St Petersburg

With the exception of H-M, who feels uncomfortable in Russia, Elk's Street is now in possession of multi-entry visas for the Russian Federation. Living so close to the border, it is a pretty poor do that it took so long for us to get organised, although the eye-watering cost of the visas is a reasonable excuse.

So, visas in hand, we were ready for a trip to Russia's second-largest city.

After a good breakfast a snack at Cafe Aleksandra, the happy travellers set off to Vainikkala to catch the Allegro to St. Petersburg, a journey of a couple of hours. Sesse was on this trip as our guide and interpreter.

Thomas the packhorse.

Waiting at Vainikala station.
(From left to right: Henry, Thomas, Tiina, Sesse.)

Note that Sesse has her train ticket, which she conveniently mislaid when the guard arrived for the ticket inspection. But, as the Aussies say, "no worries, mate." Somehow, Sesse managed to travel both ways without showing a valid ticket.

Three generations of Russian train at Finljandski station.
(Apologies for the poor photo quality, these photos were all taken by mobile phone.)

From the station, we set off, with Sesse in the lead, to the metro and our hotel, Hotel Dostoevsky. The hotel is very conveniently located and not ludicrously priced. Having a supermarket in the basement under the hotel certainly makes shopping for souvenirs to take home very easy, although Peter, not being the world's most enthusiastic shopper, only bought a 2.5kg jar of pears.

The entertainment for the first evening was a trip to the St Petersburg State Circus. Russia has a very long circus tradition and the performers were very talented, although there were perhaps a few too many animal acts for my taste. And I felt rather sad for the bears.

Henry tucking into his starter at the Korova Bar.

Sesse's starter was a more sensible size.
(Although I don't think anyone went to the circus hungry.)

The next day, after a hotel breakfast, it was on our feet and off; first stop - the St. Petersburg Ice Palace, to get tickets for our next trip, to see a KHL game - St. Petersburg SKA vs Spartak Moscow. Having completed the serious business of the day, we had the rest of day for sight-seeing, so it was back into the town centre and Nevsky Prospekt.

After refreshments in Cafe Singer, upstairs in the Dom Knigi shop, we decided that the weather was too wet and a change of plan was needed. So the afternoon was spent on a minibus sightseeing tour - a nice way to spend a rainy day, although the Russian commentary by the guide (non-stop for nearly 2 hours) was a bit beyond my Russian vocabulary of about five words.

View from Cafe Singer, Nevsky Prospekt

After a rest in the hotel, it was off to meet Tiina's former colleague, Viktoria for dinner, at Da Albertone, located, perhaps rather inaptly for Elk's Street, on Millionaires Street. The food was very good, and even Thomas approved.

The next morning there was time for a short walk, some shopping, a quick visit to Teremok, and then it was back to the train station and back to Finland.


No post about a trip to St. Petersburg is complete without...

... the obligatory photo of a church.

What's in a name?

Finland is a country where nicknames are rife, and Elk's Street has its fair share. Depending on the situation, one might find; Mamitsu, Papitsu, Henkka, Tomppa, Tinna Tanna Topsis, Huomi, and more.

The logic behind some of the names is pretty clear but that behind others more obscure. Mr Fox? Paddington?

Below, some help with encryption.

H-M

Paddington

Or should that be the other way around?


On the subject of names, while doing some cleaning I came across a list of names; the shortlist, should the boys have been girls.

For your enjoyment, and in no particular order, it is given below.

• Laura
  
• Emma
• Christina
• Helena
• Sandra
• Sylvia
• Susanna
• Anne/Anna
• Paula
• Nina

End of Summer

In the final week of the summer holiday the boys, without H-M, went for a couple of days' city living in Helsinki.

As usual, Tiina was our host and chairperson of the entertainment committee. One item on the programme was a visit to the town of Lohja to visit the limestone mines and the Tytyri mine museum. Elk's Street highly recommend this guided tour. The group is first taken down to the mine by minibus before walking through part of mine with a guide, who explains the history and workings of the limestone quarry. It was most emjoyable, and industrial history is always most interesting.

A hard-hatted group waiting to set off on the tour (Henry, Tiina, Thomas, Peter).

Thomas finding looking like an egg rather amusing.

In addition to the mines, Lohja has a coffee shop serving rather good cakes and pastries.

The next morning, Tiina took the little boys off to the amusement part, Linnanmäki, while your correspondent, who is no fan of amusement parks and fairground rides, went off to the Bank of Finland Museum. This small museum has free entry and is quite interesting, although one should probably have some knowledge of Finnish history to be able to enjoy it to the full. Having been in Finland for over 20 years now (How did that happen?) I recalled quite a few of the financial events described; the devaluation of the Finnish markka (No, I haven't forgiven Esko Aho, Iiro Viinanen, Ulf Sundqvist and company.), the old banknotes (including a huge one I only saw when there was a bank strike and we were paid in cash) and the introduction of the Euro.

The weather was very nice, so after my dose of education, and a coffee and a bun, I took a stroll around downtown Helsinki. As the photos below show, Finland is not as bleak as one might imagine. Well, at least in summer.

The dome of Helsinki Cathedral in late summer sunshine.


The Relandersgrund lightship, now a café-restaurant.


Some pleasure boats, with the ice-breakers peaceably waiting for winter in the background.


A Helsink tram passing through Katajanokka.


The dome of Uspenski Cathedral.


The President's Palace.

The trip was soon over and it was back to Elk's Street, and school, work and, all too soon, the rainy days of autumn.


Below, the summer holidays going 'up, up, and away.'

Fishing

As many Elk's Street followers may know, Henry is a keen fisherman. This summer's catch was not so good but a couple of nice fish were snared. And one 'biggie' got away by breaking the line.

