Yesterday, I forgot to add Igor’s pictures which he shared with me, and he made much better ones. Besides, he had a chance to see the cars (this one accidental ticket I got from a person who didn’t need it)
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Category: travel
The Rest Of Weekend Activities
To recap the rest of our weekend activities: after the architectural tour, we went to the Chicago Architectural Center – we disembarked right there, and also, Lena didn’t visit it since it moved to this new home. We saw the exhibit of Helmut Jahn, which I saw earlier with my mom, and the permanent exhibit on urban development, which was very interesting.
Chicago Architectural Cruise
The Architectural Cruise is the best attraction in Chicago! I heard once that if there is only one thing you have time to do in Chicago, do the Architectural cruise, and I can’r agree more! Each tour is different because each docent prepares their own tour, although the list of the places they need to cover is pre-defined. I’ve been on that tour at least twenty times :). The docent we had this time was just OK, not great. However, Lena really enjoyed it – it was a while since she was on that tour, and there are lots of new buildings which didn’t even exist seven years ago!
Living Every Moment Of Chicago Summer…
Lena and I had a great weekend together! I am happy I created a mini-vacation for her, but I also did the same thing for myself – otherwise, I will be working all this time :). There are high chances that I will work ten hours a day each day of the upcoming week to compensate for that, but we still had a great time!
Saturday morning, we went biking on the Lake Front Trail. Lena saw all my pictures with beautiful sunsets, and she wanted to have the same experience. We ended up being at the right place at the right time, and I could even film the sunrise!
I didn’t have time for a blog post yesterday, but I posted a lot on the instagram. Now I am trying to save some time and embed the instagram post, hopefully it will be visible. You can click on the arrows to scroll through the picture.
As you can see, we biked far enough but not as far as I hoped. To be fair, Lena didn’t bike for over a year, so the long bike ride was a little bit too harsh of a start.
When we returned home, I made quiches for breakfast (and shared with my neighbors)
And then, we were off for another adventure. I booked the Architectural Cruise for PM departure, and we had time before that to visit the Millennium park one more time (there was a Zumba class in progress) and then we went to the Lurie Garden
We strolled through the West Riverwalk one more time
had some ice cream in the Tiny Cafe, and then headed to the boat tour –
Visiting Michigan
Over the weekend, I was at the beach house of my son-in-law’s family. His mother was trying to organize this trip for a very long time, and each time, something didn’t work. We finally made it, and I was also able to convince my mom to go. The weather was absolutely perfect- very warm and sunny, but not too hot. There is a real forest surrounding the house, and the water is as clean as it can be. Of course, that also meant more time with Anna, John, and the girls.
***
Boris flew in on Friday, and it took him almost two hours to get through the immigration. He said there were just two agents for several hundred people. Then, we made a mistake. Or rather, I let this mistake happen.
Since we moved to the city, Boris said that now we do not need to take Uber to the airport because we can take L. I told him it would be a very long trip because you need to get into the city and get out again. Last time, I called Uber because we were fixing things until the last minute.
Now he mentioned it again, and I said – let’s.
Because the inner airport train is still not operating, it took us 30 minutes to get Terminal 5 to Terminal 2. And then – another two hours with all the waits! I told him – at least, it was on the way from the airport, not the other way 🙂
I hope that one experiment was enough 🙂
Now, That I Live So Close To The Beach…
… why am I still going to the Indiana Dunes with Igor? Aside from this being a tradition, the huge part is the luxury of being cut from the civilization for several hours: there is still no internet and no cell coverage on the beach.
And I can’t even describe how much I needed it! Three hours doing nothing 🙂
Traveling In The Opposite Direction
Because I was so absorbed with my move, I didn’t even tell anybody about Boris’s visit – the first time after November 2019.
He technically could come through all that time as a spouse of a US citizen. But first, there were no flights. Then, it was really bad here, and I didn’t want him to come and sit inside for a week. Later, it became possible for me to travel, and you know the rest. Boris said he didn’t want to get sick outside Finland, which I could understand.
Long story short, he felt comfortable traveling after his first dose (In Finland, due to the vaccine shortage, they have a twelve weeks interval between two doses).
Like when I traveled to Finland, he has to present the papers twice more than the number of borders he crossed. But unlike with me, one situation became very serious.
