Summer Vacation Part 3 (California and Finland)

The 3rd and final leg of my summer holiday started the same day I returned from Greece.  We arrived back to Helsinki at 3 am and I grabbed a few hours of sleep before jumping back on a plane heading towards Los Angeles.  This part of the trip involved some business in Los Angeles and Las Vegas for my employer, followed by a quick visit home to the San Francisco Bay Area.   I was excited again to return to my home state, even though I needed to work during the first part of the week.

Misson Inn, Riverside, Ca

No need to get into details of the business portion of the trip, however I was quite amazed at the hotel that I stayed at while in Riverside, California.  I stayed at the historic Mission Inn hotel which made my stay feel a bit more like a vacation than a business trip.  The Mission Inn was built in the Spanish Mission style just over a 100 years ago and has been visited by many famous dignitaries and important folks through out its history. Albert Einstein, Emelia Earhart, Teddy Roosevelt among many presidents stayed here.  Ronald and Nancy Reagan had their honeymoon there as well. The hotel was palatial and in addition to the interesting Spanish style architecture, it had 2 bars, 4 restaurants, a swimming pool and various staircases, nooks, crannies and meeting rooms.  It is definitely one of the most impressive hotels I have ever stayed at and for $125 per night for a large room (about 95€), it was an absolute steal from what I am used to in Europe.  So, in between work sessions I was able to indulge in awesome food and swim a bit in the pool and soak in some California sun.

Grand staircase, Mission Inn

At the end of the week, I drove over to Venice beach from Riverside, strategically trying to get on the freeways during light commute hours, which is almost impossible in Los Angeles.  The traffic in Los Angeles and its surrounding areas is an absolute nightmare and even worse for someone coming from calm and efficient Finland.  However, with that said I made decent time from Riverside to Venice beach.  I hadn't been down to the famous Venice beach area since I was a small child and I had no idea of the motley characters that now call it home.  There is the famous Muscle beach which was a showcase to the muscled celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Weider among others.  As I walked down the beachfront, I noticed jugglers, entertainers, freaks, a man playing guitar on skates, various merchants, aggressive dudes trying to sell their new rap CD's, among other characters.  It reminded me a bit of the old Telegraph Avenue area in Berkeley as a beach community in Los Angeles.  A lunch near the water, hanging out a bit near the beach and strolling down the beach front and I was ready to go back to the airport and head back home (San Francisco, CA).  I always enjoy a trip back home to relax and catch up a bit with family and friends.  However, as always time seems to fly and my short stay at home was over and I was again at the airport and boarding an airplane back to Helsinki.

The Saimaa

My wife already had plans to visit her grandmother who lives in the North Karelia area of Finland and driving there takes around 4 hours from Helsinki/Espoo.  I have been to this area several times in the past and have always enjoyed it.  The drive takes you directly through the Finnish lake land region which features the great Saimaa lake among other natural sites.  We would spend an afternoon visiting her grandmother before driving over to a campground in the Punkaharju ridge area.  This gorgeous area features views of the Saimaa and a drive across a high ridge that splits one of the lakes in half.  This was our first camping experience in Finland and it was nice, the facilities had everything one could ask for including clean showers, restaurants and activities.  The next day we visited the famous city of Savonlinna which features the best preserved castle in all of Finland as well as a lively market at the lakefront.  It was another beautiful, sunny day in Finland to stroll around, take in some views and enjoy our surroundings.  The long drive back home included passing through the center of the Saimaa and stopping for lunch in the lake port city of Puumala.  Puumala is a neat little city that is right in the heart of the lake region and features a nice harbor for the boats that seem to come and go all day long.  Then we continued the journey through the lake region taking in the views along the way and then back home to Espoo.  It was the wonderful end to a long summer Holiday. I can say that this summer was definitely one of the most memorable in a long time and the weather in Finland cooperated.

Punkaharju ridge

Blissful Budapest

Those who have been reading my blog know that even though I enjoy living abroad in Finland, I really like taking an occasional  kid-free weekend getaway to other European cities.  It gives my wife and I time to get away from our daily routine while exploring new places.  We try to schedule in two "weekend getaway" trips per year and space them out accordingly.

 The spring 2013 adventure was a nice weekend trip to beautiful Budapest.  Budapest is the capital of Hungary, which is a landlocked country located almost directly in the middle of Europe.  Budapest is a city that I always wanted to visit and for some reason I neglected it during my post-college Europe whirlwind backpacking trip.  Back then it was a bit of an exotic eastern European destination and it wasn't always on the top of everyone's travel plans.  Now, along with Prague, Budapest seems to be a world class destination in eastern Europe.  We couldn't agree more and really enjoyed the city and all it had to offer.  Budapest is more or less broken into two distinct sections.  Those sections, split up by the Danube river, include the older section named Buda and the newer section called Pest.  The Buda castle, which sits high on a ridge, dominates the Buda side and is also the main tourist attraction.  On the first day we took the funicular up to the top of the high ridge to begin our exploration.  These activities included watching the changing of the guards, walking around the castle grounds and exploring the Fisherman's bastion while taking in the amazing views of Pest and the Danube.  It seems that every great capital city in Europe features a river or is a coastal town. The amazing Danube river splits the city nicely in half and greatly adds to the charm of this beautiful city.  The city also features many unique bridges, which allow people to easily access either side of the city.  The most recognizable of these is the famous Chain bridge.  We had an awesome view of the Chain Bridge as well as the Buda castle from our hotel room on the Pest side of town.

The Pest side is the more modern section of town which also has many nice features including the classic Parliament house, the Hero's Square and the famous Andrassy Avenue shopping district.  On day two, we explored this side of the town.  We kicked things off with a scheduled tour of the Parliament house.  The Parliament house seemed much more grandiose than a typical Parliament building.  The building was huge and you felt more like you were in some French palace than a government building.  One of the highlights inside is perhaps the most valuable relic of Hungarian history, the Holy crown of Hungary.  This crown which still appears in great condition is believed to be approximately 800 - 1,000 years old and a very important piece of their history.  It is guarded by 3 to 4 guards armed with swords.  These guards looked very serious and I think that one would not want to mess with them.  Later in the day we ventured down Andrassy Avenue to the "House of Terror."  This building, which is now a museum, features much of the tragic history during the last century when Hungary was dealing with Hitler and communism from the Soviet Union.  The house also was a prison and many Hungarians who were accused of not being patriotic to their government were tortured inside.  It was a fascinating but sad piece of history.  After leaving the museum we walked over to perhaps the most famous square in all of Budapest, the Hero's square.  It features large statues of all the past "Heros" of Hungarian history.  Interesting enough there was a dog training class going on at the same time we strolled the square.  The day would end with a long stroll down the shopping street Andrassy Avenue which would take us all the way down to Vorosmarty square which featured a large open air food and crafts market.  Many of the items in this market were Hungarian specialties geared toward tourists.  My wife grabbed a few souvenirs to take home and I bought a bottle of the famous Hungarian sweet dessert wine, Tokaji.

Budapest, while not Paris or Rome, is still an awesome city for a weekend getaway in Europe.  We had much to do, plenty of sites to see and good food to eat.  There are so many city getaway vacation options while living in Helsinki and Europe in general and if you are feeling a bit more adventurous than going on your typical London or Paris vacation, then Budapest makes a nice weekend.  I would recommend it, and probably sooner than later. While it is not nearly as expensive as most major western European capital cities, the prices are starting to creep up.  The values might be fading, but definitely not the charm.