Event Diary Navigation Index

Prev Page
(11 - 20)

Events 21 - 30

Next Page
(31 - 40)

The local village feast of Saint George in Qormi, celebrated during the last weekend of June, was always a special event form e from when I was 9 years of age, at that time a big fan of fireworks. Year after year from that age I always went to this feast either with friends in the decorated village full with joyful simple people or alone just to see the fireworks which are quite plentiful and nice for this feast. One of the best years was in 1996 when I went with my University friends (at the MLScourse) - we really laughed a lot.

This year was no exception either, and I and Malin went to enjoy ourselves during the weekend nights to this feast in the light cool breeze of end of June. First we went around the decorated streets of the city and the visiting the large and richly decorated church dedicated to Saint George. The church is all lighted up, with plenty of golden and silver decorations and expensive textures. The chandelier is the most impressive of the decorations, followed by the silver and golden altar.

After that we went to meet Manwel and his girlfriend but he was late so instead I and Malin went to buy a large hot dog with chips from the many take away outlets around the streets. While eating, we walked towards the place where the aerial fireworks are displayed. We were a bit late but we only lost the initial small ones. The display of fireworks took about nearly 2 hours, and it is not finished yet! We walked back to the central part of the village in a site known as the large Valley. here there was the second part of the display, that is the ground fireworks. This took another hour and this year it seemed that there was not a large number of people, hence it was more comfortable to watch. This took another hour or so. They were very spectacular especially the last and largest ones. At 1:30 in the morning it was all finished and we went back home, a couple of km away. I was delighted this day also becasue I was informed that Greece won the favourites France in the European football cup.

On Sunday we went again but mainly to watch the aerial fireworks from a lonely dark spot. I filmed the fireworks to make a dvd of the best fireworks of Malta. When the statue of saint George returns back to the church (about 10:30pm), after its traditional carrying around the main streets of the city, there will be a grand finale of fireworks and so then the feast comes to an end. I created a DVD of the fireworks of Malta which is for sale at 10 Euros. A full photogallery (over 50 pics) with descriptions can be seen on this site - please click here to go directly to the photogallery!

I and Malin have decided to visit Malin's parents especially for the reason's of Malin's mother, which is not much healthy anymore, she have a serious disease unfortunately. So we went in Bennas both for holiday and break of normal life and also to make some help her family in the daily needs and other tasks required in the house. For Malin it was more work than me since she had to do lot of cleaning and cooking, while I had to repair some things of her father's PC, and cut and rake the grass. The most part I liked was shopping in the enormous supermarkets (Prisma, CityMarket, Hapla Halli) with so much variety of things and foodstuffs of the same type that you could find difficulty what to choose.

The weather was not very good this week too, but at least it was sunny for a couple of days so that we could go for jogging, biking, take Gungerd for a walk, or travel to a nearby city such as Vasa, Jakobstad or Kokkola. Unfortunately we did not have much time to go to the beautiful Summer cottage in Larsmo. A week passed very quickly and we had to return back to Malta, but we were looking forward for another vacation in Finland in August, for nearly 3 whole weeks.

Finally on our last day of travelling, we had enough time to go from the airport of Arlanda in Sweden to a nearby large city in Sweden called uppsala. This was a very beautiful city and we spent much of our time at the Cathedral and in the botanical garden. We arrive in hot Malta on Monday afternoon, 5th July.

Photogallery of this vacation in June and that in August:

August is the hottest month of the year in Malta, so for a cold-blooded Finn like me, it is better to stay away from Malta during this month :-) Therefore Stephen and I decided that this is a good time to go and visit my parents in Finland for almost three weeks.

Last time we went to Finland we had to wait several hours at Arlanda airport in Sweden for our connecting flight to Vaasa (there are no direct flights unfortunately) and we spent those hours in the city Uppsala. We really liked it there and felt that we wanted to see more of the city, so this time we planned for a stop at Uppsala again. We arrived to Arlanda around noon, and the plane to Vaasa left as late as 11 pm.

Uppsala is situated about 70 kilometers north of the capital Stockholm, and it took us about 40 minutes with the bus. First we walked around for a while in the centre, visiting some shops, but I was feeling quite hungry already, so we started to search for the Greek restaurant Santorini, which one of my Swedish friends had recommended. We got a table with a nice view of the nearby river Fyrisan, and the service was extremely fast, we got the starter almost immediately. The food was really good, but it was a bit expensive.

