Categories
in slovenia on the big screen traveling

home sweet home, ljubljana version

and now that we’re out of the house searching loop, i can finally breathe better. we got a slovenian phone number, called dozens of landlords and real estates, saw quite a few houses and ended up scoring a little apartment that we can just barely spot on some of the city’s postcards. :) right now, our fridge magnets are holding our favorite polaroids, there are maps on the walls, the table is a mess of postcards and notebooks and there is a cat (i don’t know who the owner is, but he likes belly rubs) sleeping on our patio chairs. it feels like home.

as a reward (or perhaps because of my persistent nagging), we went to see new moon on the cinema, yesterday. the room was filled with giggly teenagers, who clapped during the kissing parts and sighed loudly on the sight of their favorite shirtless character (vampire or werewolf), but all in all, i had a nice time. to me, new moon felt much more coherent with the books than twilight did and so the whole story felt familiar, matching what i had imagined when i read it. i can see why people dislike it, especially if viewed as a standalone movie, which it is not meant to be…

…frankly, i can’t wait for eclipse! :)

Categories
in slovenia traveling

crossing europe, roadtrip style

somewhere in portugal


i’ve been away from this blog. after the last post, there were 5 weeks of surgery-and-recovery on the countryside. p’s mom is doing fine at the moment, and so we’ve moved on with our life… which brought us to our original plan: slovenia! :D

we arrived to ljubljana late last thursday, after a pretty intense 3-day roadtrip across portugal, spain, france and italy. we got good weather for traveling, mostly sunny/cloudy weather, with no rain, and lots of lovely autumn views.
puget-theniers, france


noted on the way here:
* we crossed a thousand different versions of seats, citroens, renaults and lancias… but also lots of luxury brand suvs (bmw, mercedes, audi) which, given the current gas prices, is quite odd.
* in italy, you collect a toll ticket at the border with france, proceed to cross the country, and then pay the toll fee on the border with slovenia – it’s brilliant! in france, we stopped 12 times to pay toll fees…
speed cameras in souther europe
* why the hell is portugal the country with less speed cameras among its neighbours? don’t we have one of the highest traffic accident rates in the world? :/
cote d'azur, italy side

* i was expecting tunnels on this trip, but nobody prepared me for côte d’azur. it was kilometer after kilometer of tunnel-bridge-tunnel-bridge-tunnel-bridge… bridges are ok, but i don’t like tunnels that much… at a certain point all i wanted was to stop right there and let paulo drive… why is there never a service area when you need it?
cote d'azur, italy side

on a positive note, our car handled the trip without breaking a sweat!

so we’re here, discovering the city and looking for a place to stay. more updates when we get that milestone accomplished :)

Categories
in estonia traveling

hi! my name is jeff!

hi!
my name is jeff!

our sendoff, in tallinn’s port :)

Categories
in estonia traveling

one day in tallinn


going to tallinn wasn’t on our original plans for this trip, but when mikko came home one day with discounted boat tickets… well, how could we resist? so, with little preparation and some faith on our gps, we hopped on an enourmous boat (the kind that swallows trucks!) and made the 2 and a half hours journey to estonia.
the old historic center of tallinn is a magical place, and a unesco world heritage site:

The origins of Tallinn date back to the 13th century, when a castle was built there by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. It developed as a major centre of the Hanseatic League, and its wealth is demonstrated by the opulence of the public buildings (the churches in particular) and the domestic architecture of the merchants’ houses, which have survived to a remarkable degree despite the ravages of fire and war in the intervening centuries. (from the unesco site)

estonian flag

and the architecture is indeed opulent and well preserved, with a distinct medieval feeling, making it a joy to just wander around, with our noses up on the air, looking for little details in the buildings, streets and cathedrals…

antiik






interesting though, most of our finish boat companions made the trip to estonia just to buy beer and other alcoholic drinks. prices were cheaper there, and as a result, on the way back we dodged a considerable number of “old lady” shopping carts, brimming with cases of beer :)

Categories
in finland traveling

squirrels!

yesterday, we were getting ready to leave the country by the end of the week. we finally got the car registration and i was all lists, coffee with friends and last minute errands. but now that our dormant healthcare system decided to wake up, and schedule the surgery my (pratically) mom-in-law needs (and has been waiting for the last 5 months), i guess we’re looking at another month or so on this sunny country.

like a bucket of cold water in the head, it feels sudden, yet… refreshing. we’ve been running around like headless chicken for the past month, and i hope that for whatever time her recovery takes, we’ll be able to tie some loose ends and slow down. that brings us to the topic of helsinki/finland, which i have been postponing for the past month. so let’s catch up.
he likes peanuts!


you know how the favorite parts of a trip often don’t come in your guidebook?

this one was a bit unexpected: squirrels! when nathalie & mikko proposed that we take a walk on seurasaari island to see the squirrels, i jumped at the idea! we barely get to see them around here (nevermind shanghai)… so, armed with a supply of peanuts and cameras, we wandered the island looking for squirrels.

they weren’t too shy, and once you found one, many more seemed to magically appear in the horizon, and before you know it they were coming at us from all sides, crawling up our legs to get that one delicious peanut! they took them all, of course, and we came back home with happy smiles and an endless supply of shaky photos… (they’re so fast!)

if you’re going to helsinki, don’t miss it! :)
up up!come here, little one!