traveling – Nokisuu

Dubliners

14.7.202214.7.2022 julkaissut Nokisuu

This is my very late post of the Saturday (and Sunday morning) we spent in Dublin right after our week in Limerick in May.

After a great breakfast at our hipster hotel in the Docklands me and Sari walked to the Trinity College for our pre-booked tour on the campus and Mikko did something on his own. The tour was lovely and the student guiding us was a very nice young man. Our tickets included the Long Room and Book of Kells which was good since there was quite a lot of tourists that day.

The Long Room has been on my bucket list for ages and I was so happy to finally get to see it. For a library-lover it is a real treasure and I enjoyed immensely seeing the colorful slips in the shelves indicating borrowed books. The only thing that bothered me a bit was that it was so crowded.

I did some souvenir shopping and had a nice chat with the cashier guys about audio books 🙂 and then it was time for me to get moving in order to meet Guylty/Sonja in time. We had agreed to meet at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) which was very interesting to see too. I left Sonja to enjoy herself in the newest exhibition while I walked through the museum and it was just lovely. The museum had a nice cafe where we enjoyed lunch and also a very nice small gift shop.

From there we walked to the Marsh’s library as Sonja was such awesome guide and thought I might like it. I absolutely adored the place! I’ll always be grateful for Sonja for showing it to me.

From the Marshs’ library Sonja walked a ways with me as I was going to visit the Yeats exhibition at the National library where we parted (the exhibition was a bit of a disappointment and the other parts of the library were closed due to renovations) and then I visited the National museum’s Ór exhibition as she had recommended which was beautiful. From there I walked back to our hotel via some bookshops (didn’t find anything to buy sadly) and rested my feet for a while before we went back to the center for dinner.

We had first thought to have a dinner in pub but they were all filled to the rafters due to it being the rugby and football finals that night so we ended up to a very good pizzeria. On our way there Sari stopped to admire Sweny’s windows just as they were closing and so we ended inside to have a chat with PJ Murphy about James Joyce and all kinds of things and it was just lovely. Also in the pizzeria we had lovely chat with the neighboring tables and I must say that all the Irish people were so wonderful. (Actually we came to the conclusion that Finns and Irish are quite alike, we felt like being at home with everyone, it was so easy.)

On Sunday morning we took a little walk to the city center but then decided to get back to hotel and leave for the airport since we’d heard it was going to be quite the struggle to get to the flight in time. We were lucky and made it to our flight but we queued to the security check for two hours and I didn’t have time to buy anything from the tax free, I only managed to bu some sandwiches for the plane for dinner.

Thank you Sonja and Ireland for lovely time, I’ll be back!

I’m alive

25.10.201925.10.2019 julkaissut Nokisuu

I just haven’t been very active (anywhere).

Last week I took youngest one to Jyväskylä which is a city in Central Finland, about 60 km north from our summer cottage. My cousin lives there and some of my friends too so it was nice to go and see them.

Jyväskylä is quite an active city due to a long history as a University town and it also has a very lively artistic side, i.e. the Finnish Handicrafts Society’s Museum is located there (they have awesome things in their shop). There’s also a blacksmith and yarn shop in an old house near my cousins place.

The neighbouring city of Vaajakoski hosts one of Finland’s candy factories called Panda. (Yes, like the black and white bear from China.) My cousin drove us there and we shopped chocolate and liqorice and chocolate liqorice. In fact we have now a lot of candy since bought quite a lot from the trip to Stockholm too.

We also did an empiric study of the local cafés with youngest son. We didn’t even get into all of them since there are so many! Our favourite was a place called Miriam’s, it’s a family owned small place where the owner and her brother do the cakes them selves and they are so good!

One night we went to movies with youngest one, we watched The Joker which was pretty awesome. I had my suspicions about it but it was good.

On Sunday we took a train back home. It was so nice to see my cousin and her little son but it’s also very nice to be at home. My cousin’s son has a genetic disorder which is very rare, he is one of three boys to suffer of it. The pain made him a bit cranky in the evenings which is understandable but my cousin said it was like a holiday for her too to see us and I said to youngest son that he’ll get an inkling now what it is to be a big brother.

