Travelog for: Poppy McVee

My host's daughter attended her first ice show (named "Mary Poppins in Porvoo") and of course I was there to watch too! We weren't allowed to use a flashlight during the performance so the photos aren't that good. My host had volunteered to put the scene in place plus to sell lottery/raffle tickets. Of course I volunteered to help her  We sold all 286 tickets! Every other won. I was hoping I or my host would win a cool Moomin book but no...

The show was awesome! Everyone did very well 

This is Finnish spring: first snow melts away and ices leave the sea, sun shines and swans fly back, bikes are taken out and flowers start to bloom - and then it snows. 

I hope we'll have sunshine again on Sunday when we're scheduled to go sightseeing in Helsinki!

My host had got a free ticket to the Child Fair which included also Pet Expo and Model Expo. Therefore we went there  It was held in the big Fair Center in Helsinki.

We just wandered around watching until my host found a place that gave away Moomin postcards for free! She did buy some stuff too, for her daughter's birthday. At the Pet Expo we just admired the cute pets and watced bunnies have a hopping competition.

At the Model Expo we... well, there were the Star Wars people! And a grandma doing yarn the old way

Oh yes, the cars in the first photo are police cars. "Polis" is swedish for police. In Finnish (on the other side of the car) it's "poliisi". I didn't do anything! They were there to guarantee the safety of the Fair 

After the "triple Fair" we went to see a Moomin exhibition "The Great Adventure" at Päivälehti Museum. It was smaller than my host had expected but nice anyway (and she got more free Moomin postcards!). Now I've also learned the names of the Moomin characters in different languages! See that poster...

That museum shows also the development of Finnish newspapers but we wanted to concentrate just on the Moomin side 

The third stop on our day in the capitol was the Recycling Factory event. It was awesome! I saw tons of fun & cool & amazing stuff people had made of--- well, crap  Even candy wrapping can be turned into small pouches!

There was also a section where people could bring their stuff (basically anything) for other people to take it. My host brought a few things but didn't take anything. She said next year she'll be here with a backbag of stuff - and a bigger budget 

Oh, wait, she didn't leave emptyhanded! There was also a table about Bookcrossing and my host took two books (one in English & one in Finnish) - and registered into bookcrossing.com in the evening. It was only fair as one of the bookcrossers got really inspired about us toyvoyagers! 

After running in Helsinki we could concentrate on walking  And sightseeing. We started from the Opera House, walking down (or maybe up) the mainstreet. We passed by Finlandia Hall and the National Museum of Finland. Then we saw the Parliament and climbed the stairs up to see the view. Someone had written "Perustulo!" in front of it, that means "basic income".

Then we walked down to the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. That rider in fron tof it is C.G.E. Mannerheim, one of the former presidents of Finland (like the statues in front of the Parliament).

Those huge  strawberry "statues" were quite cool!

We continued our sightseeing at The Cathedral. We climbed the 42 stairs up to see the view - and take a peek inside the cathedral. Or was it 41 steps up... I lost track!

Then we walked to the harbour where you can see not only ships that sail to Tallin (Estonia) and Stockholm (Sweden) but the Uspensky Orthodox Church and the Presidential Palace. The President of Finland is Tarja Halonen, the first female president in this country.

After the harbour we walked back to the center via Esplanade Park. Bethween the park and harbour is the famous fountain of Havis Amanda. She's the nude lady that caused talk 100 years ago when she was put there. Nowadays the students give her a graduation cap during the Mayday/Labour Day (finnish: vappu) festival.

After the park we took a turn right to see the Helsinki Central Railway Station. As you can see, many of the houses in the Helsinki central area are quite old stone nuildings. Even the modern, expensive store Stockman in one of them! It's in the second last photo. The white house before it is the Swedish Theatre.

Whoa, this is quite a lot to digest... So many places and events on one day!

Today we wish a happy Mother's Day to all mothers in the world!

These are the flowers kids usually pick for their moms on Mother's Day

Today we witnessed a sunny summerday with +22'C! It was so lovely we decided to do a bicycle trip with picnic  On our way we saw firemen practising! That was cool. When we finally decided to stop we had small Carelian pastries (rice filling) and juice.

