After a lunch with Valto at the large outdoor market by the harbor in Helsinki and drinks with him and Hanni at Kappeli, one of the oldest restaurants in Helsinki, we went home to find Seija.
Valto, Analeise, Bryan and Brooke
at a food stall at the harbor market:
at a food stall at the harbor market:
Also, sausages, potatoes and fish
cooked in various ways are popular.
Kappeli
Kate and Hanni
Bryan and the girls are being hypnotized
on the boulevard (refereed to as the Esplanade):
The first night of our trip was spent at Tall Klippan, a small, beautiful and rocky island only an hour away from the harbor in Espoo, Finland. Valto and crew took us there in style on Janni 2!
Kate and Seija, hamming it up:
Here are some photos from our stay at Tall Klippan:
The next day brought the rest of the trip to Tallinn. While Valto, Seija and Hanni are experienced boat people, the four of us do not have sturdy sea legs, so we felt sick after a while. Still, our trip was still very enjoyable. Our cousins are incredible hosts, feeding us delicious meals and making sure we had fun things to drink, so between that and the view of the vast sea, we had a good time. Brooke took the longest to feel ill, and she likes being out at sea and on the boat so much that she said "maybe I'll live on a boat when I'm older."
Approaching Tallinn, we saw church spires and tall buildings through a thick haze. We did not know it then, but the smoke from the numerous Russian forest fires had made its way to Tallinn and was cutting our visibility by about half. We made it to the harbor and docked, which allowed us to feel the heat. It was 38 degrees Celsius, or about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and very humid. Valto and crew got the boat ready for us to leave it, and we headed to the Old Town by taxi.
Our way into Old Town was on a street lined with flower shops, all with decadent displays of bouquets out on the sidewalk.
We crossed through twin gate towers dating back more than 700 years, and what was the first business we saw? Yep, a McDonalds. Years ago, that would have agitated me, but this time, I just laughed at the dichotomous feeling of being awed by seeing something so old and then seeing a very familiar, very modern place right away. I heard that after the free market took over, many Estonians felt that Old Town lost its charm. It is very touristy, but for me, it was still awe inspiring because of its beauty and age.
After that, we continued to walk up to Toompea Hill, and from there, we were able to get an expansive view of the red roofs and church steeples of Old Town. Here is a photo of us all together and of some of the views from Toompea Hill:
After a hot night on the boat, most of us had amazingly refreshing showers at a sport center next to the harbor (the facility was built for the 1980 Olympic sailing competitions, held in Tallinn). Thinking that the water was going to be more rough than the day before (Seija was at her limit, and the Jarvi-Beamers had all felt sea sick), we tried to get tickets on one of the large ferries back to Helsinki. All of them were full, so after a little shopping, we bought sea sickness pills and a lot of non-carbonated water and headed back to the boat.
If you ever go to Estonia, it is known for beautiful knitting and nice linen things. Seija bought a linen sauna robe for her brother, and she says that they last for years and get softer and softer after each wash.
Our return passage surprised us, because the forecasts were wrong, and the seas were calmer than the previous day's. The sea sickness pills worked, Valto and Seija had prepared another delicious lunch, and we made it back to Espoo feeling fine.
It was time to say goodbye to everyone. Hanni and Valto worked to unpack Janni 2 while Seija drove us to the Helsinki train station for our 2 hour trip back to Tampere.
We were happy to have gone and happy to be going back to lower temperatures in Tampere. Also, Terhi, our exchange daughter from 2008-2009 was going to visit with her brother Samuli, the next day, and it was time to go home and prepare.
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Brooke, Terhi, Analeise and Samuli,
before they left for Tampere's amusement park, Särkänniemi.
before they left for Tampere's amusement park, Särkänniemi.