Click click click

Click the links for Emmdee throwing his winter fur coat away after paddling in his red 'Ferrari', hoisting sails on Linden and visiting the past... Also view some Turku Tall Ship Race weekend photos by clicking Konnan picasa web album... which has now been finally set up (as Emmdee's camera is kaput).

Eli klikkaa ylläolevia linkkejä, niin näet mitä ollaan viime aikoina puuhailtu - Ahvenanmaalla sekä Turussa. Lisää Ahvenanmaan pyöräretkestä tuonnenpana (kunhan 'koululainen' ehtii kiireiltään)...

Paljon onnea minulle ja muille :0

Kakkua taas meikäläisen malliin - cake again á la moi...

It is the name day of my good friend today (my alter ego?)... which means is the name day of me too... and Johanna, Hanna & Jenni... to mention a few. To celebrate the occasion we invited a few mates around from Vallila & Walsrode + we carried some leftovers to Vartiokylä to a friend who had just ordered some indian with her sister. Does the strawberry cream kakku go with curry? At least the thank you message said that they enjoyed the dessert.

As e.g. in Finnish phone books V & W are often under the same heading V,W, this time we only invited people from towns/cities/places starting with V & W covering the above mentioned placed in the world... perhaps next time L for London & 'L-can't think of any other place where we have friends'? Sorry guys... The cake was good though :) ha ha ha...

Pyöräilyretkimme Ahvenanmaan ympärillä

Kartta / Map: From Åland cycle tour 2009

Olen päättänyt kirjoittaa Ahvenanmaasta pyöräilyretkistä suomeksi ja ilman Konnan apua. Todennäköisesti huonosti. Toivon että en tee lian paljon isoa virhettä, tai ymmärretään vahan kuitenkin. Tee kommentti niin että minä voin korjata niitä!

Ehkä minun pitää kääntää sitä englanniksi myös...


I’ve decided to write about our Åland cycle trip (probably badly) in Finnish and mostly without Konna’s help (unless I’m really stuck). I hope that I don’t make too many big mistakes, or it can be understood at least. I have asked the Finnish speakers to make comments so that I can correct the most glaring errors.

Of course the irony is that Swedish is spoken in Åland, not Finnish, so I didn’t get much practice there!

Almost forgot: I think we’ll put up the posts with retrospective dates so they will be before this post; and some photos are already here if you just can't wait for the blog.

I do have some reference material at least...

Waft of tar

Pommern anchored in Mariehamn

On our last day in Mariehamn we visited the famous four-masted barque Pommern (built in 1903), which belonged to Ålander Gustaf 'Gusta' Erikson in its hay day when it used to carry grain from Spencer Gulf area in Australia to harbours in Uk & Ireland until the WWII. Pommern's strategic measurements are a bit different to Linden's... Made of steel her length is 95m, width 13m & draught 7.5m. The windjammers were able to attain great speeds; most four-masted barques were able to cruise at 15kn on plausible winds, some logged 18kn regularly - and Herzogin Cecilie is known to have logged 21kn. This was excellent on long voyages against steamers doing barely 8kn. Pommern now sits still in the harbour. Her sails are not hoisted anymore, she is only towed to the boat yard for regular maintenance works once a year or so - but she is truly a windjammer from the era long gone (can't wait to see the Tall Ship Race that comes to Turku this year...).

The Mariehamn Sea Museum has a fantastic exhibition on the last grain race around the treacherous waters of Cape Horn in 1949. This was a race against the clock between Pommern & Pamir on Pommern's favour. The exhibition in the museum and on board Pommern prompted me to buy a book titled 'The Duchess'.

'The Duchess' tells a story of Pommern's sister ship Herzogin Cecilie (ship named after a German duchess; book written by the skipper's wife Pamela Eriksson 1958), who was wrecked off the coast of Devon in the summer of 1936. Parts of the ship are now exhibited in the museum for visitors to admire, but the true marvel of Herzogin Cecilie is well captured on the pages of The Duchess - with the occasional peculiar waft of tar when turning the pages (no kidding!).

Interesting link for 'a survivor's story' to be read with regards to the last voyage of Herzogin Cecilie.

Strategic measurements

Sails up!

Early afternoon of the 18th July we arrived to Mariehamn (Maarianhamina in Finnish) and we had some time in our hands after setting up the camp to Gröna Uddens camp site (middle of the city, on the coast... like everything else). Conveniently it was the Sea Days of Mariehamn and the city was bustling with people, activities such as Rock off, gathering of old American cars & all sorts of boats, e.g. schooner Linden - and we hopped on board for an evening sail.

Her strategic measurements are:

- length 49m

- max beam 8.6m

- height of the masts 32m

- sail area 632 m2

- draught 3m

Linden sails under the flag of Ahvenanmaa (of Finland)

On board we admired the lovely scenery and enjoyed 'kalakeitto' (= fish soup), 'saaristoleipä' (special archipelago bread, which takes approx. 3 days to bake) + 'Ålannin pannukakku' (=Åland's pancakes) with jam & cream and witnessed the last moments of Emmdee's camera. You have to stick with my photos for a while now... :(

Kalakeitto + dark saaristoleipä (which I don't like!!!) and pannukakku with jam & cream

Melontaretki

I'm heading to the open waters through a narrow passage

It was a pretty still & sunny day when we rented kayaks from the Föglö camping site near Finholma. We had a break from cycling on Thursday 16th July and what could have been a better past time than relaxing legs on board of a kayak. We took a local map & compass with us & bottles of water. Hat was a necessity as the sun was beaming on us.

