Tervetuloa Lucas!

I'm probably not supposed to do this but never mind.

Congratulations to Sarah and Ben. And hello to Lucas!

Stockholm Trip

H-M went off to the Full Moon Dance Festival to do some dance courses and watch some modern dance. Despite the name, it does not involve baying at the moon werewolf-style, although with some choreographers this would be entirely plausible!

Since modern dance is not really the boys' thing, we decided to go on a quick 4D3N trip to Stockholm. This was relatively easy as Lappeenranta Airport now has international flights, with Air Baltic flying to Riga in Latvia and Tallinn in Estonia, and Ryanair flying to Weeze in Germany. Our route was: Lappeeranta-Riga-Stockholm-Tallinn-Lappeenranta.

Below a few photos of our most enjoyable trip.

An Air Baltic Fokker of the type we flew in. The photo is of YL-BAA at Riga Airport, whereas we flew in YL-BAZ for three of the four legs of our journey.


The little boys enjoying the flight.

Air Baltic is a so-called low-cost airline but seems to be one of the better-run ones. While on-board services had to be paid for - we celebrated the last leg of the journey with a beer (Peter), juice (little boys) and crisps - luggage goes directly to the end destination, and connections are guaranteed. (A friend going from Lappeenranta to London Gatwick had weather problems and Air Baltic paid for him to be put up in a hotel in Riga - shame on you, Ryanair, the most miserable low-cost airline, who treat travellers in an unbefitting manner.)

Touchdown

Once in Stockholm Arlanda airport we bought Stockholm Cards, cards that allow tourists to use local transport in the Stockholm area and give free entrance to a variety of museums. To save money we decided to use SL's services to the city centre rather than take the airport bus. This meant going by bus to Märsta and commuter train into central Stockholm.

Having reached T-Centralen in Stockholm, we immediately started testing the local delicacies, in our case, 'grillkorv med bröd', known elsewhere as a hot dog.

The little boys enjoying their 'grillare'.

Suitably fortified, we set off to our hotel, the Elite Palace Hotel, Stockholm. The hotel was part of the Air Baltic package, was conveniently located, a few hundred metres from the St. Eriksplan underground station, and was, for our purposes, very suitable.

Little boys relaxing after a hard day's sightseeing.


Our hat rack.

Thomas waiting by the lifts.

The first evening we went out to dinner at the Restuarant Malaysia in Luntmakargatan. Henry had his favourite, Char Kway Teow, while Thomas was content with fried rice. Somehow the food, while ok, was not really up to our standards. (Shredded lettuce instead of bean sprouts, who are you kidding!) Mind you, being Penang-influenced we have very high standards regarding Malaysian food.

Henry about to tuck into his Char Kway Teow,

Our trip, although short, was action-packed. In two days of sight-seeing we managed to see 6 museums. On Day 1 we went to the Pippi Longstocking museum, looked at the long queue at the Waasamuseum and decided not to bother, saw some boats in a couple of warehouses belonging to the Maritime Museum, went to the aquarium, and then finished our sight-seeing by going round the harbour on the hop-on-hop-off boat.

Thomas posing with the strongest girl in the world.


Tropical fish.


Henry coming up a manhole having investigated the sewers.


Swedish Royal Yacht used a few weeks earlier for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel.


Thomas tucking into a well-deserved meal after a tough day's sight-seeing.

After a hearty breakfast in the hotel, Day 2's tourist activities began with a visit to the Technical Museum. The little boys had great fun with the exhibits, although I'm not sure how educational the whole thing was.

We also went to the 3D theatre where there was a film about flight. The film was very interactive; as well as the seats moving, and the audience being squirted with water and various odours, there was a quiz with a little gadget to answer the questions. At the end of the quiz, there was a fanfare and the spotlight was focused on "the winner in Seat 36" - Peter. My five seconds of fame! I think I was supposed to wave and cheer but true to my northern heritage just sat there looking embarrassed. Mind you, if I win in a science quiz, the education system really needs some working on!

Astronaut Thomas

The Technical Museum was followed by visits to the Police Museum and the Swedish Sports Museum. Tired and hungry we headed off back towards the area of our hotel. On the menu this time; Italian food.

The next day we had to head off back to Finland. This time, for convenience's sake, we took the Airport Bus. A word of warning - it does not accept cash; all payments must be made by card.

