Author: Hettie D.

My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996. I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future. I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life. As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.

Helsinki Day 8

That was the last full day in Helsinki, and it was impossible to fit in “everything we haven’t done yet.” The weather was expected to be exceptional, and Anna really wanted to go back to Soumenlinna, so she convinced the rest of her family that it’s the best way to spend the last day.

And you know what – I agree with her!

It was very warm but also very windy, and when we were on the top of the fortress walls, it almost felt like the wind could blow you away. We walked in the water and just set on the stones looking at the Finnish Gulf. This is one of few places in the world where I can sit and do nothing, and think nothing, just taking the world in.

Later in the day, since in was still very warm, Anna & Family went to the beach. I didn’t stay there; the water was cold (although Anna and Nadia went in later). I decided to wait for my Lyola beach :). It’s worth mentioning though that this beach is so much better equipped with all the necessities, like toilets, changing rooms, lockers and even showers! I am jealous!

Helsinki Day 7

On Sunday, we met with my friend Natasha and her family, had a nature walk, and visited the Technical Museum. It was a relatively long hike, mostly on a boardwalk over the salty water marshes. We stopped at a couple of observation stations, but it was difficult to see the birds without special equipment.

The waterfalls in this park are amazing!
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Helsinki Day 6

On Saturday morning, Anna biked to our place, and we had a two-and-a-half-hours bike ride all over Helsinki. Both Anna and I were tired, but Boris wanted to show us all the best places, so it took a while 🙂

Anna was filming the whole route with her 360 camera, but for now, I only have a couple of pictures:

By the time we were done with this ride, and Boris and I parked our bikes, it was almost eleven, which meant that the ice cream place by the Sibelius monument was about to open!

In the afternoon, Nadia and I went clothes shopping; that was the birthday activity I promised to her many months ago. We also picked up several outfits for Kira and some Moomin toys for both of them. And in the evening, the four of us went to the concert at the Church in the Rock. We sat in the very front row, as close to the musicians as none of us ever sat, and listened to this truly amazing concert!

Day 5 – Tallinn

On Friday, we went to Tallinn. That was the only part of my June trip that I posted a lot about, so I do not have much to add.

The journey was smooth. The children’s playroom on board was great. In the city, Boris adapted the route so that Kira could do a lot on her own. We ended up not climbing any of the towers (and we will have to return to do that!). Girls had tons of fun in the Marzipan museum making their own marzipan figurines and painting them.

Also, the Maritime Museum was open, and since it was rainy in the morning, we spent almost two hours there. What I didn’t notice before was that they had models for kids to play on each of the floors, which made it especially entertaining.

Anna and I on the ferry
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Helsinki Day 4

On Thursday, we went to the museum island Seurasaari. I thought we would spend just a couple of hours there, but the weather was nice, and there were plenty of kids’ activities, so we ended up staying there almost until closing (or rather until it started to rain).

I just realized after checking my June blog entries that I didn’t even had time to post about Sauresaari in June, when I visited the museum with Natasha’s family. In comparison with the June visit, there were more open houses, more activities for children, and more food available in the cafe, so the whole visit was even more fun than I expected. I will add some of my June pictures to that post.

The Museum was opened in 1909, and it hosts old buildings from different parts of FInland which are being carefully moved to the island and rebuilt/restored there. In addition, each house contant s gigantic collection on different household objects from the correspnding region/historical period. Also, I love it when you can climb the rocks and smell the pines.

The boat shed
A farmstand
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Helsinki Day 3

We were so scared of the rain the day before that we ended up spending most of the day indoors visiting different museums.

The first one was a Burger House showing how well-off people in Helsinki lived in the second half of the 19th century.

With Anna at the Senat Square

Then we visited Aethenium Museum and then – The Helsinki City Museum.

Both of them had activities for kids, which made everybody happy. In fact, Nadia was so fascinated with the “classroom” exhibit in the Helsinki City Museum, she didn’t want to go anywhere else and stayed there almost until the museum closed 🙂

Anna at the classroom piano

All these exhibits plus more ice cream made the day, and we were glad we didn’t plan anything else!

Helsinki Day 2 – Dinner

Harald restaurant is an awesome place. I discovered it last year when we had two conference events with my previous company, and this time, I didn’t have any doubts about where we should have a family dinner (what was supposed to be the June birthdays dinner, but whatever :)).

Everybody loved it, both the food and the ambiance. And it turned out that there was a playroom for the kids 🙂

Helsinki Day 2

Boris and I had an early morning bike ride, and I was shocked by how empty the streets were in the morning. Even at 6-30, there were almost no cars and no bikers or people. That was a great ride, and I was thankful for Boris because it’s not his favorite time of the day to bike 🙂

Unfortunately, the rest of the day didn’t go like the day before – it was raining on and off, often heavily. we still decided to go to Suomenlinna, which was probably not the best decision we could make :), but what’s done is done.

No good pictures because of that, but a couple of them taken by Anna earlier – on the plane and on the first day:

Yet Another Book Review

“Meltdown” – a book review

Helsinki Day 1

We successfully resolved the puzzle of not matching the numbers of people and bicycles and ended up with everybody having the appropriate means of transportation :).

The morning started with a grey sky and rain, but later, it became nice and sunny, so we were able to go ahead with our original plans. Oodi is an amazing place, and we spent the first half of the day there. Then, we went to pick up a bike for John and a bike seat for Kira, and then there was more biking, and a playground by the library, and more biking and more walking.

We had ice cream, and then Nadia’s ice cream was lost to the seagulls, and we got another one for her and guarded it from the audacious birds. The rain started only about 8 PM when everybody was in their respective homes. With the forecast how it is for this week, every day without the rain is a blessing!

Lots of berries. Lots of yogurts. Lots of ice cream.