It’s here. All the prettiness.
Day 230: Colour Me Cold
Category: Outdoors
Day 227: ‘Shrooming
Everyman’s rights are a fantastic concept, recognised throughout the Nordics. They allow anyone to walk, camp or gather berries and mushrooms in forests – no matter who owns the land.
Picking mushrooms is therefore all the rage among us middle-aged Finns.
In all seriosness, I have been interested in mushrooming for a long time. But it is not something you should attempt if you are totally clueless.
Out of the approx 400 species of mushrooms in Finland, only 5-6 can kill you. Another 50 or so just make you sick. However, those are not odds I am willing to gamble on. Especially as only about 30 actually taste good.
So, I took a course. Six hours with a very competent teacher in a sunny forest.
Now I believe I can confidently recognize five edible ones.
Day 224: City In The Dark
I met a friend for dinner tonight. We didn’t stay late – and therefore it took me by surprise how early it gets dark. Again.
Winter is coming.
Day 223: Blue Moment
Catching (almost) the blue moment among all the blue houses.
Very appropriate for this blog.
Day 210: Surrounded By Water
A city is always better with some element of water, be it the sea, a lake or a river. There are some cities that are nice despite not having any. But not many.
Considering I don’t want a boat, and very rarely even swim in the sea, I really can’t tell you why I find it so important.
It just is.
Day 191: Bicycles and Baquette
Cycling slightly longer distances is easier when you have a fun destination. Even if it is just a picnic in a park.
I nearly craned my neck keeping an eye on the rainclouds. The forecast promised rain only later, but the 6km back home would feel long in the rain.
We made it with at least 4 minutes to spare.
Day 186: Return Drive
The drive home from a holiday, especially with forecasted rain, is rarely fun.
But when it is, it is a lot of fun.
A morning walk (with a breakfast that, according to Kiara, is worth moving to Haapsalu for), a submerged limestone quarry, an abandoned prison, and a real submarine – a few worthwhile stops. And Stuart drove faster than the wind, as the rainclouds never quite reached us.
And at the end is home.
For good and bad.
Day 185: A Ghost Story and A Fairytale
On the drive to Haapsalu, we drove past a gorgeous ruin – I forced Stuart to turn around (in traffic) and go back. If there are ghosts, they would definitely live here! But we didn’t meet any. And we looked.
The girls, on the other hand, found their sense of whimsy in a museum/craft and playhouse based on illustrations by Ilon Wikland. I, especially, loved all the joyful images from Astrid Lindgren’s books. They took me straight back to my childhood. With rain pouring down, there was no-one else.
The magic uninterrupted.
Day 184: Unkempt Charm
Whenever you ask the girls what they liked the best, their standard answer is “everything”. Same today. After some considerable pressure, they concluded their favorite was climbing the lighthouse. And the weirdest playground they had ever visited.
Hiiumaa has great lighthouses. We only visited three – all seven would have felt like overkill. Climbing the Köpu one, with its incredibly steep stairs and windy platform, was, indeed, more adventurous than it sounds.
Stuart’s favourite was the series of abandoned WW2 and Cold War coastal bunkers and military posts in the middle of the forest. The underground bunkers and remaining structures, including a watchtower, were free to explore. One needed a flashlight, good shoes and a real spirit of adventure. They were creepy! And not just for the girls…
And the playground… The random collection of wooden structures, all built by one (sligtly obsessed) man, was quirky and the scale was impressive. Clearly it had been amazing – at some point. However, now they teetered between unkempt-but-charming and unkempt-and-not-safe. The girls had a blast, though, exploring every structure we allowed them into.
My favourite part was all the photos. And the coolest bus stop ever.
Day 183: The Weirdest Cottage in Hiiumaa
We got an early start today due to a serious underestimation of how early one must book the ferry to Hiiumaa. Luckily, someone had come up with the idea of a few non-prebookable tickets.
But that gave us plenty of time to meander around the southern part of Hiiumaa. A short hike towards the southernmost tip, an old (sill functioning) wool factory, and a playground or two…
We decided to have a quiet evening and braai (BBQ) at the cottage – and luckily we did. The girls loved the place! The cottage looked like a pink Moomin house, with round walls, the main bedroom in a tower, massive cubby beds for the girls and an amazing floating sauna in the little pond. It even had a tiny playground.
The fact that it was totally impractical bothered only Stuart, who was cooking.
