Day 36, July 16 -Turku

Russ and Kaveli

Turku has long been on our bucket list as a destination because it is the "birthplace" of our Pacific Crossing Nauticat 44 Pilothouse sailboat.  Seems we are salmon returning to the place of origin, although we no longer have this boat.  When we arrived in this port city, the rain had just stopped, but it was still cool and breezy.






Our accommodation for the night is fittingly on a boat, an old steam boat Bore converted to a Hostel International on the river.

After lunch and a very interesting tour of the Medieval castle Turku built in 1320 and with a long history of upward and inward expansion and intriguing stories of the inhabitants.

We walked back to the boat to check-in and we passed by an older couple (probably in their 80's) on the castle lawn flipping a half inflated ball from behind them over their heads to one another playing catch.  Two bicycles were parked close by.  We smiled and said "Hello" to the couple.  They said something in Finnish as we walked by, but did not pay much attention as it did not sound like it was directed at us.


We walked about 50 feet around a corner of the castle gardens and the couple on their bicylces were chasing after us!

 We stopped when they caught up and in their best English asked where we were from and were we enjoying Turku.  The man introduced himself as Kalevi and his wife Gerda Vallas. Kaveli may have been able to understand our English if he were not so hard of hearing, but he was struggling so Gerda would ask us questions and translate loudly in Finnish for him.  Somewhere in our conversation, Kaveli wanted to know if we had been to Finland and Europe before and when he learned we had lived in Germany, he started to speak to us much more comfortably in German.

Our German is a bit rusty, but with our three languages we were able to have an enjoyable conversation.  Kaveli is a Rotarian and was pleased to learn that Russ is a Lion, and asked if we would take their picture which we happily obliged and promised to send them a copy of photo by email.

We gave them our email address.  They do not have a computer, but they would tell their son our email address and he would send us an email so that we could reply with the photo.  This was all a bit complicated in three languages, but if all was properly understood, we look forward to hearing from the Vallas's son.

Later in the evening, we walked up river looking for Nauticats and absorbing the river culture and old town Turku. Hundreds of people were out walking and enjoying a sunny Finnish afternoon.  A huge motorcycle rally had finnised its day in Turku.  There were rows of Harleys, BMWs, Kawakis, Suzukis, and one lonely Vespa.  All the cycles had Finnish license plates.  The riders in their leathers and helmets were admiring each other's cycles and animatedly discussing in Finnish topics undoubtedly related to their day and hobby.

We ate in an excellent Mexican restaurant, sharing a chicken ceasar salad and beef fajitas.  By the time we walked back to our accommodation at 9:30, the sun was still in the sky, but the bikers had all rumbled away.

We were in Turku and saw a lot, but never saw a Nauticat, Nevertheless, our visit was quite pleasant and will be remembered because our conversation with the Finnish couple on bicycles on the sunny side of Turku Castle.

All is Well wih the Worrall Travel Rs In the Birthplace of Worrall Wind

Days 34-35 - Helsinki, AirBNB and SERVAS visit

Our home stay with SERVAS Host Hanna and her two curious black cats.

We arrived at the train station in Helsinki on the 33rd day of our trip, and had arrangements through AirBNB to stay in a studio apartment for our first night. Te owner of the apartment was out of town, but we knew where t find the key. A taxi took us directly to the address within a few minutes for 12 Euros. We let ourselves into this cute little fourth floor apartment (hank goodness it had a lift for us and our bags.)

We got ourselves situated and went for a walk to a local supermarket where we picked up some pizza bread and cherry tomatoes for dinner and some yogurt, fruit and orange juice for breakfast. We had access to Wifi at the apartment, so we spent a lazy afternoon and evening catching up on making arrangements, answering emails, browsing the web and reading. The sky finally darkened around midnight and we realized that we needed to close our eyes and go to sleep.

Day 34 - July 14
After our breakfast, Russ and I walked about 35 minutes to the car rental agency and picked up a little Skoda, brought it back to the apartment, loaded our bags, Having had enough mosques and churches for awhile we chose to go to an outdoor museum Seurasurri (sp). It is a small island connected by a wooden bridge to the mainland. Historic windmills, chruches, farms, storage sheds, and manors have been relocated to this place. Docents are appointed to open and guide visitors to designated buildings.

We spent an interesting day here absorbing old Finnish architecture, artifacts, gardens, and wildlife. At the conclusion of our day we headed to our first SERVAS visit. We would be spening the evening with a woman named Hanna. Before arriving, we stopped to buy some flowers, some cheeses, fruits, and pastries and some cans of apple and cranberry hard cider. We weren't completely sure whether we should be expecting dinner when we arrived so we came prepared to supplement our cup of soups or to add to dinner.

Our host Hanna has a two bedroom apartment that she shares with her two curious cats full time and with her teenage sons part time when the boys are not living with their father. While we enjoyed the sights of Helsinki, our time with Hanna is by far the Highlight of Helsinki. Her home was comfortabe]le, quiet,and friendly. Hanna, herself was warm, helpful, and welcoming. Through our many conversations, we identified many similar points of view and enjoyed each other's company. We could become close friends if our proximity from each other were not on the opposite side of the planet. Making friends through peace is the goal of SERVAS home visits, and our first experience was a shining example of how one to one relationships fosters understanding about culture and differences.

