Friday 24th July,
Mid- Summer Eve is the time to celebrate in Finland, with bonfires, parties in the Summer House on the lake and other events that take you up to the 11.30 pm Sunset.
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| Our Mid-Summer Barque |
We chose a dinner cruise around the islands of the Uusikaupunki Archipelago.
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| Rita welcomes us aboard |
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| Around the islands |
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| Hoisting the mainsail |
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| Sunset at 11.30 pm |
We celebrated on Saturday when we visited Seppo on his berry covered acreage.
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| Visiting Seppo |
Later in the day Sirkka and Pekka came to visit us for dinner.
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| Dinner in our flat |
Sunday 26th July 2011
After church, Sinikka, Ben and I joined Pekka and Sirkka on our bikes to pedal out to Raija Nokkala's 'Cloud Castle', a fabulous display of her magical 'innocent' art.
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| In The Cloud Castle-with Raija, the artist |
The building is decorated all over, inside and out; with quirky little people and animals.
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| Magic world |
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| Swans above |
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| On a Baltic beach |
Ben and I rode out to visit the family graves. My grandfather's brother Karl Felix Rosten is buried in Uusikaupunki.......
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| Karl Felix Rosten and his wife |
......as is his elder sister Maria Rosten (Lakari) and her husband.
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| Jakko and Maria Lakari's grave |
Behind the cemetry is the vaste Valet car Factory. We called in while we were nearby and had a look at the car Museum there.
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| Valmet Car Factory |
This old AJS bike was made in Plumstead in the UK near where Ben lived as a kid.
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| AJS Bike |
There were some beautifully restored old cars....
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| Austin Seven 1933 |
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| Maybach Zeppelin DS8 - 1931 |
... but most of the floor space was devoted to a display of EVERY Saab model ever made, many made here in this Uusikaupunki factory which now makes parts for electric/petrol hybrid cars.
Friday 1st July 2011
My family in Finland (Rosten), originally came from a farm in Laitila. I know my great grandfather (Muppa) came to Uusikaupunki from Laitila in the 1820's, with his cousin, to go to sea. Sirkka and Pekka thought a visit might unearth some more information. First we went to the church.
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| Inside Laitila Church |
The church graveyard is too recent with it's oldest Rosten grave in the 1880's......
....so the man who keeps the church records, sent us to Perttelin Church surrounded by farms. We were assured by a local there that many farming Rostens still live there.
Pekka and Sirkka then had a lovely surprise for us; an art gallery spread over a number of old farm buildings and one new glass gallery.
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| Gallery of glass |
Our friend Seppo's son is represented here too. He and his wife have a studio in New York.
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| by Seppo and Pirjo's son |
On the way home we dropped in to visit an oak tree planted by Pekka when he first went out teaching in a school yard in Seppala.
Saturday 2nd July 2011
Ros and Chris arrived from London.
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| Ros arrives in Uusikaupunki |
Ros and I were neighbours in Toronto in 2008.
Rita very kindly invited us all to have a sauna on the edge of the Baltic in the evening. What a pleasure.
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| Seaside sauna |
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| balmy evening |
The next day we visited the crazy Bonk Museum of machines with very strange purposes.
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| Bonk |
.......and had dinner with Rita by the Bay.
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| Ros and Chris |
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| Rita and Ben |
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| Blankets supplied!! |
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| Fun night |
Monday 4th July 2011
Ben and I visited Mirva, Pertti, Aleksandra and Miranda. Aleksandra was with us in Kilaben Bay with Pekka and Sirkka, her grandparents, for Christmas last year. We did lots of walking with Mirva and Pertti.
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| Walking with Mirva and Pertti |
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| An inviting deck |
Mirva and her family live just outside Helsinki, on three golf courses, which all meet at a beautiful club house.
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| Golf Courses on the doorstep |
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| Clubhouse |
Their proximity to Tallin in Estonia. across the Baltic made this area important to the Russians after the second world war. They took it on a lease, and the memory of that time is still fresh for many people.
One of these is a local farmer, entrpreneur and historian, who invited us to join a group of Australian farmers from Gundagai on a visit to his farm. He is now a beef cattle man and we found his stories very interesting.
His father was a collector of farm machinery which now has a dedicated building.
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| Tractor Collection |
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| Ben was intrigued |
We also visited the cottage of one of Finland's favourite authors, Aleksis Kivi, who wrote 'Seven Brothers'.
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| Cottage of Aleksis Kivi |
Wednesday 6th July 2011
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| Markku |
Markku is Kirsti and Erkki's eldest son. He lives in Turku so we broke our journey to visit him and his wife Tuija.
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| Tuija and Markku |
We all went to a display to commerate the Turku fire in the 19th Century. Maybe Ben and Markku would not have succeeded as firmen back then.
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| old water pump |
Thursday 7th July 2011
This was a very exciting day for me as the family came to Uusikaupunki.
Kirsti came with her other two sons, Mika and Yke and Mika's wife Maritta and their daughter Reetta.
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| Mika |
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| Maritta |
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| Kirsti and Reetta |
We started with lunch on the Kaupunki Lahti (Town Bay).
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| Lunch |
....then coffee with munkki at Pakkahuone.
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| delicious munkki |
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| and ice blocks |
Then went exploring our little town where all our Rosten ancestors were born.
First to the church.
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| Reetta the photographer |
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| No-one there |
Then to Maria Lakari's house with her name over the gate.
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| Lakari gate |
...and to Windmill Hill.....
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| Old windmill |
...to see the Fog Extractor, which is a Bonk machine to keep the Bay clear in the morning!!!
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| Fog extractor |
Tuesday 12th July 2011
Ready to leave Uusikaupunki
We had our last Coffee and Munkki at Pakkahuone,
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| Last Coffee |
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| Goodbye Guest Harbour |
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| ...and Kaupunki Lahti (Bay) |
said all our farewells to Pekka and Sirkka
and left for Paris.
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