Finland: Välkommen till Finland: Part 1: Helsinki Sept 17-19

Whew - we made it!

My mom Harriet, Kai and I survived the 10 hour flight from Seattle --> Copenhagen and the subsequent 1.5 hour flight from Copenhagen --> Helsinki.

Exactly how do you keep a 2-year old quiet on a night flight for 10 hours strapped into an uncomfortable seat? Little plastic animals...

Then we met my Aunt Barbro in Helsinki (that's Helsingfors for all you Swedish-speakers out there) and went to her apartment in the Dromsö neighborhood.

 

Here is Kai munching on hotdogs (korv) in my Aunt Barbro's kitchen.

We stayed 2 nights in Helsingfos, most of our energy battling the jet lag. Or rather, Kai was losing the jet lag battle so that meant everyone was else suffered too.

But we did manage to visit with my second cousins "syslingar" - Åsa, Malena and my former roomate Linda. Luckily, Åsa and Linda have kidlets now too so there was no need to hush Kai excessively.

Åsa, Me, Linda and Malena at Åsa and Mårten's apartment in the Eina area of Helsinki.

Kai kept stealing away most of Casper's toys with the proclamation of "MINE." What can I say - we teach good family values, ones that include greed, taking advantage of those smaller than you...our motto is "if it feels good do it (?!)."

Here's me with Casper - he's a cheerful one.

Mårten, Casper's dad, had a neat creation. He had commissioned the creation of a Wallendahl family crest from a licensed crest-maker. The new crest is registered with the international organization that oversees crests. Pretty cool!

 

Later, we went to downtown Helsinki and went to H&M (my favorite clothing store ever!). And also to Stockman, which is a department store akin to Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom.

Åsa, Mårten and Casper wait in the rain for the 3T trolley car to take us to the city center.

Small children and one parent ride public buses and trolley cars for free. How cool is that? Otherwise, a ride on the bus or trolley costs about 2.2 Euros (circa 2.75 USD).

 

Kai naturally wanted to sit in Casper's baby wagon since Casper was riding around in the Snugli.

Åsa even watched Kai so I could poke around H&M - tusen tack!

 

Kai chillin' inside Stockmans while Harriet checked out some stuff.

 

The next day, September 19, we left for Jakobstad by train. But before that, Aunt Barbro took us out for lunch at the World Trade Center in Helsinki.

Okay, more entries later. Kai only naps so long in the afternoon...