Riina & Dan

The centre of Helsinki is nice to just walk around (it’s small enough), particularly around the Senate square, the Lutheran Cathedral, Russian Orthodox church, market square, the Esplanade, etc. There’s also a beautiful fortress island “Suomenlinna” just  outside of Helsinki – you can catch a ferry there for the price of a bus ticket (or if you have a daily ticket it includes the ferry as it’s considered public transport for people who live on the island). But if the weather’s no good, it’s probably not worth going there as it’s very much an outdoorsy place.  A couple of stops on the tram out of the centre of Helsinki there’s also the Temppelinaukio church, which is carved in rock and simply humbling.

If you’re into Finnish design and arts and stuff, the Esplanade (leafy cobblestone street near the marina) is the place to go. You’ll find several Marimekko and Iittala stores there. Although you can also go to Stockmann (I believe one of the oldest department stores in Scandinavia) for your Finnish gear.

The museum of modern art “Kiasma” is usually well worth a visit too. It obviously depends on what they’re exhibiting at the time, but the building itself is quite spectacular.

You’ll be able to find heaps of decent restaurants in Helsinki, but one that I would recommend is Zetor. Their menu is inspired by traditional Finnish cookery and I have always enjoyed it immensely. The decor is a bit kitsch, but that only adds a bit of flavour to the experience! A nice spot for a drink is the Torni Hotel; the views from their little bar on top of the tower are great. You can get a panoramic view of Helsinki. Even the ladies’ toilets have a view!

If you have the time to venture out a little, I’d recommend going to see Porvoo, a historic little “old town” about an hour out of Helsinki. If you had a bit more time I’d recommend going to Lappeenranta or somewhere similar to see some of our beautiful lakes and forests.

Happy travels everyone!!

We like to think that we learn from our mistakes, so before heading out of Florence and towards Pisa we actually asked the tourist info point for directions out of town. The friendly girl at the tourist office made it sound really easy and drew the route on a map with a pink highlighter for us. We asked for a second opinion at our hotel, and lucky we did, as there was a one-way street the girl was going to have us driving up against. Equipped with this revised route plan we managed to drive out of town without the detours we’ve gotten so used to (we only had to drive around ONE round-about twice due to missing the right exit the first time around, but that hardly counts as a detour anymore.

Getting to Pisa was easy enough, but once again we were faced with the old problem of millions of one-way streets inside the city. I was manically trying to navigate us towards the leaning tower, but ended up getting us further and further away. We finally managed to find a park near the tourist info point, so I thought I’d run in and get some directions. There was a note on the door saying “right back”, so I waited around for some 5-10 minutes, and saw about 15 tourists come past and keep walking after seeing the note. I decided I wasn’t going to wait either. We headed north of the central station and hoped for the best. After driving around for a while we suddenly saw the tower poke out from between some buildings!! Yay! We drove through a market place full of tourists ( with some Italian arrogance we’ve picked up ) and found a park in the shade only a stone’s throw from the tower. We were obviously in luck.

After seeing the tower (it’s still leaning) we  headed back on the Autostrade and north of Pisa. We continued past La Spezia, Cinque Terre and exited the Autostrade at Rapallo to drive into Santa Margherita Ligure. We had booked 2 nights accommodation at Hotel Mediterraneo, which was recommended to us by Jaana and Jasse. The hotel’s director was an Italian gentleman, but it was run by his very energetic Finnish wife, who spoke as fast in Italian as she did in English, Finnish, German, French, Spanish…. etc. It was a beautiful spot and for our 130 euros per night we got a spacious room on the top floor, en-suite bathroom, balcony with a view of the surrounding mountains and free parking in the garden.

Santa Margherita Ligure turned out to be a great base for a day-trip to Cinque Terre with the train taking us there in less than an hour.

Cinque Terre was great but we’ll have to write about it some other time, as we’re running out of time at the “internet point” (Italians love the word “point”, apparently).

We’re in Rome. It’s hot!

Despite the swealtering heat we took the walking tour of Roman monuments this afternoon, which was great.

It’s too frecking hot to write anything else.

