Category: travel

Post-Pandemic Travel – One More Time

It’s funny how things are these days! When I wait in the long lines in crowded terminals and see people everywhere – shopping, eating, just wondering around – only two years after I first boarded the plane after the start of the pandemic – I can’t help but think how nobody believed it would be back to normal.

I believed, but most people around me were saying that “it will never be the same.” Yea, indeed!

There is no more testing requirement for entering the US, there are no more attestation forms, and flights to the US are overcrowded! The last time I flew back to Chicago, I got “plus” seats for nothing, not even being at a Silver tier. Now I am Silver and I had an assigned seat in the 50-s, and the closest one I was able to get without the upgrade was 40C.

On another note, when I flew to Helsinki, I was not able to receive a boarding bass when checking in at home. The website suggested uploading the COVD certificates, I did, but mine do not have a QR code, and nothing happened. To my surprise, next morning (still before my flight, I received an email that read:

Dear Hettie, 

You sent us your coronavirus related documents for a pre-check for your journey from Chicago to Helsinki on 19 June 2022. I have now checked your documents, and everything is in order for your journey. 

To receive your boarding pass, please log in to our online check-in service. In case you prefer a mobile boarding pass, just open Finnair mobile app to access it. 

Please remember to take the required coronavirus certificates with you when you travel, as you may be asked to show them at any point of your journey. 

With your certificates checked and the online or mobile boarding pass in the pocket, at the airport you can go directly to Finnair bag drop or via security to your boarding gate. To make your departure a smooth one, we ask you to arrive at the airport latest 2 hours before your flight. 

I wish you a pleasant flight with us. 

With kind regards, 

Ve-a,

Pre-check team, Finnair

So, even though I uploaded my hand-written certificate, they manually checked it!!!!

Summer Music In Helsinki

During my unplanned stay in Helsinki earlier this week, we went to two concerts. One was a short lunchtime concert at Suomenlinna Church (yes, we went there again :)).

Very short, but very pleasant

Then on Wednesday, we went to the concert of Finnish Baroque Orchestra in the Saksalainen Church in Helsinki. Boris is a part of their “friends circle”, and I never attended their concerts.

They are really-really-really good! Performing “here and now”, enjoying what they do, and giving the distinct feeling of “making the music”.

Saksalainen Church

Gotheborg: the Swedish Ship

Gotheborg, a replica of the 18th-century ship, stayed in the Helsinki Southen Harbor for Midsummer. Will almost missed the opportunity to visit it because I didn’t check the schedule in advance, but we still made it – just two hours before her departure to Stockholm.

Continue reading “Gotheborg: the Swedish Ship” →

Small Things

When I am in Finland, I always admire many small things which are just done right! There are many big things which are done right as well, like. Oodi library, or the way the trees are re-planted after major streets’ reconstructions or medical services. But sometimes, it’s these small things:

A garbage can located at the train exit

The Military Museum and The Prison Museum

There are two more museums in Hameenlinna, which are situated on the Hame Castle grounds: the Military museum, which is dedicated to the history of everything war-related in Finland, and the Prison museum, which is located in the building that served as a prison until 1993. Both of these museums are very educational, and I want to come there one more time, to learn more about Finnish history. When we were there, it was a sort of information overflow. I know that I can look up most of the topics which are covered by the museum exhibits, but it’s different.

Below are just some photos, to give an idea of the museums’ collections (and the Military museum has a huge outdoor exhibit, which was close to impossible to attend in the midday with +86 F.

The view of the Hame Castle from the Military museum
I was shocked to learn that using artillery against people was considered a sin!
The Prison museum
Solitary confinement
Force-feeding chair
Continue reading “The Military Museum and The Prison Museum” →

Hameelinna – part 3

The last several pictures form the castle – I know they make almost no sense to those who never saw the castle, and I know they are “the same,” but still I wanted to show a couple more pieces of Medieval architecture.

Try-on armor
Continue reading “Hameelinna – part 3” →

Hameelinna – Part 2

They say that the castle has been built for 700 years and it is still in process since the current restoration work is considered to be a continuation of the building of the castle. We spent a lot of time, exploring different rooms; unfortunately, there were no English tours offered the day we were there, so we often could not map the rooms to their website descriptions.

Continue reading “Hameelinna – Part 2” →

Hameenlinna – part 1

The Hame Castle was built sometime in the middle of the 13th century (there are several possible dates of when it was founded). It had its ups and downs and was rebuilt multiple times. In the middle of the 14th century, the castle was rebuilt with bricks (rather than greystone in the beginning of its history). It is the first brick castle in Finland, and thereby the graphics representing bricks can be seen everywhere as a symbol of Hameenlinna.

Midsummer

Sunday was perfect. It was the Midsummer, and it was the first time in my life I was in Helsinki on this day. Also, it was unusually hot (and still is) – the temperatures were in the mid-upper 80s. On Saturday night, we talked about going to Hameenlinna on Sunday but decided to sleep on it. In the morning, it still looked like a great idea, so we purchased the train tickets and went!

It felt like a perfect day. And it was weird because it was right after the Roe/Wade overturn, and also, it was the day of Russia’s shelling of Kiyv, so the two worst things were so much there and happening, but I still felt immensely happy, and I do not feel bad about it. It was not for a while that I didn’t worry about things and what I needed to do today and tomorrow. I liked that the weather was so nice and that we were going to see this new place, which we had planned to visit so many times, but never did.

We were not sure whether it was a good idea to go there on a big holiday weekend, but it looked like everybody who wanted to visit the castle did it on Saturday:). There were almost no visitors to the museums, and we had a great time. The only disappointment was the Birthplace of Sibelius museum; it was closed from Friday to Monday for the Midsummer.

I think we will visit Hameenlinna one more time. There was too much information in all museums to take in in one day!

Montcalm Royal

The hotel I stayed in was fancy:). And surprisingly, less expensive than many other hotels close by. I remember what Vlad taught me about the quality and level of service when he worked at Peninsula, so I recognized the level :). Interestingly, it was Peninsula Plus quality of service for half the price. The staff was exceptional. The room was great. The rooftop cafe where we had breakfast was above and beyond.

Just one funny thing I wanted to mention. The room lights, conditioner, and heating were managed from this cool panel, and there were no regular switches (except for by the bed).

Imagine how I felt when the morning of the conference I woke up, and could not “wake up” this screen! after several attempts, the following message appeared: