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08-29-2006 04:49 PM
August 18, 2006 (Friday)
Why is travelling home always so exhausting???
This is the only day I did not take any notes (so this is all from my memory).
Our flight from Helsinki to Cologne/Bonn was leaving at around 14:30 and that's why we decided to skip breakfast and sleep in late.
We had ordered a “yellow airport taxi” the day before to arrive at the hotel today at 12:00. The “yellow airport taxi” is a very easy way to get to the airport: it's coming to get you at your hotel and it costs only 10 Euros/person. Very recommendable.
While we were waiting for the taxi outside our hotel, it started to rain (lightly). So we had had nice weather all-throughout our stay in Helsinki and it only started to rain once we left the city.
Kerstin and I both liked the airport in Helsinki. Kind of small and cosy with nice shops. We bought some more souvenirs at the “Stockmann's” shop (me: a necklace which is partly made of wood. This is typical for Finnish jewellery) and had breakfast at one of the bistros (me: an apple-pie and a “Berliner” with a (last) Jaffa orange drink. Hartwall totally should export the Jaffa drink to Germany!).
Each one of us also bought a magazine for reading on the plane as Germanwings (a so-called “cheap airline”) does neither offer free food nor free newspapers/magazines.
The waiting area had only few seats and that's why we had to sit on the floor (wondering why there were so many seats in the area which you could only reach *after* boarding).
The flight itself lasted 2 ½ hours which meant we landed in Germany at around 16:00 as there is a time difference of one hour between Finland and Germany. It was an unspectacular flight with the exception that I was feeling sick again. Since last year, I can't fly anymore without getting sick. Hrmpf... I think I will have to take some medication before flying, next time. (Like my grandma when she goes on a bus-trip).
Somehow, the flight had been pretty exhausting and I was dreading the thought of having to travel by train for some more hours.
We took public transportation from airport Cologne/Bonn to Cologne main station and reached an earlier ICE to Stuttgart than expected. That's why we didn't have reservation on this train. We sat down in a random compartment, soon noticing it was getting hotter and hotter. Kerstin was predicting the air-conditioning having broken down in the whole train and I was already complaining about nobody informing us about it but a ticket controller came and told us that this was the only compartment where the air-conditioning was not working. That's why we moved on to another compartment. There, I was basically doing nothing besides trying to not feel sick anymore and Kerstin was sorting the photos of our trip on her notebook.
Even though the train had been late in Cologne, we arrived in time in Stuttgart.
There, Kerstin and I went parted ways.
When I arrived at my flat (after dragging my over 20 kg trolley and my “I don't know what it's actually weighing” backpack up a hill), I immediately phoned my parents, informing them about me arriving home safely. Afterwards, I washed two machines of dirty laundry (the first one, I was accidentally spin-drying on 1600, eeek...) and had nice, long telephone conversation with my best friend Martina.
This is the end of my Northern European adventure. Yes, it was expensive (this week-end, I added up all my expenses...) but I don't regret a single Cent. A beach vacation (“Pauschalreise”) would have been cheaper but I also think I have many more memories from this vacation than my trips to Mallorca, Gran Canaria or Golden Sands/Bulgaria because days spent on the beach/at the pool tend to all be the same whereas on this trip, every day was unique.
In case your interested in culture and nature, I can only recommend going to Norway and Finland. You will find all of these things narrowly together, there.
I also liked how safe and “easy” it's to travel there and how nobody was trying to drag you into restaurants or discos (Gran Canaria *cough*. I absolutely hate it when people are intrusive and try to convince me about something I'm not interested in. A vacation in Egypt would probably be a total nightmare for me...).
Thanks to everyone reading my review and commenting on it.
August 18, 2006 (Friday)
Why is travelling home always so exhausting???
This is the only day I did not take any notes (so this is all from my memory).
Our flight from Helsinki to Cologne/Bonn was leaving at around 14:30 and that's why we decided to skip breakfast and sleep in late.
We had ordered a “yellow airport taxi” the day before to arrive at the hotel today at 12:00. The “yellow airport taxi” is a very easy way to get to the airport: it's coming to get you at your hotel and it costs only 10 Euros/person. Very recommendable.
While we were waiting for the taxi outside our hotel, it started to rain (lightly). So we had had nice weather all-throughout our stay in Helsinki and it only started to rain once we left the city.
