We spent a few days in Helsinki working with the kids on their school work and sharing our favourite sites with the kids like walking in our old neighbourhood by our last apartment. Our friend M. followed through on her invitation and we met her at the Skywheel beside the harbour.
The kids were excited to see the city from a different perspective and M. was happy to have some willing co-pilots to try out one of the newest attractions in Helsinki. One of the Ferris wheel pods is actually a fully functioning sauna! M. & the kids shared a standard pod, and T. even snapped a few photos for us (the blue tint is from the pod windows). After the ride was over, we let M persuade us to buy gigantic, molten chocolate meringues for the kids at the old Market Hall ( Kauppatori) on the other side of the harbour.
One wonderful afternoon that week, after our daily run to Ruohonjuuri for A.’s organic and/ or lactose free & gluten free food, D & A had the pleasure of going shopping with R. It was liberating to go into Artek without our children along. We capped off an enjoyable afternoon drinking sparkling wine at Teatteri , where they had the terrace doors wide open onto the lawn at Esplanadi.
One of the most memorable times for D. during this trip to Finland was getting together with a group of his former Nokia colleagues. Thanks so much to B. for undertaking the logistics needed to make this happen. It was the first time in over a decade that many of us were all together. It was a fun evening of reminiscing and catching up.
The next weekend, we had plans to drive to Koli National Park in eastern Finland. The morning we picked up our rental car, we realized that, not only had we lost our camera the last time we had a rental car, we’d also left A.’s booster seat in the back of the previous car: too much moving from place to place! We solved the booster seat problem, and set off for our rental cottage in Koli, where we spent the weekend with R., an old friend and T.’s godfather.
The drive to Koli was through picturesque farmland and lakeland. Much of Finland’s landscape reminds us of Canada. It was a pleasure driving on well-maintained roads that are significantly less congested than the last roads we’d driven on in the southeast of France!
We had never been to Koli before and many people mention the views as being among the best in Finland. They weren’t wrong. We took a short ( but unusual) ‘téléphérique style’ elevator near the top of the highest peak in the park. A quick walk to us to the very top where we admired the spectacular views. We also saw evidence of the late spring: the kids grabbed handfuls of dirty snow they found at the top of the ski lift area of the mountain. It was wonderful to have the time to catch up with R. and to relax in our quiet cottage. Being this far north and in a rural setting reminded us how early the sun rises (2:53 a.m.!) and sets just before Midsummer!
Saying goodbye to R., we continued our road trip to Kuopio to meet our friends M. & O. M. is a former colleague of A.’s, and we’ve gotten to know both M. & her husband well over the years. In fact, eight years ago, on a previous trip to Finland, O. helped T. successfully cycle his first few metres on a two wheeled bike. M. & O. are remarkable ambassadors for their hometown and took great pride in showing us the sights and beauty of the area. “Chapeaux” to M, who, for 3 days, was constantly juggling 3 languages as she spoke in both English & French to our family, and in Finnish and English to O.
We savoured O’s alder-chip smoked salmon at supper. He even enlisted T. to assist him with the careful smoking procedure at the outside BBQ/oven, while A. delighted in exploring the three storey cylindrical, blue Moomin playhouse in M. & O.’s backyard. The kids and D. played pétanque and croquet while A. & M. got caught up on the last four years.
We took a boat ride around the lake surrounding Kuopio and went up to the top of the Kuopio tower for even more spectacular views. We even got to watch a group practice ski-jumping on artificial turf. It was excellent to finally SEE the surrounding beauty of Kuopio, as the last time we were there in 2004, it was so cold and foggy, we couldn’t see a thing from the tower.
We drove back to Helsinki, listening to a Nancy Drew audiobook , and, at O.’s suggestion, stopped for lunch at a roadside bakery. The interior was decked out in full vintage kitsch with Finnish humppa (old-style polka accordion) music playing in the background. But, man oh man, did they ever have the BEST pulla and desserts!
We made it back to Helsinki and had enough time to pick up a few souvenirs at Marimekko (and join their frequent customer club!) before eating our last Finnish breakfast (with pirakkas, riisifrutti and cardamom coffee!) and hopping in our shared taxi to the airport. It’s always sad to say goodbye to Finland and the many people that we love there. We hope to be back in a few years.
Next stop: Brussels and Bruges!