Family - The World is Quite Big

Uganda

This was a trip we had booked in 2019, to run in the 2020 Uganda Marathon. We were supposed to fly out in May, but in March, were obviously told it was postponed due to Covid.

Two years later than planned, here we go! We had quite a few hoops to jump through before leaving. Yellow Fever vaccine for all, rabies, typhoid, anything that can kill you really! We had to get PCR done for the kids. Vaccinated travellers were fine, but our flight was going via Kigali, Rwanda, and they wanted us to have a Lat Flow! Me and Char had one done. Also had to get anti malarials. They’re quite expensive, but better than getting the malaria!

Flew with Brussels Airline. Meh. Only good thing (for us) was that the plane broke about two hours from Rwanda, and they said we had to go straight to Entebbe, Uganda! Result!

Entebbe

We had booked a place called Gorilla Africa Guesthouse, as recommended by the company we are doing the marathon with. Very basic room, but friendly and accommodating staff. Kids loved it there, especially Stan, who made friends with everyone, guests, and workers, and left them with a smile on their faces.

Over the three days here, we did a couple of days out. First one was to Nakiwogo Ferry crossing port. Not to see that really, more to see Lake Victoria, but also to see the sights on the way. It was awesome. Totally different way of life. Chickens and goats roaming around, motorbikes carrying three people at a time, shops selling shoes and bananas, or chickens and bread. Everyone waved and said hello, no one was harassing us to buy from them, it was a lovely experience.

And then it rained. And rained. It is coming to the end of the rainy season, where it heavily rains for a bit, and then gets sunny again. But not today. We found an empty shop to hide in, under the corrugated roof. Half hour later, the guy in the shop next door saw us and invited us in. His shop sold drinks and potatoes. We bought a drink.

After this, we continued, as the rain had slowed. Finding somewhere to eat was difficult as it wasn’t always obvious if they sold food or were just having their packed lunch! We looked at a couple but didn’t know what they sold. It was like rows and rows of dilapidated beach huts, where they had things out the front, and inside was a table or two.

We ended up joining a family for lunch and ordered some rice and beef stew. Me and Stan had the beef and rice, Char and Amelia stuck with plain rice. Stan loved it! Ripping meat off a bone. Then the lady picked his meat out of the bowl, and pulled off some fatty bit, and then gave him back the beef. Imagine that in Pizza Express or summat!

Entebbe Zoo

The next day, we went to the Zoo. Or the Ugandan Wildlife and Education Centre. We wanted to do a ‘behind the scenes’ experience, but when we got there, the Visa machine was broken, and didn’t have enough schillings to pay. So, I asked the bloke if someone could take me to the ATM, and a dude turned up on a motorbike to take me. No helmets or anything, and off we went.

The zoo was ace. We had a guide called Geofrey, who took us round all the animals, into the animal enclosures, feeding them and that. The lions were ace. I felt his breath on my arm through the fence. Fed a rhino, giraffe, chimps, monkeys, and the highlight for ne was to stroke a shoebill stork! Man, they are ace!!

Then popped to the beach there, on Lake Victoria. We have seagulls who are shits and steal chips and that, but they have Maribou Storks! They are massive and well ugly. Funny though.

Masaka

Next day, we took a three-hour minibus ride to Masaka. The ‘marathon experience’ was now beginning. All organised and planned by them, so it was nice to be told where to be and when, even if it was on Ugandan time, meaning 12ish, instead of 12 on the dot.

Stopped at the equator for a bit, had some nice pics, and did some haggling in the shops. Dude wanted 30,000 schillings for a football top, we said 25,000, he said no, we said ok bye, he said ok 25,000. Weird that we were arguing over £1.20 or whatever!

Arrived at the hotel, which was luxury compared the lodge we had been staying in! Met a load of other people on the same adventure as us. Norwegian, German, USA, Spain, Hungarian, and a load of Brits. Everyone seemed nice, apart from a few who were a bit grumpy and not in the same spirit as everyone else! Weird.

Stan loved being around all these new people. He would just run off and chat to whoever, and they all loved him! Amelia was a bit shyer, but still enjoyed getting involved in things. All our meals were there, like a hot plate situation and you would go up and get what you need. Every day, there was always matoke. Matoke for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Matoke is banana, but a cooking type. Imagine a cooking apple, that you’d never eat off the tree – it was like that but didn’t taste of apple. Or banana really. It was more like a mash potato that was just a bit blander. They absolutely love it out there though! A staple food, national dish type stuff.

