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.

Easter break in Holland and Belgium

In Finland we are given both Friday and Monday off from work for the Easter holiday weekend. We took advantage of this long weekend and spent our holiday in Holland and Belgium en route from Germany.  We hadn't left Finland for quite some time and wanted to see the famous tulip fields, visit the Anne Frank house and see a number of other interesting cities and sites.  We flew into the Dusseldorf (Germany) airport and rented a car in order to drive directly to Amsterdam.

The nice thing about this part of Europe is that many countries are relatively small and getting from point A to point B doesn't take that long.  I had visited the Anne Frank house 20 years ago and have read the famous diary when I was younger and now my daughter had done the same, so the family was interested to see this famous landmark and piece of history.  We waited in line for one hour and finally entered the home, which includes the clandestine upstairs annex where Anne lived secretly for two years with other members of her family while the Nazis were patrolling around the streets of Amsterdam.  I could only imagine the fear that they felt as they were forced to live like prisoners while hiding just because they were Jewish.  This was a very emotional experience for me and the family. The museum has become much more popular in the last 20 years and now gets roughly 1.3 million visitors per year.  Later we strolled around the famous streets which are surrounded by canals.  Amsterdam is a world famous city known for their architecture as well as their liberal attitudes towards sex and marijuana.  Strolling through some of the seedier sections of the city I could picture in my head how very different things are here than parts of the Bible belt in America.  I am socially liberal, but would say Amsterdam's progressive social values are probably even a bit much for myself.  :)

The next morning was spent in the world famous Keukenhof gardens in Lisse.  This was the highlight of the trip to Holland.  This park is known as the Disneyland of flowers.  It was an amazing sight to see; fields and fields of tulips and other flowers everywhere you looked.  The endless and colorful rows of perfectly planted flowers were a sight to behold and something that I have never seen anywhere else before.  Anyone with a camera could be a professional photographer in this park because all you had to do was point and shoot and the colorful flowers dominated the lens. I hope you enjoy some of the photos we took.

After seeing a bit more of Amsterdam, we headed off toward Bruges, Belgium making a few quick stops along the way.  We first stopped in Rotterdam, Holland where we visited one museum and then strolled along a canal and visited an old windmill which is still being used today as a grain mill.  My daughter and I climbed the steep stairs to the top of the windmill while my wife purchased some pancake mix inside.  Rotterdam is a university town and the second largest city in Holland after Amsterdam.   Rotterdam is also the largest port city in Europe and one of the largest port cities in the entire world.  After that, we headed back on our journey making a final pit stop in Antwerp, Belgium.  Besides being Dutch speaking and a large diamond city, I really didn't know much about this city in Flanders.  Antwerp is actually a very pleasant city with a bustling outdoor European cafe culture.  Here we grabbed some of our Belgian favorite treats, including waffles and frites (Belgian french fries).  Belgium is known for some food specialties which include their famous chocolate, waffles and Belgian style french fries.  

Late in the afternoon we arrived at our destination of  Bruges, Belgium.  Bruges is a wonderfully preserved medieval city and also in the Dutch speaking Flanders part of the country.  The country is actually bi-lingual, with Dutch and French as official languages, though most people also seem to have a good command of English.  I really enjoyed this city when I first visited it as a backpacker 20 years prior.  It is still a very nice city, but I noticed things had changed a bit since my last visit.  Many of the streets were now lined with high class designer retail shops.  Also, the center had a cheesy traveling carnival and there were hordes of people in every direction.  My daughter and I wanted to climb the famous Bell tower in the center and had to wait approximately 45 minutes in line just to get to the entrance.  There was a movie with Colin Farrell called "In Bruges" which came out about 6 years ago and it seems that movie might have pushed Bruges over the top as a prime tourist destination.  I still really like this city, but it seems a shame that it might have lost some of it's personal charm with the massive amounts of people.  Our hotel, which was just a 5 minute walk outside of the old town, was absolutely wonderful.  We had a large quiet room and the hotel also featured a pool which was great for the children.