Our journey included a long-ish stop in Tallinn but this was no problem as my friend, Sergei arranged to meet us for a quick sight-seeing trip. We got the bus into Tallinn centre and walked around the very nice old town. Tallinn had changed a lot since the last time I was there - just after the restoration of Estonian independence.

Looking over the rooftops of Tallinn city centre.


Looking over the rooftops of Tallinn city centre.

On the way back to the airport we popped into a supermarket to buy a load of Estonia's premier delicacy - chocolate-covered quark snacks. Our favourite being the 'Jänks' brand (but avoid the chocolate-flavoured one, it's far too sweet).

Tallinn has a nice airport, but it's very under-utilized, as the photos below show.

A deserted airport.


The same deserted airport.

Henry is a modern traveller; here seen looking at his Nokia 5230 to make sure he knows where he is.

We got home rather late, but still earlier than H-M, whose train had been severely delayed by fallen trees from one of the worst summer storms Finland has seen in recent years. Waiting for us at home, there were not three tenors but three best men, but more of that later.

Next summer activities

While H-M and Tiina were in London, the boys were at home. Once the summer holidays had started and the end-of-year reports had been given, the little boys headed off to Tapiola to take part in a handicrafts 'camp' at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art. They came home with some shelves (Thomas) and a 2-metre long portable 'den' (Henry). Not quite what the Elk's Street elders had in mind when the children were packed off to a handicrafts course.

Next up was a baseball 'school'. This was run by the local Finnish baseball club, Pesä Ysit, and the children met three times a week to play 'pesäpallo', or Finnish baseball.

Finnish baseball differs from American baseball in many ways: the pitcher pitches the ball vertically over the plate - making it easier for the batter to hit the ball; the bases are set so that the distances between them differ - making it easy to get to first base but progressively more difficult to get to second, third and home; the batter is not allowed to hit the ball directly out of the playing area - making the game much more tactical as the batter must try to hit the ball between the fielders. For more about the rules, see the description here.

Of course, the game as played by the 'cracks' and as played by small children looks very different. But everyone has to start somewhere.

For your enjoyment, below some links to videos of the boys in action during the end-of-course competition.

Henry hits the ball, makes first base, and allows his team to score a run.



Henry gets home from third base.

He scores a run for his team, but does not seem to be too excited about this. Somehow, he just doesn't have the sportsman's drive and killer instinct (except when fishing, of course).

Thomas hits the ball, and makes first, second, and then third base. He later goes on to score a run, allowing his team to win.

The little boys had a lot of fun. Thomas did very well as an all-rounder, and Henry was a surprisingly good batsman. Pesäpallo is a fine game, but is nowhere near as good as "the gentleman's game" - cricket!

Resumption of Normal Service

Elk's Street followers will have noticed that the blog has been in 'suspended animation' recently.

The reasons were: the World Cup; unusually hot weather; the boys going to bed later, leaving no time for playing with the computer; work-related disenchantenment; and laziness.

Now, normal service is back.

The summer began with H-M and Tiina heading off for a trip to London. The reason was H-M's project to teach modern dance to a group of 'seniors'. The visit to London was ostensibly a research trip, since H-M, not being a lady to indulge in half-measures, decided to see how it was done at one of the world's best dance theatres, Sadler's Wells.

Despite the educational nature of the trip, there was time for some tourism-related activities, as witnessed by the photos below.

H-M in front of the 'Gerkhin'.


Tiina in the doorway of the ladies' residence in Mayfair...


... which doesn't look quite so grand any more.


Tiina trying to work out where they are and where they are going.


A clue - the guards in front of Horse Guards Parade.

While the ladies spent a lot of time on very cultured activies, each evening was dedicated to a dance or theatre performance, one of the highlights was a visit to Kew Gardens.

Kew is a fantastic place, and there are many photos. For your pleasure, a few are given below.

A fountain at Kew.


H-M in a rhododendron bush.


The pagoda at Kew.

The trip to London had many other highlights; lots of food, a meeting with Uncle Stephen (who kindly paid for what must be the world's most expensive vegetables), elephants, Greenwich, and more.

To finish, a couple of random photos.

No girls' trip to London would be complete without shopping. Here, the 'Ladies' Powder Room' (also known as toilets) of the rather upmarket store, Fortnum & Mason.


The car that they didn't use during their stay. (For the technical, it's a Maybach Zeppelin. Oh, and if you want one, the list price is around 500,000 Euros.)

H-M in front of the hotel where they were not staying.

The ladies on either side of the Greenwich time line.

I think the conclusion can be drawn that the ladies had a good time.