Over the next few days, we went out on various trips in smaller groups. We had picked who we wanted to assist and went to different places around Entebbe. The first we went to was a school/orphanage. It was a lovely day for us, but it seemed like a massive day for them! We were greeted by about fifty kids, and they put on a show, and did some singing, and spent time eating with them, and so so much playing. We then obviously waited for the hottest part of the day to start digging holes and moving earth, to get a slide and a roundabout put into holes, and then made-up cement to set it in. Lots of breaks to play throughout though. Stan and Amelia played along, and Amelia got to hold the babies that were there. Really lovely day.

Another visit was to one of the main sites that the charity has assisted – plastic recycling warehouse. This was a newish site, where they were still building parts of it. We did a round robin to help do different things, but my favourite bit was digging out a garden, and making a sustainable place to grow crops. It was bloody knackering, breaking rocks in the hot sun. I found a goat, which I picked up and had a pic with. He was cool.

The next day, we did an amazing parade through Masaka. It was part promotion for the marathon, and part litter pick through the roads. There was a vehicle with music and a microphone, which Stan kept jumping in and chatting to people on! It was a lovely atmosphere, with plenty of smiles. We did a few early morning runs around the area too, so was nice to be able to slow down and see things, rather than just panting through.

We visited the main recycling centre for plastics – Ecobrix. This place was amazing. It employed people, it took plastic off the street and from Lake Victoria, processed them, and made things using little pellets which were then moulded into things. Everything from plant pots, to earrings, to paving stones and even park benches! We helped make a path using the bricks, and also made some benches, which were like level 10 Ikea flat pack stuff! Amazing though, seeing ‘single-use plastic’ being turned into something that can be used again and again.

The marathon itself was horrendous! So hot, so tiring. The worst bit was it was two loops of 13.1 miles. The first half marathon I did a decent time, of 2 hours, which wasn’t bad! The second half took me 4 hours though, which is fairly long! The hills were horrid, with one being called ‘the beast’. The pictures do not do it justice. There were loads of locals doing it too, including a Prince of some sort. I think he beat me by a fair bit. There were people running in jeans, flip flops, and one guy in football boots! The ground was solid, so God knows how he got around. A lot of them did the 10km, which was wise. Charlotte and the kids did the 10km, which is bloody ace.

It was such a great day, and such a good end to 10 days of loveliness. The people we met along the way, the volunteers, the people who took care of everything, were all such great people. The kids saw a part of the world that not many kids would see, saw cultures and ways of life that would not be seen, and immersed themselves in it. They tried foods that you can’t get from KFC or McDonalds, played with kids from a deaf school, danced with people shaking their booties, and ran away from cows walking down the road.

My daughter Amelia holding a smaller child

It’s a lovely country, but one that has a different mindset to the LGBTQ+ community, that does not align with my views. A year after coming back, they passed a law that made it illegal, and persecuted many who can not now be themselves. I am grateful for the time I spent there with my family, but we will not be returning anytime soon. The work the charity does is amazing, and they have helped so many people in poverty, who have very little, and have improved the local area, and I’m happy that we left a tiny mark on that little part of a lovely country.

Red brick building, with a hole, and a child peering through, smiling.

Finland Road Trip

This was an 8-day trip to Finland. Road trip innit. We stuck to the South West of the country, as wanted to do as much as possible, whilst not doing too much driving, which sort of contradicts a road trip doesn’t it? You know what I mean.

Left the house at 0300. Eurgh. Kids didn’t sleep in the car. Eurgh. Went to Heathrow. Used Happy Days parking. Eurgh. Nothing happy apart from the price! Had to call 30 mins before arriving, to make sure they were out of bed probs. Guy drove like a maniac. Dropped his mate at T5 before dropping us to T3.

Finnair

Flew with Finnair, and they were lovely!! Never heard of them before but would defo fly with them again. And not just for the return flight. Every single stage was a 10 out of 10. We were taking car seats for the first time, as getting a hire car. I knew Ryanair and that check them in for free. I asked Finnair on Twitter and said it was fine.

I asked a crew member where to take them, and she said to pop to the business class desk. She checked passports, and that. She asked if we were checking any bags in, which we weren’t. We each had a carry-on suitcase, and a small bag. This is a lot to be carrying round, but manageable. We asked if could check any on for free, and she said, ‘yeah sure, it’s a full flight so why not’. Put on all our suitcases, and a back pack. Result! Oh, and another woman took our car seats off in a plastic bag. Made it a lot easier going through security and that!

Got on flight. Comfy seats. Nice. Slept for a bit, as did Stan. Char was sat behind us, which was a result for her!

Landed in Helsinki. We had booked a hire car, and the form said to call when we arrived and meet in P3B, a car park in airport. I rang him and he told me to check my paperwork. He said I should have been there at 0900. It was 1300. He sounded quite smug about it. Turns out, the guy had been given an incorrect time. Paperwork/I was right. 1300. Had to wait 30 mins for him to arrive. We had a sandwich in a car park.