For our final day on the trip, we would make a few more pit stops on the way to our departure city of Dusseldorf, Germany.  We made a stop in the capital of Belgium, Brussels, for lunch.  Brussels is a large city and also the capital city of the European Community.  The main reason we wanted to visit Brussels was to see the Grand Square which is considered one of the finest in Europe.  It is an impressive square with very picturesque buildings on all sides.  Brussels is also famous for a little statue of a boy peeing, called the Manneken Pis. We found the little statue which had a large crowd gathering around it. I couldn't believe it, all this fuss about this statue and it is so small.  I guess they built up some legend about this little statue and feature it in their tourist information, but really it is just a tiny statue of a boy peeing into a fountain.  Brussels isn't known for having so many touristic areas and we were satisfied just seeing the center.  Our final stop on the way back to the airport was Cologne, Germany where we wanted to see the great Cologne Cathedral.  My daughter and I climbed up the 500+ steps to the top of the tower where we enjoyed some of the views from the top.  The Cologne cathedral is a neat, Gothic style church in which construction started in 1248 and didn't complete till 1880.  It is a massive church and one of the largest in Europe.  

In just 5 days we covered a large area of this region and definitely saw some of  best the highlights of Holland and Dutch speaking Belgium (Flanders).  This is a pretty and cultural area of Europe and definitely worth a visit in the Spring.  I think the highlight of the trip were the amazing tulip fields of Lisse in Holland.  I have never seen anything quite like it before.  Tulip fields, canals, Belgian waffles, fries and some of the finest beer will make your taste buds and other senses work overtime.

Summer vacation part I (Estonia & Latvia)

There is nothing I love more about living in Finland than the long summer breaks.  Many people, including our family, take the entire month of July off (plus or minus a week).  It means lots of long sunny days, adventures and travel.  Our family appreciates both adventure and relaxation and we decided to kick off our summer vacation with a ferry/car trip across the Gulf of Finland to Estonia and Latvia.  These two Baltic countries are in close proximity and since they are relatively cheaper than Finland, they make a nice getaway.

Kuressaare Castle

We started by driving from the capital city of Tallinn to the island of Saaremaa in the Northwest corner of the country.  This easy drive included a 30 minute ferry ride to get to Saaremaa.  Before arriving at the hotel we explored the Kaali meteorite crater.  This 110 meter wide crater is estimated to be 4000 years old.  I can only imagine the power of this crater when it hit the earth and created a impact comparable to the Hiroshima bomb.  Next stop on the Estonia tour was our hotel located in the idyllic city of Kuressaare.  The hotel was very nice and located right next to the bay and the Kuressaare castle.  This little city, the capital of Saaremaa county, dates back to the 13th century.  Our family enjoyed the brief stay in this region of Estonia before packing up and driving down to Latvia.

Kaali Meteorite Crater

My wife and I have been to Tallinn, Estonia several times because of the close proximity to Finland, but never had ventured further.  Latvia is the next country in line and it is only a 4-5 hour drive from the top of Estonia to the border. All 3 of the Baltic countries are tiny in comparison to major European countries and are easily navigated through by car.  We stayed in Latvia for a brief visit to the capital city of Riga and a few surrounding cities.  Riga is a very nice city situated on a river and like Tallinn also features an old and new town.  What makes Riga unique is that it features art nouveau and 19th century wooden architecture.  The historic center is a UNESCO world heritage site and the European cultural capital of 2014.  Riga seems to be pointed in the right direction these last several years.  However with that said, Riga is still not in the European monetary community as they are still using their local currency.  While gasoline was significantly cheaper than in Estonia and Finland, I didn't think overall prices were that much less.  At least not in the capital area.

Riga, Latvia

After Riga, we would begin our drive back to Estonia and spend our final day of this journey in the capital city of Tallinn.  During our drive back to Tallinn from Riga, we encountered an large parade of cars that were headed North at fast speeds with police following at the rear and front.  We wondered what famous dignitary could be driving with so many cars following?  My wife was driving behind them and kept following at speeds of about 120 km/h (75 mph).  Finally after an hour or so as we approached the Estonian border, the policeman at the rear stopped in front of us and told us to wait 5 minutes before proceeding.  Then as the Latvian police car drove back away from us, we noticed the other police pointing his finger and scolding us.  I guess we must have followed them too closely and they were not too happy about that.  Finally, we were on our way and passing the Estonian border back to Tallinn.  The next day in Tallinn we would see the German president's wife having lunch with the Estonian president's wife and finally figured out that the German president, Joachim Gauck, had been visiting the Baltic countries.  Next time we know to be careful when following a 15 car entourage.  :)  The visit to Tallinn was fun as I always enjoy this bustling little medieval city just 2 hours via ferry from Helsinki, Finland.  It used to be a cheap paradise for Finns coming to save a little cash, but today prices have risen and it is also in the European community. Other places we visited in Tallinn were the very interesting KGB spy museum in the Hotel Viru and the Maritime museum at Seaplane harbor.

