Travelog for: Clyde

my name is clyde and i'm a travel addict.  not really!    i just have been watching tvs come and go, like aslan, and now i'm looking out the windows and wondering who will take me to places far away.

aunt mina took me and junior bear to ski in utah.  on the flight home, here's the great salt lake!  i'm so glad to start traveling ... what's next??

i am dreaming of tv trails everywhere!  especially in europe! 

here is a painting of the homestead in arkansas, built by my mommy's great-grandfather.  i think there are lots of horse trails there.  tv trails, horse trails, hiking trails, ski trails, any trail works for me!

love,
clyde

hi everybody!

i am so excited to start globe trotting  on the europe toyvoyager trail!

i said goodbye to mommy, sierra, holgihh and hypno-dog and climbed in my travelope with a couple of things for my first host and a little travel money.

see you from finland!

~clyde

I have landed in Finland! My host said she and her girls had been waiting for my arrival since I was mailed in the US - that's so sweet!
Oh, and the girls told me that horses in Finland say "iihahaa" 
They loved my gifts and said that with the money I brought I would manage very well 

In addition to my hosthumans, i was welcomed by Gary Boldie, my host's own tv and Banyo, a longtime visitor from Australia. The two little fellows are geocaching TravelBugs my host picked up at a nearby geocache!

I can't wait to get trotting around!

My host lives by the Baltic Sea! The open sea view is behind all this archipelago though. And the sea is frozen at the moment... I trotted on the sea!

Nearby is also the island where the creator of Moomin (a woman called Tove Jansson) spent her summers.

This is the center of the city of Porvoo! Porvoo is the 2nd oldest city in Finland. It has almost 50 000 inhabitants of which 33% is native Swedish speakers (finnswedes). Porvoo is only 50km east from Helsinki, the capitol of Finland. It takes less than an hour to drive there.

My host apologized for the dull look of the town now that it's not yet properly spring but it's not winter anymore either. She said it would be prettier in the summer. I think everything looks better in the summer Trotting is easier when it's not icy 

After the city center my host took me to the local sightseeing tower. It was covered with icy snow so we didn't climb on it 

The story tells that the sightseeing tower was made by a giant: he heard that they were building a church in Porvoo and got angry (apparently giants don't like churches) and threw a stone all the way from Sipoo (where he lived, a place not too far from Porvoo). He didn't either aim it too well or his arm wasn't in good enough condition as he missed the church.

The stone has been a place to gather for festives a hundred years ago. Kids were told that babies were picked up from under the stone. Around 1880 they made the stairs and it became a sightseeing tower. Nowadays kids are told that a stork brings the babies - which is weird because you very rarely see storks in Finland...

So, instead of the tower, we took a look around on the ground. The views are mostly from the Old Town district of Porvoo. The red shore houses are also part of the old town - and the most wellknown attraction in Porvoo. The brochure tells this 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.

My host took me to the main library. The entry hall had some art on display, I thought they looked weird. And basically not so pretty. The childrens' section had more interesting art to show! There were dolls from all over the world! There were fish in tank and hanging from the roof - at least I think they were kind of fish... There was also Gulliver and a house in a "stump"! And a giant ant on the roof!

I almost forgot to look at the books 
My host showed me the older Moomin books (black & white) and some horse books and Mauri Kunnas books. Mauri Kunnas is really popular here, my host said that even adults like his books.

My host took her kid to her hobby and we had time to trott around while waiting for her. There's a horse stable nearby so she took me there to see some fellow species 

My host drove to another municipality to attend a "zumbathon", 3 hours of zumba! On the way I saw Finnish countryside. Askola has about 5000 inhabitants in 212 km2. Askola was established in 1896.

Today my host attended another zumbathon, this time in Loviisa. Loviisa is a small town (less than 16 000 inhabitants) about 30min drive east from Porvoo. It's named Loviisa because the Swedish King Adolf Fredrik liked the town so much he wanted to name it after his wife, Loviisa Ulrika Loviisa, the town, was established in 1745.

My host went looking for a few geocaches before zumba and took photos at the same time. We satarted from the Laivasilta area (marina) and continue thru the old town towards the city center, where you can see the market place surrounded bu church, tourist office, post... Loviisa Church was designed by Georg Chiewitz in neo-gothic style and was finished in 1865.

From the city center we walked back down to the park near the bastions. My host was too busy finding the cache she didn't take any pics of the ruins - but they're really small and uninspiring anyway so I forgive her The big yellow house in the second last photo is the Loviisa museum - closed when we were there.

Then it was time to zumba!

Yesterday east of Porvoo, today west of Porvoo That means I visited Helsinki, the capitol! Originally Helsinki wasn't the first capitol of Finland  it was Turku. Here's a short history of Helsinki. Nowadays there are allmost 600 000 inhabitants in Helsinki and that make sit the biggest city in the country.

We drove to a conveniently placed subway station (my host says driving in Helsinki is for bigger nutcases than she is) and took the subway to the city center (15 minutes). We surfaced in the main railway station (3rd photo). We saw horse police nearby!

We walked to see the most wellknown sight in Helsinki. The Cathedral. We even climbed the stairs to see the view!

Then we headed to Havis Amanda and a cafe but did some window shopping on the way.

The Havis Amanda statue/fountain is at the other end of the esplanad park. Behind the Havis Amanda is the market square which was pretty quiet on this rainy sunday. Some boats were to be seen but nothing much else.

The yellow building with fences (3rd photo after my delicious sallad) is the Presidential Palace. The current president of Finland is Tarja Halonen, who is the first female president in this country. BAfter the Palace photo you see the orthodox Uspenski Cathedral up close.

Then we walked back to the mainstreet where is the statue of the 3 Smiths, the main post office (tall yellow building) and Kiasma the museum of contemporary art with the statue of riding Mannerheim (one of the former presidents) in front of it and the Parliament peeking behind the trees on the left.

Wow! That was some trotting! My feet are killing me... But I'm glad I got to see this!

I attended a Postcrossing meetup in Helsinki with Banyo and Gary Boldie. We helped people sign cards and had a cup of coffee etc. We even got easter chocolate! Yummy! We had a group photo with a bunch of other toyvoyagers and Moomins! 

It was meant to be and international meetup but the international member cancelled last minute. BUT it became international after all as 2 Russian postcrossers saw us and asked my host if we were having a meetup. Naturally we invited them to join us It was really a fun coincidence! They were in helsinki for that specific day only and they met us

SAUNA
This is me in the 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!