Summer vacation part 4, Plitvice National park in Croatia

After visiting various old towns, monuments and touristic cities in Croatia we were ready for the nature portion of our vacation.  We had been very excited about visiting this park in Croatia which had been on our target list for a long time.  Plitvice National park is a UNESCO world heritage site which features a large network of gorgeous lakes and waterfalls in the North Central part of Croatia.  Words don't do justice to describe such a beautiful place, so I will attach some photos we took from the hike.  Our family hiked 8km (5miles) through the park and followed a route which 4-6 hours of time is recommended.  The middle of the hike featured a boat ride which took us across one major lake and to another next set of smaller lakes.  The hike was literally a network of lakes and waterfalls surrounded by lush greenery.  The turquoise blue water of the lakes was stunning and the water was so pure an unpolluted as they do not allow anyone to swim or fish in the area.  If you ever decide to plan a vacation to Croatia, I highly recommend a stop in this wonderful place. It is easily reachable by car or bus from the coastal city of Split.  It is also fairly close to the capital of Zagreb. Our family made the drive by rental car from Split which made it easy and flexible to get to the park and nearby hotels.  Plitvice National park is truly one of Croatia's greatest treasures and a place everyone should get a chance to visit.

Summer vacation part 2, side trip to Montenegro

Have you even heard of Montenegro?  You might not have because this tiny nation just South of Croatia recently  received it's independence from Yugoslavia (Serbia) in 2006.  Montenegro means "black mountains" and it is apparent when you see the mountains from above almost spill into the sea.  At one point you might think you were exploring a fjord in Norway, however that is not the case as they are coastal mountains. Montenegro is currently known as the newest country in Europe.  Our family did a day trip from Dubrovnik, Croatia to explore the Montenegrin coastal cities of Perast, Kotor and Budva.  The views were absolutely stunning on the Southern Dalmatian coast and through the Bay of Kotor to our first stop in Perast.  In Perast we took a small ferry to visit the man made rock islet containing the "Our lady of the rocks" church.  Rumor has it that an icon of lady Madonna was found at this site and then sailors laid rocks down in the Bay over many years until finally an islet was formed. The island featured an interesting chapel and museum.  Soon we ventured back to our bus and traveled to our next stop which was the old city of Kotor.  Kotor is unique walled city quite similar to Dubrovnik, but a bit smaller and even older.  We walked around the old city while fighting the cruise ship passengers at the same time since their cruise ship was docked in the harbor.  After a tasty lunch and stroll around the cobbled old town we made our way to our final destination in Montenegro.  The last stop was a city called Budva.  Budva is more touristic than Kotor and also featured a small old town surrounded by a medieval wall.  All of these little coastal cities were scenic and unique in their own rights and definitely worth a visit should you have a chance to get down here.  Tourism is starting to pour into little Montenegro and it should be positive for the people and the economy.  I know we enjoyed our visit and would hope for more time in the future for a longer stay.

Inside "Our Lady of the rocks" church museum

City of Perast in Kotor Bay

Church of "Our lady of the rocks"

Kotor Bay

Back streets of Kotor

Summer vacation part 1, Dubrovnik, Croatia

My family recently completed a nearly three week tour of Eastern Europe.  We spent the largest percentage of our time in Croatia, which included an entire week in Dubrovnik.  Dubrovnik is sometimes called the pearl of the Adriatic and it features a beautifully preserved city with medieval walls built along the seashore.  We stayed in a wonderful villa just outside the downtown (Lapad district) with my extended family.  Old town Dubrovnik is relatively small and can be explored in one day, however the Southern Dalmatian coast is very scenic and stretches a long distance and can take several days to see. The prices were cheaper than Finland and central Europe, but not as cheap as you might expect considering it is the former Yugoslavia and suffered a major war just over 20 years ago.  During the week in Croatia we relaxed around the pool and beach most of the time, although we did a few day trip excursions to both Mostar in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina and a trip to a few beautiful coastal cities in the small country of Montenegro.  We had a wonderful stay in Dubrovnik and enjoyed several trips to the medieval walled city soaking in the gorgeous seaside views and spending equal time relaxing by both the villa's swimming pool and nearby beach.   Capitalism has hit this area hard since the war tragically rocked the city in the early 90s.  68% of the city was destroyed, but it has been beautifully restored now. Now you can expect fairly expensive cab fares, souvenirs on every corner and vendors ready to sell you a trip to a nearby Island or day excursion to a neighboring country.  However, relatively speaking Croatia is still much cheaper than Finland, but you probably already knew that.  :)   Stay tuned for more blog posts from Eastern Europe.