Day 35 - Juky 15

After a leisurely breakfast with Hanna, Russ and I left our rental car safely parked in front of Hanna's apartment house and took the trolly to the downtown area where we first explored the open market


filled with fruits, vegetables, cheeses, wine, and merchaandise with appeal to both locals and tourists. We visited a deli type stall where we bought sandwiches, salads, soft drinks,and dessert, then found a place on the pier to have a picnic.















 Seagulls around the world we have found are all the same. After tiring of begging, one of them flew from behind me swooping down and grabbing a hunk of my dessert right out of my hand!

A visit to the furniture and decor sections of a large store is always a good way for us to experience modern day culture of the country. Similar to Scandinavia, the designs lines are sophisticated clean simplicity. We visited a rock church designed from an old quarry and was currently in use as a performing venue for a performing girls' choir from Canada. The acoustics were amazing.

We found a geocache on our way to the National Museum of Finland where we spent a couple of hours exploring Finland's prehistory and history.

Natural Cultural Outdoor Museum

 Between the museum and our conversations with Hanna, we have learned much about this independent country, that was once a part of Russia and fought against Russia with the Germans in WWII. There are about 5,000,000 Fins whose language is completely separate from any other language. Hanna works for a publishing company where she secures Finnish authors international rights for their intellectual property outside of Finland. Part of her work involves arrangements for translation of Finnish into other languages.

We ended our day with a lovely meal that Hanna prepared for us including a huge bowl of vanilla ice cream and fresh Finnish grown strawberries and raspberries. All to soon our visit was coming to an end, and we would be leaving the following morning for Turku, birthplace of our beloved Sitala, Nauticat 44 ketch.

Day 36 - July 16 - Heading to Turku in the poring rain.

I will write about Turku when we get there. Currently we are driving in the rain westward after a farewell breakfast with Hanna and two black cats Licorice and Luigi. Thank you Hanna.

All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Finland

Days 31-33, July 11-13 Fountains of Peterhof

The palatial city of Saint Petersburg is now on the other side of the border as we are on the high speed train in Finland, soon to be in Helsinki. We enjoyed our wonderful stay in Saint Petersburg and were fortunate to have a beautiful mostly sunny stay while we were there.

The obvious opulence of the Russians Tzars and aristocrats in this city is doubly impressive when we realize that most of it has been reconstructed after destruction by the Nazis in WWII. One can cerainly understand the revolution against the ostentatious wealth and the source now of Russian pride in salvaged and reconstructed treasures tha now belong to the people.

We have been in many fine palaces, but the collective grandure numeerous palaces, the insides, gardens, and fountains supercedes anything we have seen elsewhere. While in Saint Petersburg we visited the Hermitage and Peter's first summer home and gardens. In Pushkin, we viisited Catherine Summer Palace, and yesterday we visited Peterhof to view the magnificent fountains and gardens of Peter's Summer Palace.

Photos of the WWII destruction leaves one incredulous that there would be the will, perseverance, patience, and funding to reconstruct these beautiful grounds, almost 250 acres built on the gulf of Finland.

The fountains are fed by water pressurized as it heads downhill to the sea. No pumps are involved and the flow is neaarly constant. Some of the fountains are currently being reconstructed. Fountains are for beauty and water play. We enjoyed the day in Peterhof away from the city, just as Peter the Great must have enjoyed his summers here.

Tonight we will spend the night not far from the train station in Helsinki. Tomorrow we will be staying with a SERVAS host a new miles from the city center.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's now in Finland

Day 30 - July 10, Dancing in Catherine the Great's Ballroom

A Waltz in Catherine the Great's Ball Room

We ventured out today with metro and taxi bus to Pushkin to Catherine Palace,

where we waltzed around in the ornately decorated ballroom.

The biggest adventure for us today was our metro ride. We had to make a few transfers to different lines to get out to Pushkin about 30 km outside of Petersburg. Because we have difficulty reading Russian, we have thankfully learned to count stops to the exit spot. On our second transfer, the train was really crowded. Our group of five was the last to push aboard...well I should say four. The door shut on Russ's back pack. I was still on the platform. The door did a couple of quick open and closes. First Russ tried to push in and make room for me. Nope the door closed on him sideways, he muscled it open just enough to try and jump off, but that didn't work. A couple people drug his stuck body inside, the doors slid shut and the train took off. They watched me and I watched them as they disappeared down the track.

Fortunately we had just confirmed that we would get off at the seventh stop. I waited for the next train, a few minutes after the first. It wasn't crowded at all. I got a seat and rather than zone out and read, I attentively counted stops. I was hoping it would be an open platform stop so I could see the group on the platform. It was a safety station where there is a second set of doors so that the metro is like a horizontal elevator. I stepped out and looked around. It took a couple of seconds, but we spotted each other. Yeah! We were reunited, enjoyed our day to this splendid palace and gardens, and got to dance in Catherine's ballroom.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's

... from Russia with Love.