During the meal we noted that there was a large park on the opposite side of the river, and since we felt full and sleepy it was nice to find a nearby park :-) Stephen took some photos and we filmed a bit in the park before we rested for a short while on two benches. Unfortunately it was cloudy all day, so it was not perfect for photos, but at least it did not rain.

We continued our walk to another park that Stephen had been looking forward to visiting, namely the Botanical Garden. We walked around there for hours, and Stephen who is really an expert on plants by now, found a few mistakes in the information written about different plants. However, we did not find anyone to inform about these mistakes (Stephen had hoped for some kind of reward :-)

Back in the centre we did some shopping and then we felt the need for coffee, since there were still many hours left until we would be in bed at my parents' place. We soon discovered that the price difference for a cup of coffee is huge between Malta and Sweden (at least this part of Sweden). So we got a bit of a problem when we realized that a cup of coffee costs 20 crowns each, not to mention the cakes (10 crowns for a tiny, tiny biscuit and 30 crowns for a piece of cake) and we only had 50 crowns left. Stephen however managed to solve the problem "a la Maltija": we went to a supermarket to pay a whole pack of biscuits for 10 crowns, then we went back to the cafe and bought a cup of coffee each and ate the biscuits from my bag.

After the coffee adventure it was time to take the bus back to the airport, and at 1 am we arrived to the airport in Vaasa, where my father picked us up with the car. After 1 hour with the car we could finally go to bed, exhausted after a long day.

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

Our first day at my parents place in Bennas, Finland. During the morning we unpacked our things and just spent time with my mother. After lunch we decided to go to Jakobstad to do some shopping, and Stephen came with the brilliant idea to go by bike. The weather was good for biking, mostly sunny but only 21 degrees Celsius. Jakobstad is 10 kilometers away from Bennas, so it took us about half an hour. In Jakobstad we visited several different shops, among other things we planned to by a bike computer, but then I recalled that I should have one at home.

On our way back Stephen kept a very high speed, and I did not quite manage to keep up with him, since I got a mild food poisoning yesterday, and still felt a bit weak. Luckily the weather forces took pity on me, and the rain started at the same moment as I stepped into my parents' house.

When we arrived my aunt Veka, her husband and their three daughters (+boyfriend of one of the daughters) had just come to Bennas from Sweden, where they live since many years back.It was very nice to see them again, I have not met them for almost a year I think.

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

Since my mother is very sick and unable to walk she cannot do anything in the household, so Stephen and I try to help my father as much as possible during our stay her. Today I washed and ironed clothes and vacuum cleaned all the house, while Stephen cut the grass in the large garden.

In the afternoon we had some shopping to do, and after that we drove directly to our summer cottage in Larsmo. My parents arrived shortly after us, and we managed to get my mother and her wheel chair on the narrow path through the forest all the way to the cottage. It was a very beautiful evening there by the sea, and we enjoyed a delicious meal on the terrace. My father and a neighbor have built a "smoke oven" at the cottage, and this was the premiere. We did not trust in our luck on fishing ourselves (we were too hungry to risk it), so Stephen and I had bought some perches in advance. My father managed very well in smoking the fish, considering that it was his first time.

My parents went back home after the dinner, but Stephen and I had decided to spend the night at the cottage. Stephen climbed the large rock in the water in front of the cottage, and spent quite some time there filming the wonderful sunset. I also climbed up to keep him company, but I very soon regretted this move, because 1. it was very cold at this late hours and 2. I realized that it is much easier to climb up the rock than to get down. As you might guess I finally managed, otherwise I would not be sitting here writing this diary :-)

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

It is wonderful to wake up at the cottage, so peaceful and quiet, no traffic or noisy neighbors to wake you up. The only thing you hear is the waves and the birds. We still managed to wake up already at 9 am, and ate breakfast by the sea. Then we started organizing some of Stephen's old photos in an album, but unfortunately I had forgotten some of the photos at home (please note: I usually do not forget things, it was a one time experience!), so we were not able to do much.