On Monday morning I went for a swim before getting to work and it was nice. I bought hand paddles some weeks ago and they are wonderful except my left shoulder was pretty painful the whole week. I couldn’t even laugh because of the pain. Tuesday I went for my Pilates lesson which I absolutely adore and it did good for the shoulder too.

In the evenings I’ve been watching Netflix and knitting. I’m soon finishing a scarf I had to unravel during summer, now it’s much better. I still need to do the buttonhole strip for the Scull and Roses-cardi, it’s been much too warm to knit it.

I also visited the workplace-doctor one day since I think my thyroid has grown and it needs to be checked with ultrasound. This is the third year it’ll be checked. Last year there was a very grumpy doctor doing the ultrasound, he told me that I can’t possibly feel the thyroid grown 0.2mm and that it’d be left alone. Well, I think it’s grown again and so I’m going to the ultrasound again. I hope it’s not him again doing the check-up, the doctor writing the cover letter was a very nice lady who took my concern for real. I also gave blood samples since I’m sweating like a pig on and off and if it’s not thyroid it’s the menopausal heatwaves. Yeah, nice being a woman.

Oh well, I’m trying to get some sewing done during weekend and I’ll try to visit a friend who got her toes operated last week. Now I’m going to knit and watch telly with the cat.

2019-10-19 21.31.54 - Copy

Finally

15.7.201915.7.2019 julkaissut Nokisuu

I’m at home again, have been since Friday morning. Hubby came to pick us from the airport at 1am even thou he had to go to work early in the morning. He is so sweet. Now I’ve been loading my batteries over the weekend and finished two books, an introvert after too much peopling so I decided to write something here too.

On Sunday morning we, me and youngest son and my friend Heidi, found ourselves in London. I almost lost Heidi when we changed underground trains in Green Park as the train left before she managed to get on board. So she took the next one to Southwark (luckily the only possibility) and I spotted her sitting in the car and called her from the door. There was only one man so I didn’t quite die on embarrasment. After we had stored our bags to the hotel (LSE Bankside, a dormitory for LSE students with very cheap accommodation during Uni holidays) we took ourselves to the British Library. On our way there we popped by Forbidden planet, mine and youngest son’s fave shop, and then we walked to the BL via Russell Square which did good after all the sitting on the plane.

At the British Library we met Heidi’s daughter Mira who lives in London. She had got a bit cold and was sneezing all the time. Inside we saw the ’Treasures of British Library’ exhibition which had beautiful old manuscripts (poor monks in their cold cloisters) and also Beatles lyrics and so on, very interesting even on youngest one’s mind.

From there we went to the hotel to see if our room was ready (it was) and then we had some dinner and went to bed.

On Monday we visited the Science museum with youngest one, Heidi went to visit Mira for the whole day. When we were back on the street we noticed the Natural history museum’s ads and went in to see their exhibition of volcanoes and earthquakes, it was interesting but a video of the tsunami in Japan at 2011 reminded me too much of the Thailand tsunami on 2004 where my cousin lost his family and I just tried not to cry. Afterwards we realized we had been there over five hours, made a quick tour to Covent Garden where we watched a man ride a uni-cycle and jongleur with knives, he was very good. Then we had dinner and went back to the hotel.

On Tuesday we visited the National Gallery and especially the impressionists. Oh yes, the Monet paintings were wonderful and I recognized Turner’s art because of the RA-film.. so one can learn things watching good movies.

After that I went with Jimi to Science museum because he wanted to change a gyroscope he bought since it was keeping a noise it shouldn’t have. Heidi was going to Mira’s again. When we finally got out of the Science museum I called Heidi and she said she was going to Mira’s later since Mira was so feverish she was trying to sleep so we agreed to meet at Harrods. My phone died after I had sent a message to Heidi that we were going to the pet supplies (what a joke!) and finally we met Heidi there. As I had anticipated my phone to run low on batteries I had the charger with me and so we spent about an hour in a corridor in Harrods. Then we walked a bit around Knightbridge and went to eat fish and chips to a pub and then Heidi left to Mira’s and we went home.

