Day 10: Moomining and Turku

Canola in flower, southern Finland

Farm shed, Sth Finland

Still some wildflowers to see

Last night, while the sun was still high in the sky, ie 9:20pm, and once we managed to get a guard to put our bikes on board, we climbed onto a nice modern train in Rovaniemi, found our sleeper cabin and got settled for the night.  It is so hard not to sit up and watch the scenery fly past and catch rays of sunshine, but when its 10:30pm and tomorrow is another day of exploring stuff, one has to pull the blind down and just go to bed.  So we did.  We had an early start in the morning as we had to change trains at 5:30am getting off the Helsinki train and catching the local train to Turku.  A tad worrying as no guard showed up to put the bikes in the luggage van, so we had to manage on our own, plus help an elderly Finnish woman, with her old clunker also.  But soon we were on our way again for another 2 hours.

There was lots of sunshine and apart from dozing a bit, the countryside changed back to more farming lands, some crops even had heads of grain – compared to those near Rovaniemi that were just coming out of the ground.  We had one bit of excitement – an älg (or moose if you are American) dashed back into the forest and we both saw it!!  Exciting stuff!  And he had antlers too!!

We arrived in Turku and with a bit of a deviation, found the B&B Tuure that Em & M and me & Matias stayed in and now Karina too – it’s a bit of a family tradition happening here, but they are really nice people and it’s a clean and tidy place.  We were able to have breakfast here too, which was really great!  But the big thing!!  A washing machine! So we ran thru 2 loads and hung them before getting on our bikes for a ride.

Bike way leading west to Naantali

Nice shady park on a nice sunny day

The bridge to Moomin Land

Gary Garmin had a bit of wandering lust today, so he took us on a bit of jaunt out to Naantali – but along the way we spotted a bike path sign saying “To Turku” so we decided to go back that way.  We eventually got into Naantali and ended up on the esplanade where the “in” crowd hang out.  It was lined with eateries – felt a bit like Sunshine Coast – especially as it was a nice, warm and sunny day, too! 

We found the bridge to the Island of Moomins and crossed over.  Got slugged a pretty hefty fee to enter, but by then we were pretty hungry so tracked down lunch.  We went to the first eatery, but on hind sight might have got a tastier meal somewhere else.  A very bland buffet – well for a vego – frozen vegies microwaved, a couple of salads – No Cheese, can you believe it????  Or eggs, so I went back for seconds in the salads.  Karina was OK as the pasta salad did have tuna maybe and there were of course, meatballs. 

What's happening at Theatre Emma?

Moomin houses in background

Now - where's Moomin Papa?

Then we went for a stroll around Moomin land –( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin for more info) and got some photos of Moomin Papa – Erica’s favourite.  They were pretty well surrounded by adoring children that just wanted to be hugged by them. 

There he is!

which one is that?

and there's Little My

What were Moominpappa's memories?

Also Little My poked her tongue out at us, so got that on camera too!  It was a bit of fun, but in hindsight, its probably a good idea to get out there early, before all the ankle-biters get tired and start to throw tanties around 2pm – ie when we were there!  There was a chill out area for the kids, with hammocks and soft cushions and there were a fair few there J
So we found the bike path back into town – and a very pleasant one it was too and apart for road works messing up the signage and getting us a tad confused, we purled back into town, in time for a shower and a stroll down town.  Even caught a bit of the sun today, had forgotten to put sunscreen on! 

Not sure who that is, but it's kinda cute

Moomin Papa's big boat

Karina agreeing with LillaMi

Even bare legs & arms today!

Now what's on this menu?

We checked out Harald’s for dinner and had planned to have dessert somewhere else, but were too full of smoked soy cheese (tofu) pancake (more like a bread) and a pile of vegies & beans, while Karina had the lamb stew (big chunks) with honey-roast vegies and smoked cheese in mashed potatoes.  All pretty rich and very filling.

Inside Harald's - Viking style

Starter: toasted rye bread dipped in melted butter

Lamb with Ligonberry

Tofu with vegies and lots of cream!!

Big ducks in Turku

And very large cathedrals - spot Karina at the
bottom of the stairs - it is massive!

We strolled back along the river to the Cathedral.  It looked like the whole population of the city were out sunning themselves on the river bank listening to an old time dance band were belting out some tunes for the oldies to foxtrot around too.  Summertime!!!!!!!  We went down to the Cathedral, but didn’t go in.  It is just massive and it does make one feel a tad small when you are close by.  Turku used to be the capital of Finland when the Swedes where in charge, before the Russians took over and declared Helsinki capital.  I think I much prefer the Swedish version!!  The weather here has been really pleasant (as it was in 2010, Matias) and its amazing what a bit of sunshine can do to one’s spirits.

So our last real day in Finland.  Tomorrow, it’s the ferry to Åland, ride across that island to catch another ferry to Sweden, ending up at ‘Fawlty Towers’ in Hallstavik???? 

PS: I have checked my settings in this blog and I think I have ticked the right box so that you can now post a comment - if there is anyone who would like to....