There was a bird watching tower so we climbed there to see tons of swans! My host said there has never been so many swans, only a few pairs and now there were like 15 couples! It was quite a view 

Today it was even hotter with +25'C and over. Despite the heat (and partly because of it) we went to a local indoor playground (called HopLop). There were slides and bouncy castles and sea of balls and tons of maze-like places to run! Actually the place was one big maze  It was really fun! You can spend 2 hours there with 10e/kid (under 3years olds cost less) - adults and toyvoyagers are free of charge! 

It's possible to arrange birthdayparties here too! Hmm, that sounds great!

There was the annual spring market fair at the market place in Porvoo. Spreading to two long streets. Selling all kinds of stuff - postcards, clothes, shoes, candy, sunglasses, toys, household items, music, paper... It was a sunny and warm  Usually it rains during the market fairs  They have two annually: spring and autumn fairs.

My host got "some" postcards and clothes. At the end we treated ourselves with ice cream  I had strawberry 

This is me in the famous Finnish Sauna  In Finland every household has a sauna - or in case of a block of flats, then there usually is one sauna for the whole highhouse. Anyway. This is my host's sauna.

Sauna is a room that you heat up (there are saunas that are heated with wood and saunas that are heated with electricity), preferably 60-80 degrees Celsius (that varies, some people like it even hotter). Then you take a shower (just to get wet, it's not pleasant to be dry in a sauna) before you enter the sauna (naked!). In sauna you just sit and relax and maybe throw some water on the hot stones (to get more heat and steam). Sauna relaxes your muscles and opens your skin pores, which makes you clean from the inside 

After a while (when you feel like it) you go to the shower again to get wet and re-enter the sauna. You can repeat it as many times as you want. In the end you shower to wash yourself.

In summerhouses people also have saunas. There it's tradition to make (or buy) a birch whisk with which you beat yourself gently in the sauna. The whisk has the leaves on so it won't hurt.

There are saunas in gyms and swimming halls but there men & women are divided in separate saunas. Otherwise, with friends and family, it's normal to go to sauna together.

Finns even have a Sauna Society!

I helped my host bake LadyBug cupcakes for a birthday party! She also made a Hello Kitty cake for the birthdaygirl. The theme was Ladybugs as you probably noticed... It was a sunny day and the kids blew soap bubbles and drew with street chalks - and basically ran back and forth laughing  Adults merely sat and drank coffee  Oh, and my host made balloon figures! She made dogs, fish and bunny ears mostly.

The party was a success - and so were the cupcakes 

It was a lovely day and we had a field trip planned  We visited a Domestic Animal Farm called Fallkulla in Helsinki.

Their website gives the following information
At Fallkulla you can get a taste of rural life in the middle of the city. You can see traditional farm animals: sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, hens, ducks, rabbits, cats and horses and help take care of them. Fallkulla Domestic Animal Farm is the only municipally owned youth centre in Finland where young people can take part in practical work with livestock.

Fallkulla is a popular destination for excursions. In addition to families, groups from day care centres, schools and homes for the elderly are among the many people who visit the farm each day. Sundays are reserved for families to see the animals. All in all, Fallkulla attracts over 40,000 visitors each year.

We did see many Finnish domestic animals, had a picnic and saw a "maitolaituri" (the last 3 photos). That's translated as "milk platforms". My host explained that in the old days (1920- 1970) milk was left in big metallic "bottles" on a "maitolaituri" and dairy farms picked them up from there. The places were also popular places for youth to get together. Also mailboxes were ofteen situated on the side of the platform. There's even a museum for the milk platforms, Velaatta in Tampere!


PS. those are not real storks on the roof!

After the Farm we visited IKEA, a huge store where you can buy basically everything you need in a home. IKEA is a swedish brand (hence the colors blue&yellow) known all over the world. It was a busy afternoon with many people shopping - my host couldn't take more photos indoors. The food was delicious - and cheap, as most of the things in IKEA