He checked -in for both flights on the way to Chicago, but just when he was about to board the plane in Frankfurt, they didn’t let him on. An official told him that B1 travelers from the Schengen zone are not allowed, and “if he were traveling from Russia, it would be fine.” Boris pleaded with him that in his case, he could travel, and in the end, they reissued him a boarding pass, and he boarded – the last passenger on the flight.
He had no problems passing the border control here, and the officer, as it often happens, was amused with our family arrangements :).
He also had to take the test on the way back, and it turned out that the only way he could do this was to come to the airport yet another hour earlier. It all worked fine, and there were no more issues. However, Boris is still bitter that the Biden administration didn’t do anything with this ridiculous situation when people can’t travel from the Schengen countries but can travel from Russia. And I agree 🙂
A Flight Back
I have only one more thing to tell you about my trip to Helsinki, that is about the flight back.
During my pandemic travels, I learned that I need to plan whether I am going to eat on each of the flights. My flight from Helsinki departed at 7-20 AM, which means we left the house at 5 AM, and I didn’t have breakfast. When I was checking in, they told me that the flight is “almost full” (and for that reason, they checked my luggage, even though I had the “light” fair). That meant that I didn’t want to take my mask off on the plane, so I bought my breakfast at the airport and ate it in the far corner of the cafe.
It turned out that it was the right call to go back to the medical center and ask to fix the typos in my name: the certificate was checked at least four times! And each time, whoever checked it, verified my name on the certificate against my passport.
Getting Tested In Helsinki
Two weeks before I left for Helsinki, I started to research where I can take a COVID test prior to my return. All my online searches ended the same way. After finding a place end trying to see how to schedule an appointment, it would bring me to the page, which would require identification with the local bank card (that’s how people in Finland get access to their medical records.
Natasha called them, and they told her that I do not need to go to the airport. I can call and schedule an appointment in the city. The cost of the test and certificate will be 265 euros, which is 315 dollars.
I came to Helsinki on Saturday, and on Monday morning, we started calling. Yes, the nurses speak English, but the automated system speaks Finnish :).
On the second try, we figured out what were the hours of operation and called later. There was a new message :), which asked – press one to call back. There was no option to “remain on the line.”
All was good, except we had no idea when they will call back, and Boris had to teach online for three and a half hours on that day. That was the reason why I chose Monday to meet with Natasha.
As we expected, they called during the class, but thankfully they called back one more time, and I was able to schedule an appointment for Wednesday. On Tuesday, we walked there to make sure we know where the place is. It was a good call because the testing lab and the medical office were in two separate buildings.
On Wednesday, I went for the test. On the phone, they asked me to bring a passport to put the passport number on the certificate. But they didn’t do it when taking the test; they only checked it to see that that was me :). Also, they told me that I would need to pay when I am picking up the certificate. And that I should not come back until I know I have a negative result.
All of this left me slightly worried – what if the result won’t be there on Thursday morning? However, Thursday morning, Boris received a text message: login to view your test results. Ha. I can’t log in! I do not have the banking identification!
We called them again; and, again, pressed one for a callback. An hour later, somebody called. I started to explain that I can’t view the results, and a lady said: yes, that’s why I am calling. Your result is negative, and you can pick up your certificate. But first, tell me your passport number so that I can put it on the certificate.
I went there, paid for the certificate, and we even stopped in the Fazer cafe for some salmon soup – that was the only day I was officially out of the quarantine, and also, we found a cafe where every other place was marked as “do not sit here.”
Funny story. When we were already back home, the medical center called back: did you call us? It turned out, that the nurse who called us in the morning, didn’t “call back,” but just called, because she knew I won’t be able to view the results 🙂
Everything was great. We stopped to buy some bread and dairy for me to take back to Chicago. Then we came home, and I went for one more short walk before starting my half-day at work.
I planned to start working at 4 PM (8 AM Chicago time) to do some coding before my first meeting at 9 AM. I printed the attestation copies, which are now required to enter the US, and took my certificate out of the envelope. I looked at it and saw that my last name was misspelled!!! Three characters off, which is not a surprise with the last name as long as mine!
I looked at my watch. It was 4:05. Boris said: three characters are OK for the airlines, but… I said: yes, not these days! The Aavo center was still open, and I hurried up there! It was -3F, and ai had to put layers and layers on myself. Fortunately, the tram came right away, and when I arrived, they told me to go to the second floor to the nurse. The whole thing took less than fifteen minutes, and I hurried back with the new certificate. On the way back, the tram driver saw me running to the stop and waited for me. I opened the apartment door at 4:58 🙂
Hettie's Reflections 