Got a white Renault Clio Estate. It worked and that. Took a while getting used to left hand drive, I even did an extra lap around the car park. This was with FinnRent, who were the cheapest we found. I don’t trust car hire companies, but these were alright. Even took the wrong amount as deposit, which suited us fine!

There was a sat nav in the car. I would have used my google maps, but there was nowhere nice to put it, using one of those air vent magnet things. The car sat nav was good though, and even plugged my music in from the phone and that.

Tampere

Went to our first destination on the road trip. A city called Tampere. This is the biggest inland city in Finland. It’s split by a lake and there’s quite a lot to do there. We got to our hotel, Scandic Rosendahl, which is the Scandinavian equivalent of Travelodge. Char wanted a more expensive one, which was defo nicer, but this one came with free breakfast.

We knew food would be more expensive here, so I chose this! It was also next to one of the things I wanted to see. Pyynikki Tower. It’s an observation tower which has a bit of history I won’t bore you with. We went to the top, which is only 26 metres, however it’s on a 150m hill thing. I say hill, it’s actually the highest esker in the world! Amazing right!? Yeah, me neither. An esker is a ridge of stratified sand or gravel. Yeah me neither. It’s the highest in the world though, so ticked that off my list.

Another thing about this tower is the restaurant at the bottom. Well, cafe. They sell doughnuts which are famous in Finland. Recipe hasn’t changed for 80 years, but then again there isn’t much you can put in a normal ring doughnut. There is an ingredient in which makes it taste nice mind.

After the tower, we walked to the lake, to find the beach! Ha a beach on a lake. It was amazing mind. Lovely sand, and a frozen lake. It defo would have held my weight, but Char was not available for me to have a go. Kids threw stones and sticks on to break it, but it didn’t. Kids found a tennis ball and gave it to a dog.

Went back to hotel and checked out the restaurant. It was a no from us. Club sandwich was €18.50. I normally base prices on a margarita pizza, but this sandwich showed me we weren’t going to eat in there tonight! Went to McDonald’s instead.

Had breakfast in the hotel. Buffet. Really nice. Loads of choice, perfect croissants, hot food, cold food, cereals, meats, juice. You know how buffets work. Meelie and Stan helped themselves to a plate of wiener sausages, even though he didn’t like them.

Next, we headed into Tampere centre. First stop was a car park. It was free till 1400 on a Sunday. Put €2 in cover is for after 1400, and it gave us 38 mins. It was €6.70 for two hours. We used the free mins.

First on the list was a waterfall thing. It was some rapids, which acted like a lock between two levels of the lake. It was connected to a power station or something. Nice though. Love lock bridge over it. Played poo sticks, but kids threw them too far into the lake, so they just sat there.

Over the road was an amazing kids park! Best one we’d been to I reckon. Kids loved it. Weird thing we noticed was all the kids were in ski suit things. Like full on trouser and top combo things. It wasn’t that cold. We were in normal clothes, no hat scarf gloves and that. It was about 7 degrees, but warm in the sun.

After this we went to Tampere Cathedral. It’s not as nice as Lichfield Cathedral, more like a lovely church. Inside was nice mind. I wanted to go here to see the frescoes by Hugo Simberg. The paintings are proper dark, and not the usual religious types you’d get. There’s one called The Wounded Angel, which was voted Finland’s national painting.

Next on the list was 3D Crush Cafe. Weird name, right? Well it has a 3D printer. Duh. That’s not why we went though. We went because it’s also a rabbit cafe!! Like a cat cafe, but rabbits! Had a drink and then went into bunny room. They wouldn’t play with us at first, but after watching a woman pay €2.50 for some salad and treats, we soon had them all around us!

Back to the park for 5 mins, before having to get into the car and head to the next destination, in between Tampere and Rauma.

Countryside

This was Char’s choice of AirBnB and what a choice it was! It was in the middle of nowhere, next to a lake. Perfect. It really was idyllic. Lake was mostly frozen.

The bit by our place had been defrosted by a pump under the water. This was for the Finnish sauna experience!

The guy met us and showed us around. The path was all full of snow, but luckily the hire car had snow tyres on. Loads of metal studs embedded in the tyre. Like tap dancing shoes or summat.

Had a walk round to see his pet deer (plural)! That was pretty cool. They had a lovely dog too, which I think was called Menth, or Menthol. Never really knew. Had a drive to the shop to get food for the couple of days. Nice supermarket. Had them trolleys attached to a car so the kids can sit in, but it took an age to turn as they were well heavy.

There were no footprints before we got there.

Got back. I had 6 episodes of diarrhoea. Went to bed.