Kerstin and I both liked the airport in Helsinki. Kind of small and cosy with nice shops. We bought some more souvenirs at the “Stockmann's” shop (me: a necklace which is partly made of wood. This is typical for Finnish jewellery) and had breakfast at one of the bistros (me: an apple-pie and a “Berliner” with a (last) Jaffa orange drink. Hartwall totally should export the Jaffa drink to Germany!).
Each one of us also bought a magazine for reading on the plane as Germanwings (a so-called “cheap airline”) does neither offer free food nor free newspapers/magazines.
The waiting area had only few seats and that's why we had to sit on the floor (wondering why there were so many seats in the area which you could only reach *after* boarding).
The flight itself lasted 2 ½ hours which meant we landed in Germany at around 16:00 as there is a time difference of one hour between Finland and Germany. It was an unspectacular flight with the exception that I was feeling sick again. Since last year, I can't fly anymore without getting sick. Hrmpf... I think I will have to take some medication before flying, next time. (Like my grandma when she goes on a bus-trip).
Somehow, the flight had been pretty exhausting and I was dreading the thought of having to travel by train for some more hours.
We took public transportation from airport Cologne/Bonn to Cologne main station and reached an earlier ICE to Stuttgart than expected. That's why we didn't have reservation on this train. We sat down in a random compartment, soon noticing it was getting hotter and hotter. Kerstin was predicting the air-conditioning having broken down in the whole train and I was already complaining about nobody informing us about it but a ticket controller came and told us that this was the only compartment where the air-conditioning was not working. That's why we moved on to another compartment. There, I was basically doing nothing besides trying to not feel sick anymore and Kerstin was sorting the photos of our trip on her notebook.
Even though the train had been late in Cologne, we arrived in time in Stuttgart.
There, Kerstin and I went parted ways.
When I arrived at my flat (after dragging my over 20 kg trolley and my “I don't know what it's actually weighing” backpack up a hill), I immediately phoned my parents, informing them about me arriving home safely. Afterwards, I washed two machines of dirty laundry (the first one, I was accidentally spin-drying on 1600, eeek...) and had nice, long telephone conversation with my best friend Martina.
This is the end of my Northern European adventure. Yes, it was expensive (this week-end, I added up all my expenses...) but I don't regret a single Cent. A beach vacation (“Pauschalreise”) would have been cheaper but I also think I have many more memories from this vacation than my trips to Mallorca, Gran Canaria or Golden Sands/Bulgaria because days spent on the beach/at the pool tend to all be the same whereas on this trip, every day was unique.
In case your interested in culture and nature, I can only recommend going to Norway and Finland. You will find all of these things narrowly together, there.
I also liked how safe and “easy” it's to travel there and how nobody was trying to drag you into restaurants or discos (Gran Canaria *cough*. I absolutely hate it when people are intrusive and try to convince me about something I'm not interested in. A vacation in Egypt would probably be a total nightmare for me...).
Thanks to everyone reading my review and commenting on it.
08-25-2006 11:43 AM
August 17, 2006
The Complaint Choir of Helsinki, golden shoes and seahorses
The breakfast was much nicer than the bathroom. It even contained berries!
We started today's sight-seeing tour with “Temppeliaukio”, a church which was built inside a stone. This special construction gives the church a wonderful atmosphere and acoustic. Hehehe, of all songs, they were playing “Adagio” (“Anytime, Anywhere”)
.
Kerstin and I both bought a small elk on a key chain and some Jaffa orange juice (a new favourite of us) at the shop next to the church.
As the weather was cloudy and windy, we decided to do some more indoor sight-seeing and went to “Kiasama”, the museum for modern art.
I can definitely recommend this museum. Some very interesting pieces of art. I particularly liked the video installations, the room with the moving floor and the “printed” pictures.
My absolutely favourite part of the whole museum was the video of the “Complaint Choir of Helsinki”. The inhabitants of Helsinki were asked to send in complaints about everyday life, all complaints were put together in a song (the melody sounded quite upbeat which made the song even more spectacular as it was a contrast to the complaints) and the song was performed by a huge and very good choir (put together especially for this event) at various places in Helsinki. Two examples for the complaints: “I don't get laid enough!” and “My friend likes his mobile phone more than me!”