Trailing German President Gauck from Latvia to Estonia

Overall, we had a very nice time for leg # 1 of our summer vacation.  Summer trip leg #2 to be continued in part #2.  Stay tuned!

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.

Recharging my batteries before the long Finnish winter

After 15 months of living in Finland, I waited patiently and finally made it back home.  Knowing that November is a dark and dreary month in Finland, I thought I would take advantage of the cheaper late autumn flights and come home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, I thought the longer being away from home would hopefully help me to rediscover and appreciate it more. I was very excited to make the long journey back to California after so long and had some nervous anticipation of what to expect after having been away from family and friends for so long.

It felt quite surreal as the plane touched down in San Francisco International airport.  Was the Bay Area going to be this magical land of my lost dreams or just a big let down?   Well, the trip home started with a massive traffic jam along the freeways from the airport in San Francisco most of the way home to Moraga where my parents reside.  The ride home would normally only take 40 minutes, but in bumper to bumper traffic it turned into about 1 hour 20 minutes to get home.  Welcome back home Mark, if you didn't forget we actually have "real" traffic here in California, not like Finland.

Like anyone who leaves their country and returns home to visit, there are certain items one craves and misses.  For me, they were simple items, like eating fresh hummus, fresh salsa and authentic Mexican food (not Tex Mex).  Not to mention, getting good San Francisco sourdough bread.  Oh, those little pleasures in life.  Of course, it was awesome catching up with family and friends and getting a big dose of sunshine.  We actually headed up to the Sonoma Valley (an area famous for vineyards) one day and had a beautiful outdoor lunch at Francis Ford Coppola's winery.  We lucked out with the weather on that day, as it as actually around 22 Celsius (71 Fahrenheit).  I had forgotten that Novembers in Northern California can actually be quite nice if one is lucky.  The weather went from about 16 - 22 Celsius during my stay (60-71 Fahrenheit).  Coming from a cold and rainy Finland, this was just what the doctor ordered.

What did I really learn and notice about coming back to the San Francisco Bay Area from Finland? Besides the ever present traffic and crowds, I also noticed the American marketing machine is still on full throttle ahead.  I went to a Target shop (US chain store that has a bit of everything) to grab some small items to bring back to Finland.  It was becoming the Christmas season (mid November), but still a bit early and before the famous Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving Holiday).  However, the store was packed and frantic shoppers were buying everyone under the sun.  The store and shoppers were definitely on full Xmas mode.  I guess that is one thing I had forgotten while living in Finland.  With the exception of Hullut Päivät (Crazy days) at Stockmann, Finland doesn't really engage in this kind of marketing fervor and mad house shopping.  Also, I noticed that I had to keep a bit of a closer eye on my 6 year old son while shopping in large stores and even playing outside in the front yard of my parent's home. The United States is a big place and unfortunately children do occasionally get snatched or hit by cars.  Even though I grew up and lived in very safe neighborhoods in California, I would definitely say that Finland as a whole is safer.

So, the trip was wonderful in may ways and my batteries were definitely recharged.  I will always have a place in my heart for the San Francisco Bay Area that is not going away.  With that said, I think experiencing a different place and a new culture can only grow you as an individual.  Did coming home make me regret moving with my family to Finland?  No, I wouldn't say so, but it definitely made me appreciate things at home I might have once taken for granted.   There isn't month that goes by when someone in Finland asks me why I decided to leave sunny California behind to come here.   Beyond explaining the family move, I usually tell them the same thing, I tell them that California is and will always be my home and it is not going away.  I let them know that I am happy to experience their country and explore a new culture in Europe and I tell them that I will eventually return to my San Francisco Bay Area when this Scandinavian interlude ends.