Yyteri Beach

Next day we drove to Yyteri beach. This was paradise. It’s the longest beach in Finland, and one of their favourites. There were about 8 other people there altogether. Had a lovely play and that. Kids played with some Finns, we talked to their Mam. She said she was proud of her area, which is nice, and surprised that we had come to visit it.

Needed some food so I googled where to go. The lady recommended somewhere, but it wasn’t open till midday tomorrow. I found a nice beach hut cafe on an island near us. Got there, and it was closed! Had a sign on the door which probs said ‘gone fishing’ or summat.

Looked at map and I had circled something nearby, so we went there. It was a couple of islands away, a place called Reposaari. This place was lovely. All wooden houses; yellow, blue, red. We stopped at a road side diner thing. Was busy, and nice! Proper greasy spoon place, but part of the community.

Hotdogs, burgers and a kebab!! Winner. And an ice cream. Drove to a church, which is not only lovely, but the place the Finnish Prime Minister got married in secret in 2009! It was locked. Then, we found an old fort! It was ace. The locals had built it in 1936 in case of an attack from the west. Proper little village who all got together to protect what was theirs. Nice beach with pebbles and a great day out altogether.

No signposts for this place, just this one.

This was a lookout they built. Faced out to sea.

Think it was rebuilt in 1994, or this weather vane was.

Got back to the lake house, and the kids had a dip in the ice-cold water! They wanted to dip their toes in, but we stripped them off before their bath, and they got in. Amelia was a bit braver than Stan, but they both loved it!

I had a go later on too! Finnish style. I had made the sauna and got it nice and warm before having a go. Bloody freezing!! Char wasn’t as ready to have a go. Put one toe in, and that was that.

A bit cold. I did get my shoulders in too!

Old Rauma

New house day!! We had planned a trip to Old Rauma, which is in Rauma, which isn’t called New Rauma weirdly. It’s one of these old villages that kept its old way charm, and brings loads of visitors in. It’s a proper village, with plenty of normal businesses there. We had a mooch, went to a bakery and had lovely cakes and coffee.

We were walking down a road when a massive lorry was trying to reverse park or something. As we waited, and waited, they finally did it, got out and opened the side door. It was a florist lorry from the Netherlands. Looked in and it was ace, with all flowers stacked up. Stan said hello to the guy, and then he gave him a bunch of flowers! Stan then began giving them out to people, which was really sweet.

Went into Old Rauma church, which was nice. Woman spoke to us for a bit, telling us about the paintings. Stan gave her a flower. We then went to a charity shop, or a bric and brac shop. Kids got a tiny toy each, and it took 3 workers 4 minutes how much to charge us. 90 cents was the answer. I gave a Euro. I’m good like that.

Went to go for some lunch and chose Hesburger. We’d seen loads around. It’s like a McDonald. Or a quick burger. Nice mind!

Quite a lot of fruit machines in supermarkets.

Turku

Drove to Turku, where our next AirBnB was. Turku was the Capital city before Helsinki. When the Swedes were running Finland, it was top city, but the pesky Russians took over, and they made Helsinki capital. Probs because it’s closer to St Petersburg.

Turku has loads of history. It’s the oldest city in Finland. It’s got Turku Archipelago, with 20,000 islands. First night there, we stayed in and watched Benji on Netflix. Shocking film. 2 stars out of 10.

In the morning, we made a picnic, and set off to Kurjenrahken National Park. Finland has quite a few national parks, which is weird as most of the place looks like a national park! Seriously, you can just be driving down a normal road, and the lakes and trees look so beautiful.

Took 40 mins to get there. Parked up and set of around the lake. This day could probs be a whole blog post on its own, so I’ll just summarise main points!

The lake was a 6km route. We walked on normal paths, and a wooden railway track like balance beam path, which was cool. We walked through snow and ice and then found a spot for the picnic-a small jetty on a frozen bit of the lake. Amazing! Tried to get a nice picture of us all but failed. Too many shadows, kids not smiling, me closing my eyes, the usual.

Such a cool track to walk on and follow. Good over the boggy bits!

Propped up on my bag, couldn’t see all the shadows and that!

Carried on walking and found a little museum thing. Oh, I forgot to mention, we found an ace abandoned house! Lovely building, but weirdly empty. There was stuff in there, but no one had lived there for a while. Was like a Chernobyl thing!

Still not sure if someone lived here or not!

Carried on, and that’s when the bad thing happened. We got lost. I say lost, we weren’t ‘lost’, we had just lost the path. I tried going cross country to save some time, and ended up wasting an hour walking around the same spot! Main problem was, a swampy river, and no way of crossing it. Ended up swallowing our (my) pride, and headed to the last place we were, and found a car park.

Another lake, another jetty. Better light.

I ended up running all the way back and getting the car and driving to meet them. It was a 3km Run, which I went the wrong way first of all. Because of roads and that, it was a 20 min drive back to them! All fine in the end!