On Wednesday we walked to Postman’s Park which is located near St. Paul’s Cathedral. I’ve wanted to visit it for years, I saw pics of it the net some time ago and now I finally got to see it and it was just lovely. From there we took a underground train to Baker Street. Oh yes, the famous detective himself. There was a bit of a queue but finally we got into the small house and it was lovely. The shop was just as lovely.. Then we had coffee and took a bus to Oxford Circus where we met Mira who was better. We did some shopping and walked to the Forbidden Planet where I bought some books and Jimi got three Funko figures. Well, actually two are his and I got Bucky ❤ Heidi and Mira left to have something to eat as Mira was feeling not so good. We took our shopping home and rested a bit and then went for dinner to restaurant Zizzi at Southbank. Oh boy the food was so good! and they were really busy too but very nice staff. Back at the hotel I tried to pack my suitcase and then Heidi came with Mira, who had gotten a huge migraine and fell asleep on Heidi’s bed. Heidi did some shopping and in a bit after Mira woke up she was feeling much better and Heidi walked her to a bus and her boyfriend was at the other end of the bus route to get her home.

On Thursday we checked out and left our luggage to the hotel to wait and went for a walk. First we visited Tate Modern and took the lift to 10th floor and also browsed the 4th floor free exhibition. I have always walked through the Tate Modern’s ground floor because it has good shops. This time I found just a fridge magnet. We walked to the Blackfriars bridge and had coffee and watched a pair of swans and enjoyed the sun. Then we got our luggagge from the hotel and walked to the Waterloo station, did some window shopping there too and took a train to Heathrow where we were in really good time. We did some shopping, had dinner and I and Heidi found ourselves in Cath Kidston sale and bought handbags for both of us.

Our flight was a bit late but we managed to get home nicely, hubby drove us home via Heidi’s so she got home too with ease.

Nice trip and I love London.

Back home

4.7.20194.7.2019 julkaissut Nokisuu

We’ve been back home almost a week now. I was quite jet-lagged on the weekend but the days just flow by while I’m doing something close to nothing (Prince said it so well).

On Tuesday we had youngest son’s health check with a nurse as he’s beginning the middle grades on August and the official health check is done now, next one will be with a doctor and a nurse at 8th grade. Since it’s the middle of summer and the closest place was closed we got eldest son to drive us to the nearby suburb Tikkurila where we were supposed to be (the bus ride takes forever).

The nurse was really nice and health check was quick. Youngest one (=Jimi) is having his growth-spurt now and he is about 4 cm’s shorter than I am so I’ll soon be shortest in our family. Feels funny, he is only 13. All the boys and hubby have the same shoe size now but I wonder if youngest one will become tallest since it looks like his shoes size is still growing.

From Tikkurila we took a train to meet my friend Heidi at her flat in Oulunkylä. Since the train goes over the city border the train fare is a bit bigger and I had thought I had enough money on my public transport card and to my horror when I tried to pay with it at the train it said there’s not enough to cover the fare. I had especially taken care to upload more money to Jimi’s card but forgotten my own and so when the inspector lady came to check our card I was almost crying since the fee is 80€ and I really have better use for them. I told the lady that I was under the impression I had enough for the fare and I guess she saw my stress since as soon as we were over the border she said ”You can now buy the ticket” and when I asked what about the inspection fee she just shook her head. I was so grateful that I almost cried again. There are angels amongst us.

Soon we were at Heidi’s and Jimi played with her two cats while we talked a while. We (me and Jimi) are going to London with Heidi on Sunday, her eldest daughter lives there and we thought to go meet her again 🙂

Later we took a bus from Oulunkylä to Itäkeskus shopping center since Jimi needed something and I wanted to change money for the trip and Heidi was going to her younger daughter so it was easier for all of us to go there. I had installed the traffic card app on my phone while we were at Heidi’s so I got a mobile ticket for the bus. It wasn’t easy but it was better than nothing.

We met Heidi again yesterday as we went to movies with her and my other good friend Kristiina. We are all Marvel fans so we went to see the new Spiderman : Far from home. It was really good, I liked it a lot. I like Tom Holland as Spidey, I never quite liked the earlier Spideys as much. This one reminded me a bit of the animated Spider-Verse which was awesome.

I’m still pretty tired and I’m so glad I still have weeks left of my summer vacay unlike hubby who went to work already on Monday. I was going to the pharmacy today but at 3pm I realized that I’d been just sitting here reading Stucky fics and listening to music all day and didn’t bother. Tomorrow’s another day.