After we had walked through the museum, we needed a rest and went to the café of the museum. I ate a very yummy strawberry cake. In Germany, strawberry cake bought at a bakery or café often tastes like nothing because the strawberries consist mostly of water but this one had very aromatic, fresh strawberries.
Next, we went to the Olympic stadium. I was impressed by the many different sports facilities (several football arenas, a stadium for swimming, a riding place etc.) and the view from the Olympic tower (luckily with an elevator) was great.
We also saw the sculpture of one of Finland's biggest sports heroes, Paavo Nurmi.
I had been looking forward to the Museum of Finnish Sport and I was not disappointed: it showed the 1995 FD costumes of Rahkamo & Kokko, medals of Matti Nykänen, golden shoes of Nurmi, skis of Samppa Lajunen etc. Nevertheless, they definitely need to add something about Janne Ahonen.
Kerstin and I also played a bit of table soccer there and I bought a magazine about Finnish sports (in English) called “Movement”. It has articles about Kiira Korpi, Alisa Drei and Susanna Pöykiö.
After a short stop at the hotel where Kerstin had to adjust her contact lenses, we went to Helsinki's amusement park and Seaworld. This time, we had enough time to actually go inside Seaworld (unlike Genova last year). My favourite Seaworld animals were the seahorses and the little “Nemos”.
Before going back to the hotel, we walked through the park (or, to be more precise, the wood) behind the Olympic stadium.
In the hotel elevator, we met a strange man wearing a suit – without anything under his jacket. I could not stop laughing about this (which was embarrassing as he was with us in the elevator and actually lived on the same floor like we did).
As we didn't want to walk all the way to the city center, we had dinner at a fancy restaurant called “Töölönranta” nearby our hotel. The food was good (chicken marinated in orange and soy with Cesar salad plus liquorice ice cream with raspberry soufflé) but the service (at least at the beginning when nobody felt responsible for us) was rather slow.
Sigh, ythe last day of our vacation was over...
August 17, 2006
The Complaint Choir of Helsinki, golden shoes and seahorses
The breakfast was much nicer than the bathroom. It even contained berries!
We started today's sight-seeing tour with “Temppeliaukio”, a church which was built inside a stone. This special construction gives the church a wonderful atmosphere and acoustic. Hehehe, of all songs, they were playing “Adagio” (“Anytime, Anywhere”)
. Kerstin and I both bought a small elk on a key chain and some Jaffa orange juice (a new favourite of us) at the shop next to the church.
As the weather was cloudy and windy, we decided to do some more indoor sight-seeing and went to “Kiasama”, the museum for modern art.
I can definitely recommend this museum. Some very interesting pieces of art. I particularly liked the video installations, the room with the moving floor and the “printed” pictures.
My absolutely favourite part of the whole museum was the video of the “Complaint Choir of Helsinki”. The inhabitants of Helsinki were asked to send in complaints about everyday life, all complaints were put together in a song (the melody sounded quite upbeat which made the song even more spectacular as it was a contrast to the complaints) and the song was performed by a huge and very good choir (put together especially for this event) at various places in Helsinki. Two examples for the complaints: “I don't get laid enough!” and “My friend likes his mobile phone more than me!”
After we had walked through the museum, we needed a rest and went to the café of the museum. I ate a very yummy strawberry cake. In Germany, strawberry cake bought at a bakery or café often tastes like nothing because the strawberries consist mostly of water but this one had very aromatic, fresh strawberries.
Next, we went to the Olympic stadium. I was impressed by the many different sports facilities (several football arenas, a stadium for swimming, a riding place etc.) and the view from the Olympic tower (luckily with an elevator) was great.
We also saw the sculpture of one of Finland's biggest sports heroes, Paavo Nurmi.
I had been looking forward to the Museum of Finnish Sport and I was not disappointed: it showed the 1995 FD costumes of Rahkamo & Kokko, medals of Matti Nykänen, golden shoes of Nurmi, skis of Samppa Lajunen etc. Nevertheless, they definitely need to add something about Janne Ahonen.
Kerstin and I also played a bit of table soccer there and I bought a magazine about Finnish sports (in English) called “Movement”. It has articles about Kiira Korpi, Alisa Drei and Susanna Pöykiö.