Stephen is very fascinated by the nature in Finland, and today he spent time taking photos of spiders. I on the other hand is not very fond of spiders, but I must admit it was interesting to see his close up photos. In the mean time I was picking some blueberries, there were lots of them around the cottage. We soon got visitors, so I did not have much time to pick the berries, but at least it was enough in order to bake a blueberry pie the following day.

First my father's cousin and his wife came to visit, and shortly after my parents came. Later in the evening all the family was gathered, because then my brother Nicki, his wife Elisabet and son Jonatan also arrived. Jonatan convinced me to take a swim with him in the sea, and it was very refreshing, not as cold as I had expected. Then we barbecued some sausages and enjoyed the sunset before we went back to Bennas. Stephen and I considered to stay for another night, but the desire to take a shower took overhand.

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

Today was the hottest day this summer in Finland, I guess, 28 degrees Celsius. In the afternoon we sat on the terrace just enjoying the sun. My aunt Veka had invited us to come and visit them at their summer cottage at Nabba, about 23 kilometers away from Bennas. Stephen and I immediately saw this is a good opportunity for another biking tour, but because of the hot weather we stayed at home until almost 7 pm. Then we hopped onto our bikes and to my surprise we manage to arrive to Nabba in less than one hour. I have went there by bike only twice before, the first time when I was only about 15 years old. I still remember how exhausted I was that time, and that it felt like an eternity to arrive. So at least it felt good to experience that I am in better shape now than I was as a 15-year old :-)

When we arrived we had a coffee together with my parents, my grandfather and my aunt and her family. My aunt's extremely cute dog Luna was also there. After the coffee my cousins Julia and Elin and Elin's boyfriend Mattias went to throw darts, and Stephen and I joined them after a short while. I am quite crappy at playing darts, so I spent more time juggling with Mattias' football. After our game of darts the cousins went fishing (they got many large perches in just a short while) and Stephen and I had a penalty shooting competition. It was very balanced, but finally I won it ! Stephen still said he wanted revenge after my nice saves in the end :-) Anyway, we had a lot of fun and stayed until quite late in the evening. We felt a bit tired after the football playing, so we happily accepted my father's offer to put the bikes in his van and get a ride home with him.

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

It has become tradition for us to spend at least one day in the town Kokkola during every holiday in Finland. There are larger variety of shops than in Jakobstad, and many things are also a bit cheaper.

We had an early lunch at home before we drove off to Kokkola. We went to the large warehouses Anttila and Halpa-Halli, to some photo shops (a must if your name is Stephen), sport shops, stationaries and a book shop (a must if your name is Malin). After maybe four hours of shopping we were both satisfied with our bargains. We bought some tortilla chips and Pringles dip at Halpa-Halli and found a park near a small river where we sat down to have a rest and enjoy the crips. We tested the small tripod Stephen had just bought, and it proved to be very useful. Luckily Stephen also tested the bike computer he bought, just to realize that it was broken. We then had to hurry back to the shop and they gave a another one instead.

Stephen wanted to see some of the surroundings of Kokkola, so we walked to the car and drove to a camping site called Sundmun at Yxpila, just a few kilometers outside the centre of Kokkola. There were quite a lot of people at the camping site, some were even swimming in the sea. I think Stephen and I are too spoiled by the high air and sea temperature in Malta, because we felt cosy in the car and preferred to stay there enjoying the view through the car window. Stephen fell asleep almost immediately and I read some chapters in my newly bought book: "Asylum" by my favorite Swedish writer, Liza Marklund. We stayed here for almost two hours, before we drove back to the centre.

Now came the moment we had both waiting for all day: time to buy ice-cream! It might seem a bit strange that this is the climax of the day, but the thing is that last time we visited Kokkola we discovered a cheaper way of enjoying lots of ice cream. A cone of ice-cream is incredibly expensive in Finland, EUR2.30 for two small scopes. But if you buy a 1/2 litre pack of ice-cream it only costs you EUR2! Smart as we are, we bought a pack of 1/2 litre ice-cream each, spending less money that if we had taken one cone each. It is maybe not such a good solution if you consider the amount of calories involved, but we try not to care to much, we are on holiday![I hope the FinishIce-creamm seller in Kokkola is not reading this and arranges the price up!- MarZ]

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

Today we were a bit lazy in the morning and undecided how to spend the day. Because of the good weather we wanted to be outside, so after picking some raspberries in the garden we went by bike to a place called Sandasen, about 7 kilometers away. This is the place where I used to go to swimming school during the summers when I was a kid. There are many lakes in the area, and after a while we found a nice place. There were no other people at this lake, only a tent that seemed abandoned. We laid down in the shadow at first, because we had forgotten to bring water with us. Stephen refused to come to swim with me, because according to him the water was very dirty. It was a refreshing swim, but I have to admit Stephen had a point, my hair smelled a bit weird after my swim.