Drove home but we decided to see some of the islands in the archipelago. I tried finding ferry times and boat crossings but struggled. So, we just hopped over a bridge. Ended up at a beach in Saro, past a nice place called Ruissalo, which looked like a perfect camping place. Looked out and saw some other islands and wish we could have got a boat to go to more!

He was picking up stones to throw. One of his favourite things.

Came home, did a bit of packing as needed to get out early next day to see as much of Turku as we could before driving to Helsinki.

Went to Turku centre. Parked by the river Aura and had a wander down it. There’s a saying, which is like a joke, as to what the sides of the river are called. In Budapest, one side is Buda, one is Pest. In Turku it’s ‘this side of the river’ and ‘the other side of the river’. It’s funny.

We stopped at a boat restaurant and had an ice cream and coffee. It was right next to the ferry I had planned to catch. It’s a free ferry, or Fori, which takes you from one side of the river to the other. Now, it’s quicker to walk over the bridge which is a few minutes’ walk away. The crossing takes about 2 mins. It’s ridiculous! And that’s why I loved it.

This is what 5 Euros gets you in Ice Cream.

Walked back along the river to the Library. I think these are underused in the UK. We have internet and that. Who needs books!? Well, this library is ace. It was well busy! Folk just having a chill, catching up, using the toilet. There was a really good children’s section with a play room and that. Spent about half hour there.

Next, we had a traditional Subway lunch. Expensive, like €28. Woman wouldn’t even give Amelia tuna in her kids sub because ‘rules are rules’.

Walked over the river, went to Turku cathedral. This was nice, but not as good as Tampere’s. Ooh bet that will get the rivalry going! Funny fact about these two cities. Turku burnt down in the 1800’s. 26 people died and about 80% of the city was destroyed. This isn’t the funny bit. The comical bit is, everyone from Turku was in Tampere, at a big market thing! This meant that less people died, but also more of it burnt down because there was no one there to put the fire out!

Loads of these statues along the riverside

Went to the museum. Not to look around, but to see the shop and use the toilet. Looked good though. Back to the car and set off for Helsinki.

Helsinki

Found the AirBnB after an age. Directions weren’t great. She wasn’t in to meet us, like most do, as she had to look after her neighbours’ hairless dog. True story. Had to buzz a load of numbers to get in to the apartment block. Came back to the car to see Char and the kids arguing with a funny, angry man about the parking space I had plonked the car in.

Unpacked car. Drove to supermarket, which would have been quicker to walk to. Got stuff for next three days. Drove back, which would have been quicker to walk to. Then I had to take the hire car back. I had rung up to change drop off point. They wanted €30 to change it to one-way trip, rather than round trip back to airport, which I had booked. After booking AirBnB, found it easier to take back to city centre. I then told the dude that I wanted to make a complaint about the pick-up time mix up. He got back to me and said the €30 is waivered. Win.

Got car washed and vacuumed and that. €20 to use a garage car wash!! What a swizz. That was the cheapest. Took car to Crowne Plaza. Got a tram home. Phone died before getting off so had to guess where I lived and where to get off. I lost. Then won again.

First day in Helsinki proper. Got metro to centre, well, University, and walked to Cathedral and that. Library was closed because of Jesus dying and that. (Oh, it was Easter. This made sense when I wrote it, not so much 2 weeks later). Shame as it looked good! Cathedral was good though. That defo wasn’t closed. Char made me laugh and I missed an opportunity which I was upset about for the rest of the day. A woman who worked in cathedral was taking down the numbers they put up to tell you what hymns to sing. I said something about countdown, and Char said ‘I’ll have 2 from the top and 4 small ones’. I wanted to video the lady whilst saying that as it would have made a great video, but was too slow. Bah.

Quite a lot of nice street art. Electric boxes done to look pretty.

Left there, had a wander round Senate Square, then ended up by the harbour and into a market. Looked for a fridge magnet. Found one. Stan had picked a daffodil from a basket display thing at Senate Square and had carried it around. He then turned around and gave it to a market seller man. The guy was like ‘mamma Mia’ if he was Italian, and was so moved by it, he gave Stan a thing from his stall! He only sold one thing. Furry soap. Not even joking. It was worth €6 so well-done Stan!! Went to next stall and I said ‘Amelia, give her a flower’! She didn’t.

That;s the flower he picked. Not a clue what she is doing.

Stan then said hello to a blacksmith, which was actually a silversmith, and he let Stan hammer a fish or something. It was made of metal, not a real one.

There was a London Eye thing, or Sky Wheel as the call it. Amelia wanted to go in, so we did. €38 for a family ticket. Was good though. Went around three times. Waved at the operator woman each time. She wasn’t impressed any of the times. Waved back out of pressured waving from us. Finished that.