After a short stop at the hotel where Kerstin had to adjust her contact lenses, we went to Helsinki's amusement park and Seaworld. This time, we had enough time to actually go inside Seaworld (unlike Genova last year). My favourite Seaworld animals were the seahorses and the little “Nemos”.
Before going back to the hotel, we walked through the park (or, to be more precise, the wood) behind the Olympic stadium.
In the hotel elevator, we met a strange man wearing a suit – without anything under his jacket. I could not stop laughing about this (which was embarrassing as he was with us in the elevator and actually lived on the same floor like we did).
As we didn't want to walk all the way to the city center, we had dinner at a fancy restaurant called “Töölönranta” nearby our hotel. The food was good (chicken marinated in orange and soy with Cesar salad plus liquorice ice cream with raspberry soufflé) but the service (at least at the beginning when nobody felt responsible for us) was rather slow.
Sigh, ythe last day of our vacation was over...
08-25-2006 11:42 AM
August 16, 2006 (Wednesday)
Weird dreams, more shower drama and a mysterious radio
After breakfast, we checked out of hotel “Hospitz”. I was getting more and more upset about my Maestro card which was not accepted again. There must be something wrong with the magnetic stripe. If you have to put it inside a credit card machine, it will work fine (I never had problems getting money at a cash machine for example) but when you've got to push it through, it fails most of the time. Grrrr...
For convenience reasons, we took a taxi to the station.
As we arrived there quite early, we had to kill some time and Kerstin started to draw a picture of Ritti's island. Meanwhile, we had come to the conclusion that just a boat was not enough: Ritti definitely needs his own island! We had already started looking for a fitting island the day before during the boat cruise around Savonlinna and we had also built a model at the “Riihisaari” museum.
Just like on the way to Savonlinna, we went by bus to Parikkala and then by train to Helsinki. I slept most of the time and had a weird dream about Metze (which involved him serving breakfast to me...).
We had had a look at the map of Helsinki a few days ago and had decided to walk to the hotel which was located behind the main station. It hadn't looked that far away on the map but in reality, it totally was. It felt like an endless way, especially as it was quite warm, again.
When we finally arrived, there were two British Junior triathletes standing in the hotel lobby and questioning the very nice receptionist about cheap possibilities to spend the next few nights in Helsinki. They hadn't booked a room in advance (a very clever idea on the week-end of Helsinki marathon) and obviously had very specific budget ideas. Even the Olympic stadium hostel was too expensive for them... Kerstin thought we would probably find them sleeping on a park bench tonight (a.k.a. doing it the Viktor Kraatz way).
I totally hated the shower (without a cabin) again. Wah... It was also getting on my nerves that the sink was smaller than what you usually find in German toilets.
A big “yay” for the hotels of Paris Hilton's family – where they have luxury bathrooms after my taste!
We spent the afternoon shopping in the city center. I bought a long-sleeved shirt for myself and two glasses of jam for my parents and my grandma at Stockmann's (very cool place!) and a bottle of Lakka liquor for Martina at “the alco”. The prospect of having to carry this stuff around in my hand luggage already gave me nightmares.
We also went to the Mummins' Store where Kerstin bought a book for taking notes at skating events.
After this shopping tour, we had really earned our dinner at “Santa Fée”, a Mexican restaurant (must be totally hip in Helsinki right now as it was packed). I had Chicken Fajitas and one received the chicken and the fajitas on two plates – for self putting together.
Instead of dessert, we had a Strawberry Margaritha. It tasted good but seemed to be without any alcohol.
Can someone (Ritti?) tell me what happened to Mika Myllilä and Jari Isometsä? I saw some yellow press headlines about them but did not understand a single word, of course.
When we were going to bed, we suddenly heard loud music and wondered what idiot would watch TV with the sound turned up so much in the middle of the night. It started with “Memory” from “Cats” and went on with opera etc. Even though it was distracting, I still managed to fall asleep. When I woke up again, I saw Kerstin standing next to my bed and she explained to me she could not sleep at all and noticed the music was coming from somewhere inside our room. She finally figured out one could turn on a radio next to my bed. It looked like something where you usually switch on a light and the boxes were invisible, too. As I had not touched it, the radio must have switched itself on mysteriously. (It actually happened again, the next day).
