SUNDAY is Arts & Culture Day
We wake to sounds of church bells tolling. The Lutheran
church nearby is calling, but we just listen to the bells while we enjoy a
Finnish breakfast. It’s toast with ham, cheese &
veggies, coffee, yogurt & berries – all beautifully displayed on the table
with black placemats and black & white dot Marimekko napkins.
We walk around town; book fair, art museum (lovely traditional paintings and a surreal exhibit of Max Walter Svanberg), fancy shops, cafe for lunch with coffee and special LARGE cinnamon bun.
Our friend meets us and drives us to Naatali. We tour the gardens of the summer residence of the president of Finland!
Naatali is a little bit like our Rockport - a quaint old community of wooden houses and summer touristy shops - fun!
We visit the 14th century church then head over to the brand new spa hotel for a coffee break. Just a few drops of rain remind us that the weather so far has been perfect.
Saturday in Turku
How nice to wake up in my friends’ house right on the River
Aura. She gives us a survival bag of a
large striped bag, brand new towels, slippers, and loofa mitts. A Finnish breakfast includes cucumbers,
tomato, cheese & ham with rye bread, yogurt and berries and COFFEE!
We take a short walk
down along the river to Abo Castle.
A long time ago, my friend sent me the little story of “Tomten in Abo castle”. I feel like I am in a
dream visiting the gnome and his cat today!
We cross a small bridge and walk through the garden to the
castle door, entering the inner courtyard. It is fun going through the low
doorways, following the brick walls, up and down winding stairways.
We learn about the history of the castle dating back to
1230! Our guide gives us a tour of how the castle kept changing with the times.
We try on the castle garments. Jim is amazed at how heavy the chain mail armor shirt is!
Later I ask Jim what he likes best about the castle.
Jim says: “I like the rats in the dungeon”.
Lea says: “Really?”
Jim says; “No, if they were live rats I might! Really, I think the whole thing was
incredible top to bottom. The stone walls are very thick. ”
Just steps away is the Turku Marine Museum. The research
museum by the Swedish University and the maritime merchant museum combined to
make the “Forum Marinum.”
We enjoy a nice buffet lunch at the museum
restaurant.
Afterwards we enter the large converted storage building
that houses a lot of stuff and the most amazing outboard engine collection!
Tied up along the river’s edge are ships we can tour; the
“Suomen Joutsen”, the large white tall ship, the Sigyn, a wooden tall ship, and
Tykki Vene; Karjala.
Back at my friends' apartment we enjoy an afternoon coffee.
Can we make the concert in the Medieval church on Karkskerta
Island?
We drive out off the mainland onto the island of
Hirvensall, Satava Island, and then to Karkskerta Island.
We drive to the church and walk around the church yard in
time to hear the final piece – very special to see this old stone church and
listen from outside.
We enjoy a dinner; lasagna, salad, and
licorice drink for dessert.
Jim shares Keara’s
study guide and discovers that the Finnish architect Pekka
Pit Kanen designed their apartment building!
I am so tired. I can barely keep my eyes open.
After dinner, we discuss other sculptors:
Goran Schildt = boat name Daphne /write a book on Alvar
Aallon
Alvar Aalto – Goran Schildt = Nain puhui
Female scuptor: laila Pullinen – Attid’amore
Harry Kivijarvi – the sculptor who we saw his grave at the
medieval church
Friday Finland!
Before the scheduled
6 am wake up call, we are awake.
Good thing because the arranged wake up call never came! Rebecca, the 21 year
old hotel clerk, is at the door when we arrive in the lobby with our bags. We
let her in and she makes us a cappuccino. Our taxi is waiting. We load our
stuff, say good-bye to Freys Hotel, and head down to the ferry dock on this
gorgeous blue sky day, Friday, named for the Norse God, Friga.
The Viking Grace is waiting at the ferry dock. Everything
seems very efficient as we check in and get in line to board the ship. We find
our cabin # 8514. Now it is time to find a real cup of coffee as we explore the
different decks and dining halls as this big boat leaves Stockholm Harbor.
We settle in at the bow with a nice pot of Finnish coffee. We
sit at a round table with light blue upholstered bucket seats, sort of like you
might find on a space ship. A piano player fills the large cabin with classical
tunes as we sail past island after island. Looking out the port side. We are
amazed at how close the islands are. Some of the openings are very tight for
this huge vessel to maneuver through, but in we glide. Other huge boats go by
as we make our way. Almost like in a
dream or a movie, we watch the scenery slowly passing.
After a while, we move around again to discover the sun deck
on the fantail – wow. It gets warm and we enjoy the open feeling of being at
sea, though we are still in the archipelago with islands everywhere. Jim get
some pinacolatas, Are we in the tropics or Scandinavia? We sip and doze in the
comfy couch as the sun shines on us and lots of other happy people.
Ah, time for a snooze in the cabin. I love to sleep on
boats. We wake for another walk around the ship – just in time to see the end
of the Swedish islands. As we are in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland
we enjoy another Fika fare (coffee plus something to eat). Cruising on the
Viking Grace is so relaxing.
We seem to breeze through the Finnish Archipelago. It seems rockier!
There are so many islands! We stop at Marieamn on Aland
Islands and let passengers off and some new
ones come aboard.
Time for our buffet – wow, what a spread! We have the best
table in the place – one table back from the center bow. A couple of times, we
see small boats directly in front of the ship. They have to get out of the way
and the ship blows the horn and has to veer to
starboard once! Whew!
We take a quick walk through the Duty Free Shop. We discover
some interesting, very interesting wine! Very.
Soon they are announcing that we are approaching the Turku
stop. We gather our bags and move with the crowds to the exit and down the
stairs out the door and to the left as my friend told us, but we don’t see her. We
walk back to the front door and there she is in her pink stirped Marimeko
summer shirt! We walk to the car to find her husband. After hugs and hellos, he takes
the bags in the car and she walks us back to her home via the foot ferry
across the river. Jim and I are
enchanted with this new place. Sailboats, tall ships, old boats are tied up
along the river. My friend seems so happy to
show us her home.
Our friends live in an apartment on the sixth floor, a lovely
space with beautiful views of the river. They raised 4 kids in this
“4 rooms plus kitchen apartment”. Now they are sharing it with us. We feel so lucky.
Dinner in the dining room is special to be around the table
with these old friends and with licorice ice cream for dessert. So far, I love
Finland!