Went over a bridge to an orthodox looking church. Bells were ringing at 10 to the hour, which I thought was weird. We walked in, but I noticed folk were wearing suits and that. As we got into the main bit, there was a sign saying ‘Divine Service. No Sight Seeing’. We turned around and left before we burst into flames.

Decided to go to the Cat Cafe, so jumped on to a tram. We had bought a 2-day travel pass at the metro. €9 for one day, €13.50 for 2. It cost me €2.50 for one tram ride the day before, so thought this worked out well. Got off at a main shopping bit and googled the cat cafe. Said it cost €5 each to get in!!? Bore off. We had McDonalds instead.

Next on the list was Torni Hotel. This used to be Finland’s tallest building when it was built, but now it’s number 9. Or is it Helsinki’s tallest, well, 9th now? Whatever. It does have the best views of the city. It’s up in the top floor, obviously, where there is a little bar and that. Good views.

Saw this place on Travel Man with Richard Ayoade.

Went down and walked to Esplandi Park. Not much of a park, more a sliver of not city. Like a Central Park, but more concrete. Nice fountain at the end, called Havis Amanda. I know nothing of it, except she liked seals apparently. There’s a fair bit on Wikipedia if you fancy reading it. Looks like she was a French prostitute. That’s the gist.

Like Birmingham’s ‘Floozie in the Jacuzzi’.

We had time on our side, so jumped on a ferry to Suomenlinna. This is covered in the travel pass, which is nice. Otherwise it’s a fiver to cross. 15-minute ferry trip to an old fort island. Loads of history here. Owned by the Finns during a war. Taken over by the Russians for a hundred years. Given back and that. There’s a few museums and cafes. Quite cool! It’s also a UNESCO Heritage site. As was Old Rauma. So, we ticked off 2! There was one we missed out though – an old burial site. Didn’t look cool.

Got back and headed home. Back to metro, stopped at the supermarket, which we did on the way there too! Three visits in 24 hours!

Saturday. Normal day pretty much with Jesus having his little lay down before the big show tomorrow! Got on a tram and went 3 stops to the Rock Church. Not a cool music place, but a cool religious place. It’s literally made out of rocks. Carved into a cave, and then built around it with rocks and that. Pretty good place. Cost €3 to get in, which is a bit bonkers to pay to get into a church. Not like there’s loads of upkeep. Yeah, go and get another stone lads, this one looks weird.

Would be a great place for a ‘rock’ concert.

Next, we walked to the Natural History museum. This was pretty good!! Not as big as London’s, but the displays were amazing and looked well nice. Stan absolutely loved it. Racing ahead to see the next thing, and the next. Good stuff.

Over the road was Helsinki Art Museum, or HAM. This was on my list as I saw a free art workshop was going on today. Stopped for a traditional Hesburger first of all though. It’s a big complex, with a cinema in it and food places. Pic and mix was massive.

As we went into the HAM, there were loads of people putting on those forensic suits, or painting suits, whichever way you think. We were about to get stuck in, but then the woman told us we had to go to the next room.

Really helpful chap showed us all the bits and bobs we could use, and the glue gun and things. Kids and us enjoyed making a load of stuff which broke later on, but was really nice. Some people were in there on their own making stuff, others were with kids. Nice little space for some art therapy. Oh, there’s a massive seagull there too. Obviously.

Next, and my thing I was most looking forward to today was the Museum of Contemporary Art. Kiasma. I had looked at the exhibitions and a couple tickled my fancy, especially the ‘The Stage is Yours’ one. 5 artists with different things where the viewer gets involved to make the art happen.

The first floor was a great woman called Liu Susiraja, from Finland. She just looks like a fun person, who pokes fun at herself. Candid pictures are amazing. Then there was someone who made microbe art.

Stage is yours was the best floor. First one wasn’t great. Some bloke videoing folk doing weird stuff to microphones.

Second was a tin can phone thing, but you didn’t know who was on the other end, or if there was anyone there at all.

Third was the best. A stage, and some headphones. You could get up, wearing the headphones, where a bloke was telling you to do weird stuff. Like run around, or shout ‘the government are using seagulls as spies’ or just roll on the floor. Great bit of fun. If no one joins in, there is no ‘art’. Stan proper got into it! Sign said it wasn’t suitable for kids, but he did it so well!!

Proper enjoyed this. That’s Stan on the floor.

Fourth was a life model drawing, but it was a three-metre doll thing. Amelia’s pic is hilarious.

Fifth was where people sew stuff, fix clothes whilst having a chat with you. We had a nice Spanish woman who used to live in Leamington Spa.

Upstairs was a massive hair thing. Bit weird. It was called ‘Shop Lifter’. Didn’t get it.