August 16, 2006 (Wednesday)
Weird dreams, more shower drama and a mysterious radio
After breakfast, we checked out of hotel “Hospitz”. I was getting more and more upset about my Maestro card which was not accepted again. There must be something wrong with the magnetic stripe. If you have to put it inside a credit card machine, it will work fine (I never had problems getting money at a cash machine for example) but when you've got to push it through, it fails most of the time. Grrrr...
For convenience reasons, we took a taxi to the station.
As we arrived there quite early, we had to kill some time and Kerstin started to draw a picture of Ritti's island. Meanwhile, we had come to the conclusion that just a boat was not enough: Ritti definitely needs his own island! We had already started looking for a fitting island the day before during the boat cruise around Savonlinna and we had also built a model at the “Riihisaari” museum.
Just like on the way to Savonlinna, we went by bus to Parikkala and then by train to Helsinki. I slept most of the time and had a weird dream about Metze (which involved him serving breakfast to me...).
We had had a look at the map of Helsinki a few days ago and had decided to walk to the hotel which was located behind the main station. It hadn't looked that far away on the map but in reality, it totally was. It felt like an endless way, especially as it was quite warm, again.
When we finally arrived, there were two British Junior triathletes standing in the hotel lobby and questioning the very nice receptionist about cheap possibilities to spend the next few nights in Helsinki. They hadn't booked a room in advance (a very clever idea on the week-end of Helsinki marathon) and obviously had very specific budget ideas. Even the Olympic stadium hostel was too expensive for them... Kerstin thought we would probably find them sleeping on a park bench tonight (a.k.a. doing it the Viktor Kraatz way).
I totally hated the shower (without a cabin) again. Wah... It was also getting on my nerves that the sink was smaller than what you usually find in German toilets.
A big “yay” for the hotels of Paris Hilton's family – where they have luxury bathrooms after my taste!
We spent the afternoon shopping in the city center. I bought a long-sleeved shirt for myself and two glasses of jam for my parents and my grandma at Stockmann's (very cool place!) and a bottle of Lakka liquor for Martina at “the alco”. The prospect of having to carry this stuff around in my hand luggage already gave me nightmares.
We also went to the Mummins' Store where Kerstin bought a book for taking notes at skating events.
After this shopping tour, we had really earned our dinner at “Santa Fée”, a Mexican restaurant (must be totally hip in Helsinki right now as it was packed). I had Chicken Fajitas and one received the chicken and the fajitas on two plates – for self putting together.
Instead of dessert, we had a Strawberry Margaritha. It tasted good but seemed to be without any alcohol.
Can someone (Ritti?) tell me what happened to Mika Myllilä and Jari Isometsä? I saw some yellow press headlines about them but did not understand a single word, of course.
When we were going to bed, we suddenly heard loud music and wondered what idiot would watch TV with the sound turned up so much in the middle of the night. It started with “Memory” from “Cats” and went on with opera etc. Even though it was distracting, I still managed to fall asleep. When I woke up again, I saw Kerstin standing next to my bed and she explained to me she could not sleep at all and noticed the music was coming from somewhere inside our room. She finally figured out one could turn on a radio next to my bed. It looked like something where you usually switch on a light and the boxes were invisible, too. As I had not touched it, the radio must have switched itself on mysteriously. (It actually happened again, the next day).
08-24-2006 04:05 PM
August 15, 2006 (Tuesday)
A man called Milka?
This was a “lazy day” for us.
After breakfast, we walked to the station at the other end of Savonlinna and bought our tickets back to Helsinki.
Then, we went on a boat cruise around the area of Savonlinna. This was the most uncomfortable of all of our numerous cruises as it was cold and windy once we had left the harbour (where it had been warm and sunny).
At least, there was a cute young guy selling the tickets for this trip and also working as a waiter on the ship who smiled whenever he saw us
.
Back in Savonlinna, we bought raspberries at the open market and ate them along with the rest of the Pringles from yesterday. Believe it or not, this mixture tasted good...
There was a Nature Center for Lake Saimaa called “Nestori” where one could enter for free and we finally saw picture of the infamous ringed seal, there. We hadn't seen one in person at Linnansaari the day before.
Afterwards, we took a guided tour at the castle Olavinlinna. I've never been to a place where they were offering guided tours in so many languages: Finnish, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian...
Our guide for the German tour, Ilkka (“like 'Milka' but without an 'm' and with two 'l'”), had spent a year before “Matura” in Vienna and was very happy when he found out about two girls of our tour group being from Vienna (“Welcher Bezirk?”).