We spotted a heron or a stork couple (didn't recognise which!... Emmdee only saw the legs underneath, so it could have been anything really...), ducks (sorsia), grebes (silkkiuikkuja), an otter (saukko), and some other sea wild life such as Emmdee capsised near the shore...

On board of Emmdee & staring at him investigating an old boat shed

After the 'melontaretki' we relaxed in the sauna, which had a fantastic setting on the rocky shore - we also threw our winter fur coats away... which means we swam in the sea (can also be a lake) first time this summer... yeah yeah - better late than never!

Sauna (bastu in Swedish) & the view out from the sauna's terrace

One year on

verilettuja ja puolukkan hiloa - blood pancakes and lingonberry jam

Today is a year to the day when we came to Finland (or rather was, as this is a retrospective post because of being off peddling in Åland and not having an internet connection in our tent).

I feel like this should be significant, but strangely can't find much to say about it even though a lot has happened in the last 12 months:

1. Quit job
2. Rented out London flat
3. Moved to Finland (obviously)
4. Didn't get a job (yet)
5. Visited a few places / buildings (by foot, cycle, boat, train, plane, canoe, kayak, ferry, sledge, (husky and reindeer), skis, snow shoes, schooner, 'meze', and ladder)
6. Took some photos; okay a lot of photos
7. Learnt some Finnish - Nyt minä ymmärrän (ekhä sanoisin vain kirjoitan ja luen) suomen kieli parempi kuin vimme vuonna, on totta, mutta ei puhu hyvin tai nopeasti vielä. Tiedän minun täytyy harjiottaa lisää puhuminen, kunneleminen, kirijoittaminen ja lukeminen suomeksi.
8. Sold London flat
9. Entered an architecture competition
10. Had a few saunas (electric, wood and smoke)
11. Eaten sausage, moose, blood pancakes, cloudberries, lingonberries, macaroni laatikko, rye bread, salmon...

It would be good if I could at least say that the 'culture shock' is over - but since I haven't worked here yet I think that is really still yet to come... ask me next year.

Timeless expressions

My other half has noted that I make LOADS of spelling mistakes when I write (in English that is - as not sure he would find the Finnish mistakes - yet!)... This was also pointed out to me by a good friend in Uk (who thinks that her spelling is perfect... and that everyone lives in a perfect world of spelling!!!) - My response is: 'Annetaan kaikkien kukkien kukkia' (=Let all flowers to bloom) and continue blog writing even with not so perfect language skills :) A colleague of mine here in Finland has pointed out to me many times that I should write a book (ha ha - there you go you spelling chekers!) and has already figured out the name of the book & my writer name. It goes like this: Imperfect life of Joan Coupé. So if one day YOU - English friend of mine in Uk walk along the street & see Imperfect life of Joan Coupé in the window of Borders, be happy as the book is for you :) Check all you want - there will be millions of spelling mistakes - unless the editor has managed to find them all!

This brings me to (who knows how) the image above - Timeless expressions, which is the Aalto exhibition at Vellamo Maritime Centre in Kotka and to the story told on a short film re: Aalto's pants... 'Usually Aalto wore quite elegant black shorts at the summer place of the family when some visitors (even reporters & famous folk from abroad) came around. One day he was wearing dirty, baggy trousers when some important visitors were scheduled to arrive to the Muuratsalo experimental house. The wife of Aalto's pointed out this (which might have been a mistake) as Aalto is said to have started loudly protesting against this making a point that he wore exact same pair at the Paris World Fair many years back... also taking (used) handkerchiefs from his pockets throwing them around in front of the visitors saying that he used the handkerchiefs at the fair too'. Nice... So be careful before you comment on other peoples spelling as I might start throwing deliberate/random midtakes everywhere and your time will go in correcting them! HA - there you go.



Models of Aalto's small houses made by students - I can spot Villa Mairea in there... + my friend's face - can you?

P.S. It's worth your while visiting the exhibition if you are near Kotka anyways this summer. The film is funny & informative (but shown on a miniscule screen). The models are interesting too... Otherwise the usual is on show - Remember though that Sunila is very near Kotka, so pop in there too.
P.P.S. I spelt Morrissey wrong - hmmm...

Day trip to...

...Merikeskus Vellamo in Kotka on Sunday was pleasant. Maritime Centre Vellamo is a museum building in Kotka harbour (approx. 2h from Helsinki towards East) and was opened to the public on June last year. The building was designed by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects. Building's exterior is mainly steel & glass - interior uses timber. Our second visit to this location had a better weather than last time - but still windy.

Missä on sähkötonttu?

KESÄLOMALLA? Is sähkötonttu on summer holiday?

It's Eino Leino's day ( & summer & poetry) today and the flags are up again. It is very peculiar that our third writer, Sähkötonttu has not been 'around' lately... He's been missing some of the flag days in the past, but... He must have a good explanation for his/her absense. Some of our blog readers have been asking after tonttu... Oh well, we'll see tonttu when we'll see tonttu - as simple as that...

2 kysymystä

Kysymys 1: Mikä ei kuulu joukkoon?
Q 1: What does not belong in this picture?


Kysymys 2: Kuka on lavalla
Q 2: Who's on stage?

Some clues: both berries are red & Kaapelitehdas on 27 June 09 gig.
Kiitos kakusta Mari!Oli hyvää :)

Pure Laziness

Can't be bothered to post really, but I will update the header with this months image... these things are everywhere this time of year.

The competition is in by the way... so Jonna gets some now (competition on the blog that is)

Oh and I got a 5- on my level 7 Suomen Kieli the other week, despite getting everything wrong.
And level 8 is buggeringly hard.

If you know what I mean.

Partisiipit, ihana...

I'm really going now, move along, nothing to see here...