Went home after this. Stopped off at a sweet shop in the main train station. Metro home. 2 stops. It’s such a small city really, but doesn’t feel it. Easy to get from one side to the other. Can walk it in an hour I reckon! Like the whole of the bottom bit of the city, east to west. Have a look at the map, it’ll make sense.

This was a metro ‘cave’, with paintings. Great.

Char packed. I put kids to bed. We had a sauna. There’s one in the bathroom. There’s one in most houses. We had one in the last two houses too! 5 million people live in Finland, and there are 3.3 million saunas. Great day today.

Lazy morning. I say lazy, I went for a bit of a run. London Marathon is next week, and I haven’t done enough training. It was only a bit of a run. I kept stopping to look at things, like the hundred people fishing in the sea! Seriously, all of them just bringing up 4 sardines at a time, or whatever they were.

There were 10x this amount along the bridge and dock.

Came home and after getting all packed up and dressed and that, took kids and Char to go see them. Stan now wants to go on a fishing holiday.

Oh, got told off by one of the neighbours because the kids ran down the corridor. Apparently, it’s ‘in the rules that you can’t make noise’.

Went to the shopping centre, had a Subway. Had a walk home and left for the airport. Walk, metro, train, plane.

Finnair great again. Let us put our bags on for free. She had to make a call this time though. I had a spare seat next to me on the plane. Felt smug. Until the kid behind decided today was the time he wanted to learn to play drums on my chair.

Finland was amazing. Genuinely felt like such a lovely country. People were amazing. There’s this thing where they don’t like talking to people, hate small talk, and that suits me fine!

If I was to do it again, I’d do Helsinki first, and then the road trip. I enjoyed the countryside and open air more than Helsinki, I think. I loved the capital, and would go back, but in hindsight, I would have preferred it the other way around.

Defo needed to hire a car. Public transport is probably ok but wouldn’t have wanted to rely on it to do the trip we did. Was nice to have the freedom to go where we want and when and that. Defo don’t need a car in Helsinki. Metro, tram and feet are all you need. Lovely compact city. I was going to finish but didn’t want ‘lovely compact city’ to be the final words. So, the final word will be Kiitos which is thank you in Finnish. It’s nicer than ‘lovely compact city’.

Rome (and The Vatican City)

Rome

We had been to Italy before, but there is so much of it to explore! Had to come to Rome, loads to see and do. The history is everywhere, and it wasn’t built in a day etc.

Flights were cheap, probably. AirBnB, certainly. I chose somewhere that was cheapish, not too far away from centre, and near a metro. Think it was Metro there, underground, subway whatever. I just checked – it was.

Took a train from the airport, but then took ages to find theAirBnB. We did what we’ve had to do a few times – go back to the listing and have a look at what the picture of the place looks like, and try and play I Spy for it on the street! Gave the guy a call in the end and found it.

Headed straight out to have a look around. Went to the Metro which I knew was a couple of minute’s walk to find there was a strike on that day, and the Metro was not Metroing anyone anywhere. Had to get a bus instead. We didn’t pay for it. It’s one of the most confusing things to work out – paying for buses or trams. Trains aren’t too bad. There’s normally a ticket machine, or a booth. Bus stops don’t. The driver sometimes won’t take money as most have little Oyster type card things. Might work them all out one day. Ultimately, play the ‘Risk of a Fine’ game.

Pyramid

Adjacent to the metro was a Pyramid, obviously. Called Pyramid of Cestius. It’s a tomb for some bloke called Cestius and was built over 2,000 years ago! You can go in every 2^nd and 4^th Saturday, if you’ve pre-booked. If that’s your thing.

Not sure what the dribble is on Amelia’s top!

Colosseum

Ended up at the Colosseum. For me, this is the Big Ben, Eiffel Tower or Empire State Building of Rome. Albeit a lot older. We hadn’t planned on going inside, but ended up just popping in. Glad we did mind. Even though I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like back in the day (apart from watching Gladiator), the architecture was amazing, along with the sense of awesomeness. Yes, spellcheck didn’t tell me that wasn’t a word!

Wonder if they had ticket touts back in the day?

Big fan of stranger’s finger in our family pic.

Found a cat rescue place. Loads of strays in the walled gardens ruins things, and then an underground bunker full of Italian cats. Had a walk to Piazza Venezzia and saw a cool building called Altare della Patria, or Vittoriano. Apparently, a lot of Romans aren’t too keen on it, but I liked it.

Trevi Fountain

Went to the Trevi Fountain. Standard Rome tourist site. It’s ok. 4/10 I suppose. It’s just weird how something can get so crowded at all times of the day! This was the first time I felt like a ‘tourist’ in Rome. Had a McDonalds after that, and went home.

