Paula & Iines & Vilma & Otso

Vilma - month by month

Shot per month since the down term of this blog started.

September 2010, still @Hakaniemi

October 2010, @Bournemouth

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011, @Metro Vavin, Paris

May 2011

New start?

It's been too long time, too much has happened... new home, new job, trip to UK, Lou&Chris' wedding, trip to Paris... It really seems that we cannot keep the blog going as it has been earlier. Therefore from now on I try upload one or two photos more frequently without too much story around. Let's keep it simple and easy.

Vilma's 1-year anniversary.

August - On the road with Huuhkajat

At the end of August Beni, Hannu, Tuoppi & myself were full of excitement ... the new Euro qualification campaign was starting, expectations were of course high and we were going to see the game live at the Zimbru stadium in Chisinau, Moldova. Easy win and then perhaps a draw from Rotterdam the following Tuesday would be good start for the campaign ... well it didn't quite go that way. Maybe in 2014 then.

Fortunately the trip was much more than just the game. First we checked out the pearl of Black Sea, Odessa. First time for all of us to visit Ukraine and I'd say it's about the time. Anyways one of the biggest countries in Europe. We stayed in Grande Babushka hostel which turned out to be a great investment. The staff was very helpful and we got some useful tips from them, well above all they told us where to find the great bar 14. But as the photos below show it wasn't just the bars... but tourism and culture too.

Odessa opera house

3 handsome gentlemen and the famous steps

The famous beaches of Black Sea, slightly off season though.

Port of Odessa, the charm of transport industry

Central Odessa

Some cool locals we met at Bar 14. Everyone we met during the trip were really nice and welcoming except the dude at the security control in Chisinau on our way back who tried to steal our money.

After spending 3 days in Odessa we were fresh and motivated to do some traveling. Quick coffees next to the bus station and off we go. The minibus from Odessa to Chisinau was good 5 hours due to the border formalities and rough road conditions. Again we met some top people, our bus driver spoke French and was really nice guy. He helped us with the border formalities and even drove us directly to our hotel.

Hotel Cosmos, the headquarters of Finnish fans in Moldova. Some similarities to the legendary Viru Hotel in Tallinn.

View over Chisinau

Proud supporter Tuoppi

Finnish supporter section, Paavo "Casual" Arhinmäki hasn't arrived yet.

Only few seconds away from the complete disaster...

Frustration in the air.

Our public relations' specialist Beni has again a good control of the situation even after the humiliating loss.

Glad we didn't book this hotel.

What could be better for a lazy Sunday than visit Tiraspol the capital of Transnistria and the biggest tourist attraction in Moldova. If you can visit in a country which doesn't exist you should do it. Also it gives you a little bit of that old Soviet Union feeling I believe. If you want some more info have a look at the article by Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).

Lads celebrating the 20th anniversary.

It can't get much closer to the cover of an electro album

Sheriff or should I say mr. Smirnov seems to own everything here also the football team.

August - Summer keeps going

As promised the blog rush continues. In August the family holiday was over but the summer still kept going strong. The big event naturally was Vilma's baptism ceremony which took place at Mami's. Godparents are two fine young men, Tuomas and my cousin Mikko. Vilma wasn't quite as chilled as Iines was during her ceremony few years back. It must have been the heat or something. Anyways the event was very nice and cozy.

Otherwise it seems that we spent lot of time in southern Helsinki at least when looking at the photos. Well at that time we didn't have a clue that we would be living there few months later.

The big moment (Copyright M.Tiili)

Tuomas, Otso, Mikko and Virpi-Mami (Copyright M.Tiili)

(Copyright M.Tiili)

Heta's new new atelje at Tehtaankatu 18

Dinner in Viiskulma.

Picnic at Kaivopuisto with the local hipsters.

Vilma seems thrilled by the flash.

I'm shaving what are you looking at...?

July - Holiday in Russia

At the end of our summer holidays we enjoyed an extended weekend in St. Petersburg. It was about time for Vilma to have her first trip abroad. Also I think Paula was looking forward to her first visit to our great eastern neighbor. It's bit strange how little Finnish people visit this metropole which has ~same population than Finland in total and is only 4 hour train journey from Helsinki.

I guess we all were thrilled too see how traveling with 2 kids would go. And it went well. Of course we had to adjust the pace a little and keep our eyes open to make sure the playground was there when needed. Instead of hotel we rented a flat. It gave us bit more space for the early mornings and early nights that were obvious. The flat was booked through STN which worked out really well and also was reasonable price. Our place was located just around the corner from Nevskiy Prospekt on walking street full of restaurants.

The thing that didn't work out very well was my camera, its battery to be more precise. In order to minimize the amount of stuff that we were carrying I decided to leave the charger at home and just charge it before the trip. Well it seems that it didn't charge at all. Therefore all photos are taken with my old mobile and that can be seen, my apologies.

There was even a small playground outside our flat.