Settling into a busy life in Finland

One of the major reasons we moved to Finland was to slow down.  To take time away from the crazy Bay Area (California) lifestyle and enjoy a more relaxed pace of living.  In some ways it has been that, but other ways I feel we are becoming just as busy as before.

It is good to keep oneself occupied with activities, but there is always the danger of burn out.  The first year living abroad in Finland was a time for learning and discovery.  Finding out new places, bus routes, getting around the cities, getting to know neighbors and school parents, learning the general system, rules, grocery stores, etc.  You can make a case that the first year or so, you are still very much a tourist versus an expat.   I think now after 1.5 years in Finland, we have plateaued or gotten over that initial hump and are fully engaged in our day to day activities and generally feel like this is home (for now at least).  My son is now involved in karate, gymnastics and swimming classes every week while my daughter is keeping busy with sports that include swimming and soccer.  She is also looking forward to badminton and other sports.  My wife works full time and is also getting an LLM (advanced degree in law) at the same time.   I have now been working for a Finnish technology start-up (Scoopshot.com) for nearly 1 year now.  In addition to taxiing my children to all their after school activities, I engage myself in various outdoors activities such as cross country skiing, jogging and cycling.  I am realizing it is very difficult to find spare time for social outlets, but I sometimes find some treasured moments for an occasional concert or a few beers with friends.  These winter days, by the time the weekend arrives I am fully ready to just lay around and do absolutely nothing, until my inner fire to get active outdoors strikes again.

My hope is not to fall into the "rat race" in Finland that consumed our family in the United States.  On the bright side, in Finland, when time off is taken, it is really enjoyed.  I have mentioned this in previous posts, that generally when people take vacations in Finland, they take plenty of time to relax and do not check work unless it is critical.  In the US, many jobs have pressure to always be available even if you are away on vacation.

We are now deep into the middle of winter, but have turned the corner as the days are getting lighter and lighter.  The worst of the long dark days are gone for now, but we will still have to deal with about 6 weeks of winter weather until the inevitable Spring thaw begins.  Enjoy some recent pics I took during my morning walk to the bus stop.  Finland is beautiful in the winter when the trees display their fresh white coats.

My first white Christmas

The main road just outside our driveway 

Officially winter began a few days ago, but if you live in Finland the darkness, snow and cool frigid air have been hanging around for several weeks already.  They say that February is the coolest month in Finland, but since late November the temps have already dipped down in the single digits Fahrenheit (minus 10 or more Celsius). Mother nature ushered in a blizzard in late November to remind me once again that I no longer live in California where people are complaining about a little "cold", rain and frost in the mornings.  The snow fall has been quite steady on and off for several weeks now and I am learning what it means to do "snow work" in my new home.  Our current home has a long driveway and the snow must be shoveled at least once or twice per day after a hard snowfall.  I think I am getting used to it, at least it is good exercise.  We have received approximately 27+ inches of snow (70 centimeters) this December.  This is a great amount even by Finnish standards this early in the season.

The benefits of the snowfall is that it helps to combat the darkness by brightening things up a bit and it gives the kids many creative things to do outside after school.  It is also fun to get out and go cross country skiing or walking in the winter wonderland.  I am actually very happy to be able to celebrate a White Christmas this year which will be a first for me.  In California where I grew up it would be virtually impossible to get snow on Christmas and there was always this romanticism tied to the notion of a "White Christmas".  Therefore this year is really a special and unique Christmas for me and my family.  I wanted to wish all my family, friends and other blog readers a safe and happy holiday season.  I started my expat blog one year ago and have really appreciated the support and comments.  Cheers and Happy New Years!

