Back from Vacation!!!!

Song of the day: “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. Very cheerful song to have in your head, so not a bad one at all to experience it as an earworm every now and then.

Vacation in Finland! Yep. You guessed it: I’m back...have in fact been back for five days already, meaning that I should have gotten to this blog sooner, but what with going back to work immediately, that just wasn’t in the books. Seriously, I was still pretty bushed from our flight back when we were back to the grind, doing our usual stuff at the sauna the next day.

But no matter, our trip to Finland was a friggin’ success as in that I loved seeing T again, meet her family and see her in her “natural habitat”. Also, considering it was a five day journey, rather than a rushed weekend like last year when I had to go fetch Pimmetje over there. Weather wise we were both lucky and unlucky. Beautifully sunny days on the most part, but also cold, with an occasional splash of rain that caught us off guard at times. Luckily I’m the proverbial girl scout and had enough summer clothes with me to make layers work for me. Hah. Had we gone a week earlier or later, we would have been have enjoyed hotter temps, but it worked out well enough in the end. The cold made for beautifully clear skies and (a big one) thankfully less mosquitoes, because those babies were massive, I tell ya.

So, let’s see if I can give you a recount of my visit to Finland. The trip there was uneventful. Cousin Ed came to spend the night, I fed her dinner the night before and we departed from our place around nine in the morning so that we would be at the airport in time, despite rush hour still being in reluctant swing. Hah. It was a tight fit in her tiny Fiat, especially since she had three dogs with her and quite a bit of her own luggage because she was going straight on to her new place after she dropped us off at the airport. I guess we could have taken our own car, but that meant that she would have to bring it back afterward and then drive home. This was easier. Considering that father was going to pick us up at our return, it seemed wasteful to leave the car in airport parking somewhere.

Nah. This was way better.

So yeah, we arrived on time in Finland after a semi-quiet flight, and caused E (the same friend who hosted my stay the last time) some worry when we didn’t appear when expected. Apparently we followed the wrong signs and ended up at a wrong exit. No worries though, did find her in the end and soon we were on our way to her family’s vacation place in the country, where we would meet up with T later in the day. A long drive for sure, about two hours in fact, but beautiful country-side. I will try to post some photos at the end of the blog so you can get a taste.

As warned by E, our resting place for the night was a tad primitive. There was power, wifi, a roof over our heads, soft mattresses and plenty of food but, alas, no running water or in-house plumbing . Aaaaaargh. If you are female, you will know why these two things came as a bit of a startle to me at this particular time of the month. * sigh * Still made due, however, so it was no big disaster. In fact, I could actually laugh about it at times. I will have you know that this was the first time in my entire life that I used a genuine outhouse, which, I will tell you, I always thought as something exotic and part of history, rather than still in full practice. So strange to use “the can” and rather than flush sprinkle on some saw dust to fight odors...actually worked too, the smells weren’t too horrible, thank gawd!

Water came from a well, and yes, it could be pumped up by hand...instead, there was an electrical pump. Nice water too. Very soft and almost sweet. Came straight from the rich forest soil, too, so that was rather nice.

I will tell you that it was a special experience not to have any real night darkness. In fact, it seemed as if there was only a few hours of twilight before the sun came up again. I could get used to that kind of thing, I tell ya...at least, better than I could get used to permanent darkness which would definitely be a problem for me. Hah.

As it was, a walk after ten in the evening was still in full sunlight, and when I woke around six in the morning the sun was out and about again, confusing me for all of twenty seconds before I dropped off once more. Breakfast was a cheery occasion with both T and E, of which the latter’s parents were hosting our stay. A nice old couple that genuinely seemed to enjoy the company of “young folks” livening things up. They were very sweet and excellent hosts, and went as far as offering us a place to return to, should we so desire in the future. There was a language problem, naturally, seeing as our knowledge of Finnish (Suomi) is limited to counting to three, hello and goodbye. Pity, that. There were times I was tempted by the thought of maybe moving there some day, but I am definitely not doing that again. No more countries where I’m not fluent in the language, thank you very much.