Three weeks is a short time, so we’ve tried to plan it so that we can make the most of it. Here’s our plan:

• Thu 16 Aug Flight BA 7317 Melbourne – Hong Kong – London – Helsinki
• Fri 17 Aug Arrive in Helsinki at 9.05pm, then Hämeenlinna for the night (Erno’s and Jenni’s place)
• Sat 18 Aug Drive to the summer cottage and pop in to say hi to the grandmothers
• Sun 19 Aug Enjoying the summer cottage with all the siblings and their partners
• Mon 20 Aug Drive to Mum’s place
• Tue 21 Aug Hang out with Mum and Pertti
• Wed 22 Aug Drive to Dad’s place
• Thu 23 Aug Drive to Helsinki
• Fri 24 Aug Finnair flight 783 to Rome at 4.15pm
• Fri 24 Aug – Thu 6 Sep Holidaying in Italy

Kolme viikkoa on niin lyhyt aika että olemme pyrkineet suunnittelemaan sen siten että saamme siitä mahdollisimman paljon irti. Tässä matkasuunnitelmamme:

• To 16.8. lähtö Melbourne – Hong Kong – Lontoo – Helsinki (BA 7317)
• Pe 17.8. Helsinki klo 21.05 (Finnair 840) == Hämeenlinnaan Ernon ja Jennin luo yöksi.
• La 18.8. Ajomatka kesämökille (matkalla moikataan mummot)
• Su 19.8. Kesämökillä sisarusten + puoliskojen kanssa
• Ma 20.8. Ajomatka äitin luo
• Ti 21.8. Äitin luona
• Ke 22.8. Ajomatka isin luo
• To 23.8. Ajomatka Helsinkiin == yöpyminen hotellissa
• Pe 24.8. Lento Roomaan (Finnair 783, klo 16.15)
• 24.8. – 6.9. Matkailua Italiassa

Nyt kun häistä on kulunut muutama viikko ja tässä aletaan olla melkein toipuneita, on aika katsastaa valokuvat. Alla olevista englanninkeilisistä viesteistä löytyy linkit pariin eri kuvasivustoon. Tässä vielä Äitin tekemä kuvakollaasi ja tarina.

You’ve found your way to riina-and-dan.com, so you’ve most likely received your invitation to our wedding. Fantastic!

First of all, please go and RSVP by clicking on “RSVP” just there on the right hand side. After you’ve done that, have a browse through the other pages.

Now that you’ve made the decision to come to our wedding, you’ll need somewhere to sleep. In “Accommodation” you’ll find some information on accommodation around Mildura. Please book soon, as the weekend is going to be a busy one.

In case you’re not sure how to get there, in “Directions” you’ll find directions to the Koorong property on George Irwin Road in Colignan.

And since you’re coming all that way, you might as well make a weekend out of it, so check out what else there is to see in Mildura on “What else can we do in Mildura?” We are planning to organise a Paddle Steamer Cruise on the Murray for the Sunday after the wedding, followed by a BBQ on the river bank. Please let us know if you’d be interested in taking part.

If you have any questions or comments you can post them via the RSVP form or by e-mailing us on rsvp@riina-and-dan.com.

We look forward to seeing you on the 10th of March and having a great time!!

Olet löytänyt tiesi riina-and-dan.comiin, joten olet varmaankin saanut kutsun häihimme. Hienoa!

Kuten huomaat, tämä sivusto on englanniksi. Jos sinulla on ongelmia sen käytössä, voit lähettää sähköpostia osoitteeseen riina@riina-and-dan.com

Ensinnäkin voit hyväksyä kutsun tai kieltäytyä siitä klikkaamalla oikeassa reunassa olevaa sanaa “RSVP”. Ole hyvä ja täytä nimesi ja sähköpostiosoitteesi, sekä valitse joko kyllä (“I/We happily accept the invitation”) tai ei (“I/We regretfully decline”). Sen jälkeen voit lisäksi ilmoittaa kuinka monta aikuista tai lasta kutsuun vastaa.

Muilta sivuilta löydät muuta lisätietoa häihimme liittyen: “Accommodation” sivu kertoo mitä majoitusvaihtoehtoja Milduran tienoolla on. “Directions” sivulta löytyy ajo-ohjeet Koorongin tilalle. Lisäksi “What else can we do in Mildura?” antaa matkailuvinkkejä Milduran ympäristöön.

Kiitos vaivannäöstäsi ja toivottavasti näemme pian!!