Norway adventure

The 2nd leg of our summer travels started with a trip to Norway via boat and ferry.  I have always wanted to visit Norway and now that we are living in Finland, we finally decided to take the family via the ferry from Helsinki.   I have a good American friend who married a Norwegian man and they have been raising their family in Norway for the last decade.  We took the car on the ferry that left from Helsinki to Stockholm, Sweden.  The route was to drive across Sweden to their city just South of Oslo.  It took about 7 hours to navigate across the heart of Sweden before finally crossing the border into Norway.  We have never driven across Sweden before and to be honest it isn't all that exciting, but easy driving.  It is a mix of farms, forests and some large lakes and is pretty much flat the entire way. Once the border of Norway is reached, the mountains and hills seem to pop out from nowhere.  Norway is definitely a geographically diverse country and has a great mix of mountains, sea and forests.

That night, after the long drive we finally reached our friend's home in Asgardstrand which is a small village about 1 hour south of Oslo.  We actually had to take the car ferry across the bay to get to their home city and that 30 minute ferry ride cost approximately 35 Euros.  Welcome to Norway, probably the most expensive country in Europe.  We actually ate out a few times and I won't even mention in this blog the prices, because they were exorbitantly high.  Their little town was very picturesque and located right on the water.  This small village is also home to Edvard Munch who is famous for "The Scream" painting.  During our stay, our host treated the children to several boat rides in the harbor with his little speed boat.  My daughter had a complete blast driving and gassing the boat.  He also took us to a tiny island where we docked and then jumped off the boat and let the children climb up the little lighthouse.

After two nights at their home, we traveled up north to visit some of the famous fjords.  We made the 5 hour ride to Flam, which is famous for the Flam train ride.  Several times during our drive we were stopped in the road by sheep just hanging out.  It made the Netflix series "Lilyhammer" (based on Lilehammer, Norway) seem more realistic as once the main character Steven Van Zandt had to stop his car in the middle of the road to let sheep cross. This railroad takes you on an hour journey past many wonderful waterfalls, streams and other marvels of nature.  We really enjoyed the journey in this famous train which supposedly at one point climbs up to a 55% gradient, however it didn't really feel that steep.  We spent one night in Flam and the next morning, I made a quick solo hike up towards one of the numerous waterfalls.  The views were just amazing every way you looked.  A bit later we said good bye to Flam and made the journey back to Sweden via Oslo.  During the drive back we passed many mountain tunnels, including a killer 24.5 kilometer tunnel (Lardal tunnel)!  Yes, that is right, over 24 kilometers of tunnel in a car, enough to make one claustrophobic since it took approximately 20 minutes or so to get through.  It is known as the longest road tunnel in the world according to Wiki.

We reached Oslo that afternoon and parked the car to walk around the capital.  We went to their new Opera house, which features a roof that is very interesting and quite large.  The children had a great time walking all around the roof.  The roof had great views of the city and harbor.  I was pleasantly surprised by the ethnic diversity in Oslo.  They seem to have a more diverse population than Helsinki.  We had lunch in Oslo at a restaurant which was extremely expensive, continuing the high cost theme in Norway.  Soon enough we were ready to make the journey back to Stockholm in order to get back to our ferry with the car.  Since the drive from Flam all the way to Stockholm was approximately 10 hours, we decided to break the drive into 2 days. We drove about half way through Sweden to a city called Karlstad which is situated right on the large Lake Vanern.  We spent the night at the hotel before making the final 3.5 hour drive to Stockholm.  Since my father had never visited Stockholm before, we decided to drop my parents off in the Gamla Stan (old town) while the family visited the Vasa War ship museum.  The children had a nice time walking around this museum and it was our 3rd trip there.  This museum which features a perfectly preserved 17th century ship should not be missed when in Stockholm.  Finally, in the afternoon we picked up my parents and headed back to the ferry for the trip back to Helsinki.  Even though we drove approximately 2,000 kilometers during the 6 day trip, we really enjoyed the journey, visiting good friends and taking in the scenic beauty of Norway.