This was one of the best guided tours through a historic building I've ever taken. The only one coming close being the one at Castle Hohenzollern. (The one at Neuschwanstein had been far worse, for example).
The castle is renovated and it's used for the famous opera festival and one can also rent it for weddings or meetings. It was warm inside as there was floor heating!
According to our guide, it's one of Finland's most visited sight-seeing objects.
Illka also surprised us by gossiping about the Swedish minority in Finland. (“They only watch Swedish TV, are not interested in Finland whatsoever, never leave their area, are not very well-educated – oh, but they are really hard-working farmers!” I sense a lot of love between Finland and Sweden
).
We felt a bit hungry and tired and went for a coffee/Coke light and a sweet pies at “Café Mimosa”. Savonlinna proofed to be a small town: we ran into the Austrian family from yesterday, again.
With new enthusiasm and energy, we went on to the next museum: “Riihisaari” which is located on an island right next to the castle and features life on this particular island as well as in Savonlinna.
Kerstin and I both really enjoyed being at Finnish museums as they are always interactive and never boring.
We actually wasted so much time inside the museum that we did not have enough time to have a look at the museum boats outside.
Looking at this review, one could actually have the impression we didn't do much besides eating. But I did not gain any weight! My dinner tonight: chicken breast with rice and fruits.
Before going back to the hotel, we walked a bit around the lake and over a bridge.
After Athletics Euros had ended, TV program was a bit of a disappointment. Sometimes, MTV offered fun stuff like “Dismissed” or “My own... Justin Timberlake” (we plan to make Kerstin apply for “My own... Vitaly Novikov” ) but whenever we turned TV on after 21:00, there was Southpark...
We also had other TV channels but “Deutsche Welle” had either interviews with the Pope or a documentary called “Leberkäse for Kandahar” and the terror hysteria on BBC became tiring, after while. At first, it had looked fun that there was another sports channel besides Eurosport (as Eurosport was concentrating on broadcasting Snooker World League) but this channel must be something like “the official Finnish Roger Federer channel” as it pretty much only showed (old) matches with Federer. We were surprised about Roger being that popular in Finland...
August 15, 2006 (Tuesday)
A man called Milka?
This was a “lazy day” for us.
After breakfast, we walked to the station at the other end of Savonlinna and bought our tickets back to Helsinki.
Then, we went on a boat cruise around the area of Savonlinna. This was the most uncomfortable of all of our numerous cruises as it was cold and windy once we had left the harbour (where it had been warm and sunny).
At least, there was a cute young guy selling the tickets for this trip and also working as a waiter on the ship who smiled whenever he saw us
.Back in Savonlinna, we bought raspberries at the open market and ate them along with the rest of the Pringles from yesterday. Believe it or not, this mixture tasted good...
There was a Nature Center for Lake Saimaa called “Nestori” where one could enter for free and we finally saw picture of the infamous ringed seal, there. We hadn't seen one in person at Linnansaari the day before.
Afterwards, we took a guided tour at the castle Olavinlinna. I've never been to a place where they were offering guided tours in so many languages: Finnish, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian...
Our guide for the German tour, Ilkka (“like 'Milka' but without an 'm' and with two 'l'”), had spent a year before “Matura” in Vienna and was very happy when he found out about two girls of our tour group being from Vienna (“Welcher Bezirk?”).
This was one of the best guided tours through a historic building I've ever taken. The only one coming close being the one at Castle Hohenzollern. (The one at Neuschwanstein had been far worse, for example).
The castle is renovated and it's used for the famous opera festival and one can also rent it for weddings or meetings. It was warm inside as there was floor heating!
According to our guide, it's one of Finland's most visited sight-seeing objects.
Illka also surprised us by gossiping about the Swedish minority in Finland. (“They only watch Swedish TV, are not interested in Finland whatsoever, never leave their area, are not very well-educated – oh, but they are really hard-working farmers!” I sense a lot of love between Finland and Sweden
). We felt a bit hungry and tired and went for a coffee/Coke light and a sweet pies at “Café Mimosa”. Savonlinna proofed to be a small town: we ran into the Austrian family from yesterday, again.
With new enthusiasm and energy, we went on to the next museum: “Riihisaari” which is located on an island right next to the castle and features life on this particular island as well as in Savonlinna.