The Vatican

Next day, we went to another country. The Vatican City. Double-tick. Place is nice, I like what they’ve done to it. Decided to go into St Peter’s Basilica. Queue was massive like. There’s loads of touts trying to get you to buy their tickets. I didn’t. After a while of queuing, in the sunshine, we got in. It’s pretty cool inside. Loads of money spent on it I reckon! Ceiling and dome is impressive. Load of incense burning here and there, candles, oldstatues, gold leaf. Had a good wander round, then I decided to climb up to the top of the dome.

I stood in the queue while the family played snakes and ladders on the floor.

Hello, I’d like to make a confession please.

It was allowed like. Had to pay a bit of cash, and then take the 550 stairs to the top of the dome! That’s a lot of stairs. My house has 13 stairs. I just did some mathematics and that equals 42 flights of house stairs. The other bit to note is, some of these stairs are proper slanted as the dome is curved over your head, and some are the size of a big wedge of cheese. Views are worth it at the end though. You can get a lift up the first bit, but still have to do a fair few stairs to get to the very top. Char and the kids went out for a drink. I asked the kids if they wanted to come, but they didn’t.

Roughly translates to ‘Peter and Super Hands from Peep Show’

Stairs on the way down. I’m a size 7, these are tiny stairs.

Some of these dudes had bits of wood propping their arms up and that.

The Big Rip Off

One massive learning point, which we already knew about, but didn’t put into action for some reason, was checking reviews for restaurants and that. We were starving by this point, and stupidly chose the closest pizza place to eat. We are normally more savvy, and will go off the main road etc, but, prices seemed ok, so went in.

First warning was the price of coke. It wasn’t written down on the menu we had, so luckily asked first. €6 for a can. No ta. Pizza wasn’t toooo bad, but when we asked for the bill and there was a 17.5% tip that was non negotiable on it, I couldn’t believe it!! The guy brought us pizza, that’s all he did. I will happily tip for good service etc, but we were forced to pay for a poor restaurant.

He even tried keeping the €2.20 change!! What a swizz. He was so annoyed when I asked for it! Tutted, gave me €2 and waved me away. Nope, you will give me the 20 cents, you douche. Went out, tripadvisored it, and nearly fell over with how bad it was!! Have a look. Nova Caffe. I’ll add a link.

Pantheon and Pizza

Had a big old walk through Rome. Found the Pantheon. Didn’t go inside. Later that night I got a proper pizza from one of the recommended pizza places in my pizza bible. Was good. Queue was massive outside! It was a restaurant and a takeaway, and was manic. I was well chuffed that my Italian I had been learning, maybe passed for someone who was half Italian, or had an Italian cousin. The woman didn’t look at me too weird and that. My least favourite bit I when you’ve been practicing what to say, being quite concise, and telling them everything they need to know, but then they come back with a question! Sometimes it’s guesswork and just say ‘si per fovore’ and hope you haven’t agreed to but everyone in there a bottle of Prosecco or summat. All worked out fine.

Queue! Funny word. A Q, and then 4 silent letters, all waiting their turn.

St Paul’s Basilica

Next day we went slightly out of town to St Paul’s Basilica. Beento Peter’s, so thought we’d do Paul’s as well. This was a lovely building. Smaller, quieter, but just as impressive. Gold everywhere. Worth the trip out on a bus (in a bus?) and a nice leisurely morning. Back into the centre and ended up at Trevi again!? Did the Spanish Steps, had a sit for a while. The street leading up to it was well busy. Not a fan of that. All posh shops and that. The building at the top is pretty cool too, the Obelisco Sallustiano.

Loads of space to think about God and that.

Went home later that day after a bit more wandering round. Itreally is a remarkable city, with old stuff everywhere It’s up there with thevery best cities in terms of things to see and look at, which I think mean thesame thing really. History round every corner, amazing architecture and iconicbuildings a-plenty. Will happily go back and see all the stuff we missed, orthe not so touristy things. Also want more pizza. All the pizza. Grazie.

Amsterdam

We went to Amsterdam for our first of the ‘5 New Countries’ tour! It was really nice too. Good bit was – going to Amsterdam. Bad bit was – having to go to Hull first. Let me explain. Continue reading “Amsterdam”

Hello

I didn’t know how to start a travel blog, but thought ‘hello’ would do. It’s quite polite. Informal maybe, but polite.

I’ve always wanted to start a travel journal of some kind. We’ve done a fair bit of travelling over the last couple of years, and thought a blog would be a great reminder of where we have been, what we have done, and hopefully give others some great ideas for their own travel. You always see loads of travel blogs on the internet, with stuff like ‘ooh look how great this beach is’ or ‘wow look at this monk’ or whatever. This isn’t going to be one of those. Continue reading “Hello”