hiidenkonttibeta

In an IC train to Oulu. It’s 20th of July already, and I’ve spent only one day of this month in Oulu. The time passes so fast – I feel like I started my summer holiday only a few days ago but in reality I have only a bit over week left.

Yesterday evening we went to Linnanmäki and tried every interesting device they had. In “Kammokuja” a young girl walked in front of us, triggering all the effects, and being genuinely scared of them.

Wayne’s coffee in Tennispalatsi. Picked something called caffé macchiato (sp?) at random. Turned out to be an espresso with foamed milk on top. There’s magazines for reading, but World Soccer, Golf Monthly and 25 Beautiful Homes are not magazines I’m keen on reading:

Today I’ve been browsing second hand book/CD/DVD/game stores, and dropped in to Tokyokan to get some green tea and rice cookies.

In Seurasaari, Helsinki. Squirrels here are not at all afraid of humans, but they’re not interested in staying at one place for long unless they’re bribed with nuts. I have none.

Yesterday I spent about three and half hours photographing the pet cemetery. Time just flased by, didn’t realize it had been so long until I started getting hungry and the battery of my camera started getting empty.

In an IC train from Turku to Helsinki. The railroad between the old and new capitals was supposed to be a beautiful scenic route, but all I saw on the way here was nice hilly fields with small forests and cliffs here and there. Now that I know it should have been a route with a view to the sea I’m sitting on the other side of the train.

On Monday, after wandering around a while and eating (in ShamRock Cafe) I checked the Castle of Turku:

I may have been a bit tired, or generally not in castle touring mood, but it felt a bit boring. Too much brand new repairs, too many blocked stairways – dark, narrow stairs going somewhere deep down or up to some tower. Much more interesting than the well-kept rooms that were open for the public.

On Tuesday I asked my cousin, who was my skillfull guide, about Turkus pet cemetery and she took me there. A hour or two passed quicky. After lunch we checked the Tuomiokirkko. An incredible amount of heavy, black cast iron bars blocking all the side alcoves.
Walking around the park outside, watching the trees:
me: too bad there are no oaks.
my cousin: you’d like to see oaks? Then let’s go to Ruissalo, it’s the biggest oak area in Finland.
me: …!
And towards Ruissalo we drove.

A wonderful, a magnificient place. It’s a big forest with a lot of old, big oaks (for Finland, that is) and other trees. Two hours passed quickly, and we only checked a little area of the forest. I could easily spend a whole day walking around.

It’s a lot more pleasant place than their prison of stone and iron.

In a pendolino train to Turku, where I’m planning to stay until Wednesday and return to Helsinki.
It’s even more sunny and hot today, the weather forecast threats it’ll be +30C today.
A little girl on the neighbour bench in the other side of the aisle plays something on a red GBA SP. The game sounds interesting (she explains everything to her father). They had fun reading aloud the Japanese names in the game credits, the girl hoping that she’ll receive some bonus if she endured the credits all the way through.
“Thank you for playing this game” was a little disappointing.

On the way to Helsinki. Visited Aulanko park in Hämeenlinna briefly on Friday. There’s a sightseeing tower, made of stone in 1906-7, on the top of a hill:

The park is beautiful, with a lot of nice trees. I could spend a day wandering around and photographing backlit leaves.
Next two days we spent on the countryside in Loppi by a small river which was warm enough for swimming and wide enough for canooing:

Being countryside, there was a lot of hay pollen this time of year. Medicine helps, but I still get some allergy symptoms after being in a particularly hayful place.