Lots of snow @ Kuopio Airport

We'll be departing 5min late.  Finns are awesome.

Heading home!

We are traveling to Helsinki, today. There is quite a bit of snow. All is well. We will all miss Kuopio and our friends there.

Kallavesi KAP - Southside

I took my versatile Double Lifter Sled from Into the Wind for a walk on Kallavesi.  I am pleased that we had a chance to see all of the lakes freeze over.  I enjoyed being along out on the ice with my kite, camera, and enough wind to get it all aloft.  My walk started on the west side of  City Center and brought me down to Saaristokatu (Street of Islands).  I left the sidewalk in favor of the frozen lake at the first bridge and made my way around back to the Market Square.  I had the kite up from the bridge to the penninsula - then I lost the wind.

Boats in dry dock and the corrugated paper board manufacturer.

Just about captures it.

Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson.

In the end my battery froze, and I learned that little metal caribiners stick to fingers at -19°C - reminding me not to stick my tongue to any flagpoles anytime soon.  (A Christmas Story)

Overall it was a satisfying way to spend one of my last mornings in Kuopio.  I have greatly enjoyed my time here and will miss it very much.

Leija Ilmakuvia (Kite Aerial Photography) over frozen Kallavesi in Kuopio, Finland

The conditions were right. I made it out for a bit of KAP over a very frozen Kallavesi in Kuopio on Sunday morning.  5mph winds were almost enough for my FLED to carry the camera rig, but only if I walked in the opposite direction.  It was about -19°C, and well worth the temporarily sore fingers.

It is VERY cold.

According to WeatherUnderground, "Today is forecast to be MUCH WARMER than yesterday."

Yep . . . -22 C is warmer than yesterday.

We're up on a hill and a bit colder than the temps forecasted above.  That we are leaving in 6 days makes it possible for us to enjoy the novelty of it all.  We've seen "diamond dust" precipitation, beautiful sunsets, solidly frozen lakes, and frozen fog on trees.

The athletic field at Rajala Koulu is now an ice-rink, and we're finally able to store ice-cream again (our apartment did not come with a freezer).

Liz is still walking to work and enjoying the challenge.  And, check out those frozen eye-lashes!

-28 C on Liz's way home from work yesterday!

We've found the solution to all this cold in the Finnish sauna.  We did not participate in the Christmas tradition of sauna and plunge through a hole in the ice on the lake, but we do enjoy the heat.

 Google.fi captured it well in the December 6th banner celebrating Finnish Independence Day.

I am waiting for relatively warmer temps and a bit more wind to get a camera up on a kite on Monday.  Hopefully the conditions will be right for some good photographs.

Helsinki & Tallinn, Estonia

We spent four days of our long Christmas Holiday travelling to Helsinki and then on to Tallinn, Estonia.  We had a great trip and enjoyed adding another country to our "visited" list.  Here are some of our favorite memories from the trip.

















Helsinki is beautifully decorated for the season.

 We also really loved the Design Museum in Helsinki.  There was a special exhibit of design for kids, where we saw early and contemporary LEGO and many wonderful toys.  James and Anna contributed to one exhibit with their own sketches.

 We caught a nice sunrise the next morning and caught the Viking Line ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.

Aboard the ferry, James and I spent some time on deck as we left Helsinki.

Suomenlinna from the Viking Line ferry to Estonia.

Cats and dogs are accommodated on deck.

We arrived in Tallinn, where we stayed at the CRU Hotel in Old Town.  We were thrilled by the setting and enjoyed Tallinn's on-going Christmas Market.

We also wandered out of Old Town to see the Seaplane Harbor Museum, where James and Annabelle tried their hands at a simulated plane flight over the city (they crashed), and where we saw a WWII-era submarine and stepped aboard a steam-powered Ice Breaker.

James on the Ice Breaker.  He imagines what it will be like when he attends the Coast Guard Academy and gets to do this has his full-time job.

Annabelle and Liz make adorable penguins.

Old town is beautiful, and we had ample opportunity to wander around - cameras in hand.

St. Catherine's Passage

 We even found a pop-up seasonal skating rink in Old Town.  We hadn't forgotten all we learned at the UMass rink.

We caught an Eckero Line ferry back to Helsinki, and James and Liz impressed everyone with their dance moves.

In Helsinki, we stayed close to the Central Railway Station and enjoyed a visit to the Finnish National Gallery.

Now we are back in Kuopio, with one more week left in our Finnish adventure.  Today it is -27 C!