The longest day of the year

Today is summer solstice, the longest day of the year 2008. From now on it´s downhill; every day is going to be shorter than the day before until we reach winter solstice on December 21st.

Back in Finland this weekend is an official bank holiday weekend. Everything is closed. In all official buildings and homes flags of Finland were hoisted at 6 pm on Midsummer Eve (yesterday) and flown all night till 9 pm tonight. Finland is full of festivals and happenings. People are celebrating the light. Traditional bonfires can be seen all over the countryside. In region Lapland people all over the world come to see the midnight sun.

I´m thinking all of this now, sitting alone here in our second home in Solingen. I came here a few days ago to work a little; Angie is on her way arriving later this afternoon.

We´ll get visitors from Finland tomorrow morning. My sister Maukka and brother-in-law Arska are coming to a late honeymoon. The wedding took place in Salo, Finland, on February 16th but only now could they take some days off from work and kids. The all-inclusive trip was our wedding gift to the newlyweds.

It is really nice to have my sister here. Too bad the visit is so short, they´ll stay with us only five days. We will pick them up from Düsseldorf Airport tomorrow at noon, staying here until Tuesday afternoon and then drive through Germany to Leipzig to show our real hometown. Thursday evening I´ll take them to Berlin, only an hour and half’s drive from Leipzig, where they stay a few days by Claudia. She´s the German exchange student who spent a year in Finland by Maukka´s home a couple of years back and is now considered as one of her own kids, sister for Aino, Venla, Santtu, Eero and Lauri. Maukka and Arska are flying back to Finland from Berlin Sunday week from tomorrow.

Claudia is by the way the only German I know who speaks perfect Finnish! She´s finishing her school this week (abitur in German, about the same as A-levels or High School Diploma, or YO-tutkinto in Finland). Maukka and Arska decided to come now so they can have a few days with us and then celebrate with Claudia.

I like my sister a lot. I think in Arska she found a real soul mate. I´m really happy to have them here.

Have to start cleaning, Angie arrives about 3 pm.

Welcome Maukka & Arska!

Hyvää juhannusta, as we say in Finland (have a great midsummer).

Eero & Teemu in Germany

Finally some time to update this blog. I´ve been quite busy these past two weeks. First Eero´s and Teemu´s visit, then this week a lot of work.

My keenly expected guests Eero and Teemu have already been back in Finland over a week. We had very intensive and fun four days. I really enjoyed, I hope I get guys here quite often. The best part for me was how natural it was between me and Teemu. I hope he is happy, too, but it is not my business to tell how he feels. I am expecting nothing, just happy of this new found contact. Thank you, Teemu. And Eero, of course. It was really nice to have you here.

The visit started well: First drinks in a bar at airport, beers for guys and a cappuccino for me (I had to drive) and I was so confused that I forgot to pay. Next day Teemu asked if I had noticed that we didn´t pay. No, I had not noticed. Anyway, next evening the same happened: visiting a local pub to meet my friend there, we had a couple of drinks and left without paying. Let´s not make this a habit, guys. Next time we will pay!

To find words to describe how good time we had is really difficult. We saw Schloss Burg and the Cathedral of Cologne and quite a lot more. Domenico, my best friend here, heard about Teemu´s first visit to see me and invited us to a superb first class Italian dinner in his Paparazzi restaurant, 50 meters from my door. We had some nice Alt (local dark beer) in my local Kneipe (pub) Kaffeehaus. We talked a lot, Eero watched Salkkarit a lot, we slept incredibly little. My guests ate almost all of the Finnish sausage and bread they brought for me. And of course, we saw the Cebit!

Here´s some photos of those days. Like I´ve mentioned earlier, I am not a good photographer, so please no comments about the quality of my snapshots. Click a photo to see it full size.

To start, here´s Teemu telling a Good Night-story to Eero, first evening.



Next day, in Köln (Cologne in English). Teemu and Eero having a coffee outside Köln Hauptbahnhof (main railway station). Behind the guys the "Kölner Dom", Cathedral of Cologne where we lighted candles.



Of course Teemu wanted a photo of him standing besides a German police van.



Following day was the main event, Cebit-fair in Hannover. Teemu on the wheel, driving on the highway A2 between Dortmund and Hannover. According to him it was his first time legally over 200 km/h. Eero´s comment to me during a coffee break a bit later: "Over 200 is OK, but rather when you drive!" I don´t know why; Teemu is a good driver. I was feeling a bit ashmed to think that I have to know him better before letting him drive. Sorry Teemu but next time it´s no beer for you: you will drive, I´ll sit back with Jekku.



First thing to do was to take a photo to send to Angie, to show we were where we were supposed to be.



For some reason we stayed here longer than planned... To check this company´s products, of course.



Nice car ;)



Teemu found a new keyboard.



Going to have a break in a truck with a cabin bigger than my apartment.



Back home, I promised Teemu can take my smaller car to look a bit around...



Düsseldorf Airport, about one and half hours before the flight back home.



Thank you for you visit, guys. Already planning the next one.