Kerstin and I both really enjoyed being at Finnish museums as they are always interactive and never boring.
We actually wasted so much time inside the museum that we did not have enough time to have a look at the museum boats outside.
Looking at this review, one could actually have the impression we didn't do much besides eating. But I did not gain any weight! My dinner tonight: chicken breast with rice and fruits.
Before going back to the hotel, we walked a bit around the lake and over a bridge.
After Athletics Euros had ended, TV program was a bit of a disappointment. Sometimes, MTV offered fun stuff like “Dismissed” or “My own... Justin Timberlake” (we plan to make Kerstin apply for “My own... Vitaly Novikov”
) but whenever we turned TV on after 21:00, there was Southpark... We also had other TV channels but “Deutsche Welle” had either interviews with the Pope or a documentary called “Leberkäse for Kandahar” and the terror hysteria on BBC became tiring, after while. At first, it had looked fun that there was another sports channel besides Eurosport (as Eurosport was concentrating on broadcasting Snooker World League) but this channel must be something like “the official Finnish Roger Federer channel” as it pretty much only showed (old) matches with Federer. We were surprised about Roger being that popular in Finland...
08-24-2006 04:02 PM
August 14, 2006 (Monday)
Camping? No thanks.
This was our “pfadfinderisch” (=pathfinder-like) day Ritti had been so eager on.
We started into it with breakfast at our hotel and even though it was not as big as the one at “Grand Marina”, it was still quite good. They presented all food inside a big boat and had the yummy jam, again.
The day before, we had ordered a “safari bus” at the tourist information. We joked about it being a jeep in “zebra colours” but disappointingly, it was just a plain, normal off-road car. The two rangers driving it looked a lot like we had expected them to: both with long hair and dreadlocks and very functional clothes. I felt a bit stupid with my handbag :P .
When we arrived in Oravi, we bought tickets for the boat and the girl who had driven the “safari bus” took us with five other guests by a small speed boat to the island of the Linnansaari national park we wanted to hike around. The boat was very fast and as I had never been on such a boat, I thought it was great fun, wheee...
Oh, before getting on the boat in Oravi, I had almost fallen flat on my tummy as I had overlooked a step and all the rangers had laughed about me!
Fortunately, the signs were much better on this island than at Holmenkollen and that's why Kerstin and I did not have a problem hiking the 7 km around the island.
We saw a historic farm and did some sunbathing on big stones right next to the lake (and together with an unnerving Austrian family where the parents were called Evi and Michi).
It was definitely an interesting experience to walk around such an untouched island. There were only very few other people, no cars or any kind of machines and that's why it was silent with the only noises being made by animals and the wind in the trees. I don't think there are many places on earth which are still that untouched.
Kerstin and I agreed about doing a canoe tour for beginners and a guided Iceland pony tour next time we're back in Finland.
At the end of our tour, it became cloudy and windy (which made me freeze, of course :P . I freeze quite easily...). The prospect of having to wait for two hours until our boat was scheduled to leave didn't appeal to me very much. Luckily, Kerstin had taken “Trivial Pursuit” with her which made it far easier to kill the time. Even better, the guy with the dreadlocks asked us after about an hour if we wanted to go back to Oravi already. Of course, we did not deny this offer.
When we had climbed on the boat, the second one of my three favourite conversations took place.
The guy with the dreadlocks said to us: “There are life vests under your seat. You can put them on if you want.”
I was kind of clueless what to do or to respond as we hadn't worn a life vest on the way to the island this morning.
That's why Kerstin asked jokingly: “Do you think it's necessary?”
The guy had to laugh real hard: “No, I don't think so...” (Someone questioning his boat driving skills, huh? ).
When we were back in Oravi, we still had to wait for our “safari bus”. We went to the nearby (small) supermarket and as I felt hungry for something salty, we bought Pringles.
We sat down and ate them at the main camp and observed some campers and fishers.
One can not just book canoeing tours but also rent small cottages (the more expensive ones being totally comfortable with TV set, VCR, washing machine, dryer etc.) or camping space. It was also possible to stay on the island Kerstin and I had hiked around (for free). One would have had to bring his own tent.
The last of my three favourite conversations happened here (the first one had been Elina's sentence about Finnish men and US girls).
