Travelog for: Twix

Hello mom,
to celebrate the arrival of Milala and soon the departure of Twix.We made a small feast the subject of which was hearts and butterflies (the pink and the red).

Kisses

Hello mom, today I told goodbye to quite my friends because I leave for Finland.
They are going to miss me a lot.
I hope to see again them in another country and to share still full of adventure with them.

Aurevoir !

Twix

Mom, I show you my photos preferred.
In later in Finland.

Kisses

Hello! I have arrived in rainy and windy Finland. Let's see... where's the kitchen - I'm starving from my long journey! Wait! What's this - yummy  *nom nom nom nom* Oh, sorry, my host didn't have time to take a photo before I ate all Twix-bars 

I got to do some sightseeing allready! I visited the Old Town of Porvoo. Actually I walked the riverbank and saw the famous red shorehouses from different angles. In the second last photo are some new "shorehouses" that were designed to resemble the old ones. In the very first photo you can see the Castle Hill from far, we'll visit it closer later.

After the Old Town we checked out the market fair at the market place. The fair went on several blocks - all the way down the riverbank. We had time to check the "upper level" only. People sell all sorts of stuff there; food, clothes, toys, ornaments, jewellry, balloons, postcards...  It was so crowded it was hard to take photos. The same kind of fair is held annually in the autumn and in the spring.

Friday is sauna-day in my hostfamily. They have their own sauna like the majority of Finns have. We took some pics before they'd heat the sauna up as the steam wouldn't allow us take good photos. That's also why the thermometr shows normal indoor temperature. My host says a good sauna heat would be +60...+80 degrees Celcius. But that's  her opinion. There are even competitions during summer - who lasts longest in sauna when the heat rises. The Finns have even a Sauna Society!

Basically it works so that people get naked, take a shower to get wet - go sit in sauna (throw some water on hot stones if want it hotter) - wash themselves afterwards. It's really relaxing and cleanes you from the inside (as the sweating pushes all dirt out).

In public saunas (like in the  swimming halls and hotels) women and men go in separate saunas. In private saunas you can do as you like.

Today we went to the main library in Porvoo. It's a big red building with tons of books  We went to the children's department first and I got to read different kinds of Moomin books. Did you know that the first Moomins were meant to adults more than kids? For example because in the early, original Moomins Moominpappa drinks whisky and smokes! Did you also know that Tove Jansson didn't draw much Moomins after 1958? Yep, I read that ina book! Her brother took over as she was too busy with Moomins - she wanted to continue write and draw other stuff finally.

They had all sorts of fun decorations to amuse the kids; a small house, a huge ant on the roof, a Gulliver, dolls from different part of the world, live fish...

Upstairs was a music department and an "archive" (a study room). There was also those miniature displays of a harbour near my host's home - displaying how there used to look. Upstairs we also got a good look on the "adult" book department.

We spent about 2 hours in the library and you know what happened during that time too? It started snowing! It was the first snow  this "winter"!

Field trip! On the other side of this municipality, in a small village, there's this Miniature World. It's situated in a former carpentry workshop. It's owned by a christian organization that helps people with alcohol problems. They have this social company where people then make these miniature models and other small projects.

The miniture dioramas were so cool! And they make more all the time - so it's a constantly growing exhibition  I saw the Titanic, Pisa Cathedral, the leaning tower of Pisa, Vyborg Castle, shots from Finnish wars, lighthouses, Kolumbus' ships... That was in the first room. They have this other room where they had a whole city! They had put Golden Gate Bridge, Eiffel Tower and a Finnish castle in one place  There was also the Colosseum, several Cathedrals (see, there's even a wedding going on in one!), the Rocky Mountains - and a railroad driving round the whole thing!

In my eyes they were huge, but I am a small rat so... And they were smaller than the real ones 

Thank goodness! They do eat sweets here! I was getting worried... Apparently my host eats candy only on Fridays 
So, there I was, sitting on her candy (she said she'd share with me!) when all the other tv's in the house ran to me and wanted me to share with them too. There wasn't much left after that... So, I tried again with chips and dip - but guess what: the others came and wanted to have their share too. Again! Is nothing enough for these guys? Fine, fine, I shared... We watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer on dvd while we feasted 

Affter a sweet Friday I was up to some sightseeing! We went to the Castle Hill like my host had promised earlier. On this hill used to be a wooden castle/fortress in the 14th century. Nothing more is left than the hill and castle moats. They had done some archeological diggings in 1886 and 1971 on the hill and found tools, weapons and foundations. Also the flora on the hill reveals something as the plants can't be found in many places in Finland. The water level of the river was much higher those days, when vikings and others sailed the seas and rivers. Oh, and the name Porvoo is Borgå in Swedish - and that means "castle river"! borg=castle, å=river

Nowadays it's a tourist attraction and a good place to play Robin Hood! And to take photos

My host must've still been high on yesterday's sugar as she made us climb another hill! This one is the local downhill skiing center and situated a few kilometers down the river (from the Castle Hill). You can see the roof of the church in the last photo (the big, black roof abit left from the center). The views were nice but it stopped being fun when it started raining...

PS. This hill is called "The Pimple" by serious downhill skiiers, because it's so small 

We were all quite hyper, I admit... We ended the day with jumping in a pile of leaves - and then throwing them at each other  We were quite tired in the evening 

What a wonderful suprise! It snowed when we woke up - and this time the snow stayed for a few hours. Just enough time for us (me, Leonard, Banyo and BellaKitten) to make a snowman  I think we did a good job  It's easy when you have friends to do it with you 

Today we spent hours in an "indoor playgroung". This place is called HopLop and it's great fun!  There are slides and bouncy castles and a huge "maze" and... Lots to do! I was all sweaty when we finished. I was hungry too!  We did eat cheese hamburgers in the middle but my host remembered too late that she could take a photo