Below a picture of Henry with a handsome fish he caught, a pike:

(Photo courtesy of Matias)

Summer 2011 - Part 2

Elk's Street spent this summer in Finland, which disappointed one member of the gang. Luckily, Finland had another warm and sunny summer.

After the trip to Morton, the next highlight was Miljazz. This annual tour by the bands of the Finnish Defence Forces included Lappeenranta this year, so we were able to attend. We were present for the more traditional big band performances but the more pop-oriented part of the concert was after our bedtime.

One of the MilJazz bands.

Then, it was Thomas's birthday.

For a quiet chap, Thomas is a bit of a party animal, so he insisted on having a birthday bash. This was a traditional children's party, arranged at our house (more precisely in our garden) with your correspondent organising the games - an orienteering/quiz game, badminton, and the like. The party went well; we only needed the ice bag twice, which is not bad considering there were nearly a dozen highly-charged little boys running around.

One end of the birthday table...

... and the other end of the birthday table.

This summer, as last summer, Thomas took part in the Pesä Ysit 'Finnish baseball school'. Thomas had a lot of fun and was very active. In the end of course games he played both in-field fielder and pitcher - the video below shows Thomas in action.

Thomas, in the red T-shirt and yellow Malaysia cap, as the pitcher (bowler).

Meanwhile, Henry had been invited to his friend Matias's family's summer cottage. The two boys had fun doing the usual summer cottage things. Both of them are keen fishermen, so fishing was the highlight. On their trips Matias caught a big pike-perch (a very tasty fish) and Henry a big pike (less tasty but more of a fighting fish).

Henry and a pike.

(Photo courtesy of Matias)

The next event was a trip to Hyvinkää to visit the 'Piglets'.

The Piglets are Chinese friends, but where does the name come from?

There is a Chinese superstition that small babies should be given 'bad' nicknames so that evil spirits are not interested in causing trouble for the newborn. As a newborn, the Piglets' son was called Piglet, until his rather sensible grandfather found out, but somehow the name has stuck, at least with Elk's Street.

Thomas and 'Piglet' playing a computer game.


Mrs Piglet and some key members of Elk's Street

The Piglets's rather fine new house.


Mr Piglet hard at work in his restaurant kitchen. .

The beginning of August marks various Elk's Street members' birthdays and the start of the blueberry season - and the second summer cottage week, this time in the cottage, Lauren. We were again quite lucky with the weather, as the photos below show.

View to the jetty.


Lauren - a rather luxurious cottage.


Thomas's armada.



Thomas and Henry rowing and fishing, respectively.


H-M looking for missing sailors.


A pebbly beach.


A 'laavu' shelter.


A 'laavu' is a shelter for people hiking or fishing. It is normally quite small, c.8-10 square metres, unheated, and the fourth side is left open.


A delicate flower.


Tiina, Hippo and Thomas on the terrace.


H-M, another delicate flower.


H-M reading.

Elk's Street has now tested three of the cottages belonging to Mikonsaaren Loma-Asunot; Mikko, Morton, and Lauren. And what is the verdict?

We would like Mikko's little sandy beach, Morton's fantastic location, and Lauren's comfort.

At the risk that others may book the cottages and stop us going there again, we'd like to say that they are fine places to stay and the owner, Marketta, has done an excellent job. Oh, and anyone thinking of booking a Finnish summer cottage, please remember that you are responsible for cleaning after your stay, ensuring that the next guests have a nice place to go to.

Good night!

Summer 2011

The weather is getting cooler, the summer is nearly over, and the blog is stagnant - time for an update.

The summer break began with a week in a summer cottage, courtesy of Tiina. The cottage was called Morten and was rented from Mikonsaaren Lomamökit. Of the cottages rented so far, its location was by far the nicest, at the end of a peninsular, facing roughly south-west. Lilli was sufficiently impressed to tell Tiina to ask the owner if she could buy it!

Below, you'll find some photos so you can judge for yourself how nice it is.

The cottage.

The view to the jetty.



The beach and the rowing boat.



Thomas playing badminton...



... and his opponent, H-M.



Meanwhile, Henry is being less athletic.

Finland is the land of the midnight sun. Below, a couple of photos to prove it. For the pedantic, they were taken at around quarter past eleven in the evening.

Midnight sun 1.


Midnight sun 2.

During the day, the boys spent quite a lot of time in the lake. And the water was really quite warm - once you got used to it!

Thomas in the lake.

Thomas and Henry in the lake.

Even Lilli, aged 85, decided to take a dip. Although, getting into the water was a lot easier than getting out. The very dry autumn and spring has meant that the water level of Lake Saimaa is a lot lower than usual (c. 30-50 cm) making access to the water a little tricky.

Lilli in the lake, Henry advising how to get out.

Meanwhile, Tiina was keeping her feet dry and making sure everyone was ok.

Tiina on the jetty.

No trip to a summer cottage would be complete without some fishing. This time there were a few nibbles but nothing special, with one exception - a huge pike. The pike took the bait and Henry noticed that whatever was on the end of the line was putting up quite a struggle. He got it just to the surface, where we could see what a giant it was, when it dived and managed to break the line, disappearing with the hook and Henry's favourite lure. Well, sometimes the fisherman wins, and sometimes the fish!

Gone fishing...

A family of ducks.

As the photos show, we were very lucky with the weather, which was exceptional for the time of year. The trip was however somewhat marred by news from Malaysia of PoPo's condition deteriorating.

After a long time coping with the vicissitudes of cancer, PoPo passed away on the 11th June. In her memory, K-Ning made a collage of photos, which is given below for those Elk's Street followers who haven't yet seen it.

(N.B. Only the first 3 minutes because of some kind of restrictions.)