Berlin Germany
Jurva-Finland
We decided it was time to go deeper into the country side, since we’d been in Moscow and St Petersburg and we were exhausted from all the city fun. The plan was to find some Couchsurfers with kids in the country so our kids could just be kids for a while. To my surprise Finland had a few Couchsurfing families that we decided to write to. We instantly got confirmation and invitations from two families. So we decided to go and stay with the Jarvinen family that had 5 kids and lived in a converted school in the country side. What a great choice that turned out to be for everybody. Firstly we had arrived at a kids heaven, toys everywhere, trampoline, Lego’s, Barbie’s, rollerblades and an entire climbing gym indoors and outdoors, as well as 5 little blond bambini’s to play with. Our kids where in heaven and the lack of understanding of the Finnish language didn’t seem to worry them at all. Juha and Mari were the best host to us,with their life’s already full with work, a large house and 5 children, I was amazed at how much time they still had for us and how they made us feel welcome. We spend the next 8 days picking all sorts of yummy berries, bushwalking with the kids to little huts and climbing towers. Making fires and cooking damper and marsh mellows on them, as well as sausages. Richard managed to catch an 8cm long fish, which turned out not enough to feed all of us. Finland is the land of the thousand lakes and so so beautiful at sunset.At home we ate delicious food cooked by Juha and Mari, and we just simply relaxed and learned much about the Finnish culture.
Richard helped Juha to get his website back up and running and it felt good to give something back. These guys were also extremely generous in lending us their car for the day, so we could have a drive around the coastline. These guys were awesome and we are definitely planning a trip back up, hopefully in Winter and up to Lapland to find a Moose and Santa Clause and search for the Northern Lights.
Helsinki-Finland
In 2005 I flew with Fin Air to Germany with Orlando(4 month) and my Mum. We had a 3 day stopover in Helsinki/Finland and I fell in love with this Scandinavian country. We did rock up in July and the sun was shining in Helsinki. What a beautiful city I thought. There where flowers blooming, street buskers, the sound of music everywhere which echoes around the city. It was simply beautiful and so different to Australia, that I swore that when I return to Europe, I will return with my family. So 6 years later we arrived in Helsinki at the end of August and guess what, it was pouring down, really wet and rainy and pretty cold and miserable. I think the weather has a lot to do with how you perceive a place. Anyway we made the most of it and put on our rain coats and boots and ventured out into the autumn world of Helsinki. We found an amazing Art exhibition and had lots of fun at the Museum. We also had to do some desperate winter clothe shopping, so all was right again with the world after my initial let down.