Saw some beautiful sights in woods, lakes, sea...all of which there are plenty of over there. Day two, after another two hours’ drive, we arrived at T’s parents’ place where we spent the remainder of our visit. T’s parents, too, were incredibly nice. Her mom could do pretty good English, and her father not a word, but we all managed to get along well enough. Mom’s hospitality was tremendously generous, if the food was any indication. You’d think she thought we were starving orphans what with all the food served. Neither big brother nor I are shy eaters (picky, yes, but we don’t eat tiny amounts by any means...we’re rather big people, if in nothing more than height) but we were incapable of stowing away the amounts of food that were offered during breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it made me realize that I will have to be careful whenever I have guests over. Should never over-feed by keeping up offering food. Common courtesy makes you fold way too fast...it made a walk after breakfast and dinner every day essential.

Considering they were warned of our vegetarian tendencies, we didn’t get to try a lot of Finnish dishes, but the few that we did get were tasty and more than a little cute in appearances. Am definitely going to base some of my own experiments on their design in the near future. Hah

We saw the town of Naantali, which is T’s birth town. Visited the local hotspots, saw the presidential summer place, and some wonderfully authentic architecture. I love all the wood.

Also went to the city of Turku, which has some wonderful architecture as well, and a old handcrafts’ museum located in the old part of town that consisted of buildings that had just barely survived the big fire of 1827, leaving some structures that were up to two hundred years old. Impressive, considering it was wood built. Loved going through that place, which seeped with history. I kid you not, I played tourist for a few hours and took pictures of EVERYTHING! Hah

Before the museum we roamed the city a bit, went to genuine fresh produce market where they had a delicious variety of strawberries for sale. Seriously, you could get strawberries from Finland, Sweden and Spain of all places. Actually got to compare tastes, and gotta admit that taste wise the Finnish ones were tastiest. They do berries really well over there. They also like their cucumbers and cheeses, the latter of which I actually liked, surprising, considering I am picky about my cheeses.

Visited with a couple of close friends of T, one with three daughters, living out in the country in a gorgeous old farm that was for sale…was sorely tempted, I tell ya...if I had any money and the inclination to move to a country where I don’t know the language. Hah. It was wonderfully old, made of logs and with a gorgeous set of stoves in the center of the house around which all the rooms at been constructed.

I’ll see about putting some pictures off this below...and also the location was absolutely gorgeous. In case you’re wondering, basically every house in Finland has it’s own sauna (even the one without the plumbing) and they use it like us poor westerners use their shower: every evening. Imagine that, most folks pay good money for an outing to a sauna, and there they are, treating it like a daily thing never the wiser about what is considered a luxury around these parts.

The next day we visited another friend of T’s who makes a habit of fostering dogs...from Spain, too… so I got to play with doggies for a bit. It was nice, but it made me a little sad, too. When you don’t have them around you on a day to day basis, you forget how much you miss them, don’t you?

Had a small one rutting on my lap for quite a while, which was rather endearing; she (the doggie) has been experiencing some discomfort lately, so we discussed possible treatments before it was time for us to leave. Seriously, these people live in the most gorgeous places. This one, too, had a house right in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods everywhere. So jealous!

Also picked up T’s semi-son-in-law, who arrived by train on Friday afternoon. Cute kid, with a great sense of humor, especially for a 12 year old. Had loads of fun with him there, and it sure made the coming party that evening (T’s aunt likes to give a karaoke party this time of year, especially when they have international guests) a lot more fun, since it guaranteed conversation. Only a few of T’s relatives were adapt (or not too shy) at English, and I didn’t want to hoard all of T’s attention seeing these few days were about twenty percent of her own vacation that was to be an opportunity to reconnect with her family. Was a very cozy evening, all in all. Mostly a clear sky, so the sun stayed out keeping us semi-comfortable at least. Still, I was mighty happy about the three layers I had bothered to don at the beginning of the evening.

First thing at the party was a real Finnish game that took quite a bit of time and required mostly patience and a steady hand. There were 12 little trunks with numbers on them, and one without which you had to throw at the lot. I could go on about the whole system, but won’t bore you with it. It was all about reaching fifty, without going over it. The one who got there first, won, and suffice it to say I didn’t win...neither did big brother, considering the price was to sing Karaoke first. Hah...added to that “incentive” big brother also got seriously buzzed on the whiskey that was liberally offered to him during the course of the evening, and which threw off his aim, and thankfully for him, some of his shyness, at least.