And I’m a bad mother: only after I had bought the plane tickets to London I realized why the date (Sunday) was so familiar.. Middlest son turns 18 on Sunday. YAY. I told him to think about something I’d buy him from London but he hasn’t said anything yet.

The end is near

25.6.201925.6.2019 julkaissut Nokisuu

On Wednesday we’ll be traveling back home again. I’ve liked being in Oahu and re-acquainting myself with the island.

We’ve been doing some things for the first time like the young ones climbing the KokoHead trail, youngest one with flipflops, and redoing others like the Makapu’u lighthouse trail.

It’s nice to go back home too and see eldest son and Sirius the Cat.

But now we are off to the beach again 🙂

Washing day

13.6.201913.6.2019 julkaissut Nokisuu

We are having a day off of beach life. We’ve been to beach every day now, on Makaha and yesterday on Waikiki and while it’s really my fave kind of time wasted we all need a bit of recovery too.

For some reason here in Makaha it’s been the custom in our family that hubby does the washing and I get a free pass of reading and such while he suffers in the hot shed next to the washing machine and dryer.

I’m currently trying to read ”Sugar money” by Jane Harris and I must say I find it a bit boring so I keep jumping over paragraphs. I usually am pretty devoted reader and tend to read every word but for some reason I find this novel hard to do.

Well, luckily I bought five new novels from B&N at Ala Moana on Sunday. I had four recycled books with me from home and I’m leaving them here. This is my good and well tried method for buying new books approved by hubs 😉

I’m also thinking about beginning to write again. I have a story which I’m writing in Finnish and it’s been going a bit slow. Since my mom’s passing I’ve only managed to write one and and a half chapters in three years but I think I’m getting back on track finally. Only I’m wondering about rewriting it all but we’ll see what I do.

Back to yesterday; we spent the day at Waikiki beach and then watched the traditional hula show there. Youngest one was bored since it was probably the fourth time he saw it but since middlest son’s girlfriend hadn’t seen it we thought it’d be nice. The pics are in my instagram again.. Last night as I updated them I almost chucked the phone to bin as it was third time which went through. If there’s something that annoys the heck out of me it’s digital but unworking things.

Aloha

8.6.20198.6.2019 julkaissut Nokisuu

Hello! Last Saturday was the kids last schoolday and later in the evening I went with a friend to see Lenny Kravitz sing and play for us in Helsinki. The show was very good and Lenny and his mates played over two hours. My legs were jelly.

On Sunday afternoon eldest son dropped us (me, hubs and two younger sons) to the airport, where middlest son’s girlfriend was already waiting for us. Hubby had insisted to take ourbags to the airport on the previous day which was good bc one of the luggage tracks had broken down and there was huge queues so we passed them all.

The first leg of our flights was from Helsinki to Tokyo, a 9-hour-flight and it was quite allright. I even managed to sleep about five hours. In Tokyo we had a 10-hour overlay so we took a train and traveled to Harajuku Park. I had looked for tips from TripAdvisors pages and found that. I thought some walking would do us good and it did. It was quite a warm day but we walked in the park, there was a nice shinto temple, and did a turn on the Takeshita Street which is popular among teens and cosplayers. We were quite tired and so were back to Narita airport on good time and walked a bit there too. We found a very nice paper shop among other things there, I need to do some serious shopping on our way back home there.

We left Tokyo on Monday evening and arrived to Honolulu on Monday morning, a bit funny. Got our car and drove to Makaha. We are staying third time at the same house complex there but in a different flat. It’s a nice place with peacocks everywhere and a short drive to Makaha beach.

Yesterday we hiked to Ka’ena Point and I managed to burn my shoulders even thou I had put sunscreen already on at home and again before beginning the hike and again at the point. Today as we went to the Waimea beach I put so much sunscreen on I had white shoulders and they are not as bad as they were ealier.

Yesterday we had dinner at the Kahumana organic farm with our last time neighbour who is a very nice lady. She’s leaving to Italy next week but we wanted to meet her and it was nice.

You can see my travel pics from my instagram feed which should be visible on the right sidebar. I only have my phone and tablet here so I can’t fix any pics.

Anyways I love Oahu, I could easily move here if I had the chance.