still and wait until it was all over...and it ended up bad of course 




yup, the result aint in Ana's favour as you can see





but the guy is cute i must say 

the last pic with hi, before Ana got really pissed off and turned off the TV



she thought that it would be smarter to do some other stuff as well as pack...*cough cough cough*...PACK??? Just then i found out she would go away for the week...and that she planned to leave me all alone here!! Oh no no no, thats not gonna happen!!

Me: Oh, where are you going?? Can you take me with you please?

Ana: No Haris, im sorry, you'll have to stay here

Me: But pleaaase, take me with you!! I cant stay alone here, i know nothing and no one!! And your cats arent really fond of me

Ana: Sorry Haris, but ill have loads of work to do, and you are just going to be bored, its better if you stay here

Me: But thats not fair! I came here in order to see places, and not stay home all day

Ana: Well, even if you come with me, i cant promise id be able to take you anywhere since ill be busy!

Me: *feeling how that evil grin comes to my face*  But if you dont take me with you i will tell imajica how bad you are and how you dont take me anywhere, and ill tell her not to write letters to you anymore or send you a postcard EVER AGAIN!!

Ana: *^$*&$#@))$#()%_%_+

Me: Sooo???

Ana: *thinking for a while* This is called blackmail!!...*thinking for a bit more*.....alright alright, jump in! But i dont want to hear a single word of complaint while we are there, got it?? And if you do, i will leave you there in the middle of nowhere and i wont care what happens to you!!

Me: *running towards the suitcase* woooohoo, lalalala lalala im gonna go on a trip, im gonna go on a trip!!! lalalalalalala!!! Uhmmm  I feel like i have heard Ana talk something, but i didnt understand anything!! Oh, it doesnt matter, what matters is that Im going on a trip!! Hehe hehe heheeee ))