After a while we moved to the sunny side of the beach, in order for me to dry up quicker. We laid there reading and resting for quite a while, it was very relaxing. Very thirsty we biked back and had a very tasty glass of water.

In the evening we went to a high-class restaurant in Jakobstad called Pavis. The restaurant is only open in summer, and it has a marvellous view of the sea. Since it was Tuesday evening we did not even think about reserving a table, we just went there expecting the restaurant to be almost empty. But to our surprise and disappointment the best tables by the window were reserved. After some minutes of hesitation about what to do we decided to reserve a table for another day instead, since we really wanted to sit by the window. We went down to the beach and took a few photos before we drove to the centre of Jakobstad again.

By now we were very hungry, and wanted to find a decent restaurant quickly. This turned out to be easier said than done. We found out that for some strange reason most of the restaurants closed already at 9 pm, and it was now already 8:30 pm. We new that a restaurant called Sesam would probably be open, but we have been there many times and wanted some variation. Luckily we passed by the restaurant Kumar's, which was still open. We were the only customers in the whole restaurant and we found that strange, because the pizzas were very good.

After the meal we drove back to the harbour and enjoyed a very beautiful sunset.

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

Vaasa is my favorite town in Finland, maybe since I studied there for four years and I am very familiar with it. It takes about 1 hour to drive there from Bennas, so we arrived around 11:30 am. We parked near the water tower and decided to climb up the tower to enjoy the view. We entered, paid a small fee and walked up the stairs to the top. It was a bit cloudy, but the view was still great. Stephen took many photos and we stayed up there for quite some time. After climbing down the stairs we had coffee and a delicious date cake in the cafeteria downstairs.

From the tower I saw a church that I strangely enough have never noted before, and from the map I found out that it was the orthodox church. We got interested and decided to go there. The church was open, and although it was very small there were quite a few beautiful paintings and pictures there.

We also stopped by to take some photos of the evangelic church Trefaldighetskyrkan, before we did some shopping. As always after shopping we got tired and hungry, so we decided to eat a pizza buffet at the restaurant Rax. It is not a high class restaurant, but the prize is not high and the food is really good, if you like pizza and pasta. There were many types of vegetables, tortilla chips, chicken wings, lasagna and several types of pizzas. Soft drinks and coffee was also included in the prize. We ate A LOT, I do not think the restaurant did any profit on us :-)

By now it was time to go back home, because we had an interesting appointment in a village called Katterno, only 4 kilometers away from Bennas. Stephen is very interested in astronomy, and is considering to buy a telescope. However, since he is not very experienced in this area he wanted advice from someone before buying one. Through a relative of mine we found out about a man in the village Katterno who has started a society for people interested in watching stars. He agreed to meet us and we went by bike to his house and he welcomed us and was very friendly and helpful. We sat there discussing for more than an hour, and he showed us part of his equipment and some photos they have taken of stars. It was very interesting in deed, and he also helped Stephen to make up his mind about what telescope to buy.

The whole photogallery about this event can be seen by clicking here

Event Diary Navigation Index

Prev Page
(11 - 20)

Events 21 - 30

Next Page
(31 - 40)

Fill accurately the form below with the details requested, type your message (only in English), revise it for mistakes and grammer corrections and finally send it by clicking the submit button below.

It may take up to 3 days until your message will be displayed online here on this page. If you wish that your email will NOT be shown in your message, check the NO button.

Remember that I or Malin check every submitted message / comment personally and then placed online. So understand that it is useless to write non related messages like Spam, adverts, personal insults, swear words, etc as such messages will simply be discarded before submitting it online.

Thank you very much for dedicating some of your precious time to write and contribute to the PicuMarz Diary.... !