In case you’re wondering...Yes, I did karaoke! Three times, in fact, and admittedly it was mostly because T’s family was so nice about it. Had been playing with the idea, naturally, figuring I was now old and confident enough to do some singing in public (and let’s face it, at work I am totally capable of forgetting that are colleagues around to hear me) but it was mostly T’s semi-son-in-law. I made a deal with him that if he’d sing, I’d sing, and he did, so I was pretty much toast. Hah. Ended up singing first an easy one: Madonna’s “Don’t cry for me Argentina”, which thankfully went without a hitch, followed later on in the evening, after a second cider, by Allanah Miles’s “Black Velvet”. Went well up until the last crooned “if you please”, but by then I didn’t mind all that much and was well content with my endeavors for the evening. Ended the evening, after one in the morning no less, with a duet...or triplet, more accurately of Ronan Keating’s “When you say nothing at all”, which didn’t go well at all, since we started too low, T, the kid and I. Hah. No matter. Were in bed after three (the drive back was almost another hour) and it would have to be an semi-early morning because we still had to drive a nice 200 miles back to Helsinki to catch our flight.

Fell asleep on the ride, so it went faster than expected. Made our goodbyes to T and the kid somewhat rushed, which was a pity. Before you know it we were inside the airport, through customs and waiting endlessly for boarding to be announced. Like the flight to Finland, the one back was packed to full capacity once more, had another half hour nap during that, and then we were back in the Netherlands with father waiting at the exit for us. Strange to see him standing there, but nice, too, despite me being pretty bushed.

He and mother-in-law took us out for dinner in Amsterdam, at this cozy little vegetarian place near the center. Had a very nice meal together before they drove us home where big brother quickly checked if the car was still working (fine, battery was still working, yay!) before we went to our respective apartments to unpack. Were a tad late getting to bed, too, considering we had a nightcap, but were back at work on the dot the next day, as planned.

Well, that about sums that up. Let’s see about those pics.

 Here we have E, together with T's lovely pugs, Nero and Fidel.

 A lake...duh!

Countryside.

A lake!

A paddock after ten in the evening.

Part of the sea, but it looked more like a lake. After nine in the evening.

T. As you can see, it was already cold by then.

Crop fields.

 

Meadow...gorgeous, right?

The day we went to Turku. How 'bout those strange clouds.

A museum...wouldn't you love have a courtyard like this?

I thought these rocks lovely. Had a lot of this over there, a combination of rocks and trees. Love it.

This used to be the town covered market. Now it was transformed into a place with tiny little restaurants, bistros and shops inside. It looked like a movieset...remember Cheers? That style. Wonderful. Too dark for a proper photo, however.

Next one is at the museum of the handcraft. You see T there, her mom and big brother's back. Hah.

 Up here the Karaoke party, with T, the kid and her mom singing together, and below here the kid posing for the pic.

Now let's do the house that was for sale. I absolutely loved the kitchen.

As you will see from the amount of pics I took of it. Hah.

See the pallets that were used for couches. Very cosy.
Logs were ancient, and in the room below here untreated.

In every room in the center you had a piece of art called a stove. All of them different, all of them lovely.

See that door in the corner. Old fridge. They used to build it in the coldest corner of the house so stuff stayed good. Nifty.

See that structure down here. It was a loom from the 17th century. Very cute.

Kitchen again.

And more kitchen. I want it...

 The poles by the stairs used to be used for drying of the hay. I thought it very nice in this way.

E, playing monster under the stairs.

The upper floor was one big room. Parts of the walls were papered with newspapers. I loved the look. Am going to remember that.

The stairs from the other side. The branches are a very nice touch. Kept everything open and light.

The outside. Typically finnish, actually.

And the time of the year was the best. Still blossoms everywhere.

A sauna.

 A converted barn. Cold as heck in winter, naturally, but incredibly cute in summer.

An outhouse...these seemed to be everywhere!

 And lastly, one more time, the kitchen with the three girls on top of the stove. like a triplet of pixies, right? Wonderful.

And with this, I'll leave you for now. Time to get to bed, and ready for work in the morning.

Seeya.