Me: “Camping is my personal nightmare. I would not even want to spend a night with Metze in a tent.”
Kerstin: “Now this is something I don't believe you!”
Finally, about one hour late, the two rangers with the dreadlocks were ready to leave. They brought us back to our hotel and there, Kerstin and I found out about having brought something from Linnansaari to Savonlinna: small spider-like animals who were hard to get rid off. I'm still surprised they did not manage to climb in our suitcases and make it back with us to Germany. At least, I haven't seen one so far...
Finally, it was dinner time at an Italian restaurant. I had a vegetarian pizza (probably the best I've had during this whole trip) and for dessert a pancake with raspberries and cream.
August 14, 2006 (Monday)
Camping? No thanks.
This was our “pfadfinderisch” (=pathfinder-like) day Ritti had been so eager on.
We started into it with breakfast at our hotel and even though it was not as big as the one at “Grand Marina”, it was still quite good. They presented all food inside a big boat and had the yummy jam, again.
The day before, we had ordered a “safari bus” at the tourist information. We joked about it being a jeep in “zebra colours” but disappointingly, it was just a plain, normal off-road car. The two rangers driving it looked a lot like we had expected them to: both with long hair and dreadlocks and very functional clothes. I felt a bit stupid with my handbag :P .
When we arrived in Oravi, we bought tickets for the boat and the girl who had driven the “safari bus” took us with five other guests by a small speed boat to the island of the Linnansaari national park we wanted to hike around. The boat was very fast and as I had never been on such a boat, I thought it was great fun, wheee...
Oh, before getting on the boat in Oravi, I had almost fallen flat on my tummy as I had overlooked a step and all the rangers had laughed about me!
Fortunately, the signs were much better on this island than at Holmenkollen and that's why Kerstin and I did not have a problem hiking the 7 km around the island.
We saw a historic farm and did some sunbathing on big stones right next to the lake (and together with an unnerving Austrian family where the parents were called Evi and Michi).
It was definitely an interesting experience to walk around such an untouched island. There were only very few other people, no cars or any kind of machines and that's why it was silent with the only noises being made by animals and the wind in the trees. I don't think there are many places on earth which are still that untouched.
Kerstin and I agreed about doing a canoe tour for beginners and a guided Iceland pony tour next time we're back in Finland.
At the end of our tour, it became cloudy and windy (which made me freeze, of course :P . I freeze quite easily...). The prospect of having to wait for two hours until our boat was scheduled to leave didn't appeal to me very much. Luckily, Kerstin had taken “Trivial Pursuit” with her which made it far easier to kill the time. Even better, the guy with the dreadlocks asked us after about an hour if we wanted to go back to Oravi already. Of course, we did not deny this offer.
When we had climbed on the boat, the second one of my three favourite conversations took place.
The guy with the dreadlocks said to us: “There are life vests under your seat. You can put them on if you want.”
I was kind of clueless what to do or to respond as we hadn't worn a life vest on the way to the island this morning.
That's why Kerstin asked jokingly: “Do you think it's necessary?”
The guy had to laugh real hard: “No, I don't think so...” (Someone questioning his boat driving skills, huh?
). When we were back in Oravi, we still had to wait for our “safari bus”. We went to the nearby (small) supermarket and as I felt hungry for something salty, we bought Pringles.
We sat down and ate them at the main camp and observed some campers and fishers.
One can not just book canoeing tours but also rent small cottages (the more expensive ones being totally comfortable with TV set, VCR, washing machine, dryer etc.) or camping space. It was also possible to stay on the island Kerstin and I had hiked around (for free). One would have had to bring his own tent.
The last of my three favourite conversations happened here (the first one had been Elina's sentence about Finnish men and US girls).
Me: “Camping is my personal nightmare. I would not even want to spend a night with Metze in a tent.”
Kerstin: “Now this is something I don't believe you!”
Finally, about one hour late, the two rangers with the dreadlocks were ready to leave. They brought us back to our hotel and there, Kerstin and I found out about having brought something from Linnansaari to Savonlinna: small spider-like animals who were hard to get rid off. I'm still surprised they did not manage to climb in our suitcases and make it back with us to Germany. At least, I haven't seen one so far...
Finally, it was dinner time at an Italian restaurant. I had a vegetarian pizza (probably the best I've had during this whole trip) and for dessert a pancake with raspberries and cream.
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