Summer Highlights

Ciao a tutti!

Today being the last day of summer I want to take a look at the highlights of this summer and relive the best moment of summer 2018.

1. Our holiday in Italy. Lots and lots of gelato, fun day trips and many train journeys... Julius and I sure had some fun.

We travelled by train a lot in Italy and quickly realised that Italian timetables are just rough guidelines. The train we're on in picture above was already 30 minutes late when we left Verona and a hour late by the time we got to Milan.

The view from Città alta in Bergamo

"Finally some shade." The Italian summer heat can be scorching.

A beautiful flower somewhere in Italy.

The swans of Lake Garda

2. Our picnics, forest and city excursions in Helsinki. We went to the beach, we cycled to Teurastamo to eat gelato (because we hadn't had enough in Italy), and Julius and I went berry picking where the little imp ran away and hid from me. Sweet memories.

For some reason there was a sheep on the wall in the ice-cream shop. Of course Jevgeni had to go and talk to her but she only spoke Italian.

Mmm gelato....

Mmm blueberries...

3. Our exciting trip to the countryside in Russian Carelia to say hallo to grandmother, Tim the Dog and some feline acquaintances. We ate so many berries and peas and drank so much tea, we went the sauna, we teased the locals and Julius was hunted by giant mosquito.

Julius enjoying country life

Do you know what these are? If not, come to Finland, I'll show you.

I just told a joke but Tim wasn't amused.

Monster mosquito

Goodbye summer 2018 and thanks for all the memories!

My Ears!

Look! I just learned how to wiggle my ears. Can you do that?

Skating

Hallihallo!

As you know from my post about sports, I'm trying to learn roller-skating. I had another go at it today. Julius was there to help me but as you'd expect he wasn't much help. He mainly just laughed at my inability to stay up right.

 I think I'm quite good, but I still need a little help keeping my balance.

It's hard work, though. I fell on my ass more than once. And the little rascal just laughed.

But then I found out that it's much easier if you put the skates on your hands instead of your feet.

Phew, I'm exhausted. Time for a nap I think, but before I leave you, here's Julius showing of his skills.

Even more statues

Salut!

Climbing on statues is one of my favourite activities. If you haven't done so already have a look at my two previous posts about sculptures and statues: part 1, part 2.

Two years ago I went on a long and interesting Interrail journey through Europe. So many cities, so many impressions, and so many statues of course. I'll get around to writing a post about that trip at some point but for now let's focus on the statues.

Here I am on the shoulder of Pieter Bruegel in Brussels. He already had a monkey on his shoulder but you can never have too many monkeys. I like Pieter Bruegel because he painted the "Two Monkeys".

In Luxembourg (during the same interrail trip) I found this fellow. He was made of wood so he was easy to climb on. I wonder if he's thinking or sleeping?

This picture is from a different trip. It's an elk in a hat and fur coat in Frankfurt am Main. How cool is that?

I like elks. As you know from my post about sports, Julius and I are into riding and elks are good for riding on. They are so majestic.

I also like climbing on scientists, saints, heroes etc. I found this guy in London. I don't know who he is but he looks a little like Copernicus and he definitely looks important.

Okay, I think that's enough sculptures and statues for now. See you soon, but until then; go out and climb something.

More sculptures

Hello again!

The is a continuation of yesterday's post about sculptures and statues. As I promised I'll tell you about the Vigeland park in Oslo but I'll also add in some other statues from Olso and Stockholm.

As I told you we went to Oslo for Easter 2017. One of the first things we did was to go to the Vigeland park, or well, it's actually called the Frogner park, but most of the park is taken up by the Vigeland installation, named after Gustav Vigeland who made all the wonderful sculptures.

I can really empathise with this guy. When Julius brings home his annoying little friends and they start making trouble I often feel like this.

Tell me again, what are we looking at? What are we waiting for?

In the city centre we found this guy. Did I tell you that my middle name is Lionheart?

While walking around the grounds of the Akershus Fortress I started hearing ghost-like voices of children calling out to me. "Come and play with us", they said. I like playing so naturally I followed the sound. What I found were these creepy statues of little children. 

This next one is from Stockholm. These two guys were clearly about to create a lot of trouble, so I stepped in to calm things down.

But that turned out to be big a mistake... I had a headache for several days after that.

That's all for today, folks! Tomorrow's post: Even more statues!

Top 5 statues and sculptures

Hej hej,

Some time in the future the world will be full of statues commemorating Vanja the Great, Vanja the Conqueror, Vanja the Awesome and so on...
But while we're waiting for the rest of the world to discover my amazing talents, let's have a look at some of my favourite statues from my travels.

1. A Crab/frog/whatever in Slovenia

Last summer I met this dude (whatever he is, maybe batfrog?) on the Mesarski bridge in Ljubljana. For some reason he has a padlock in his mouth. He wouldn't tell me why.

2. A Croatian Dragon

Did you know that my middle name is Lord of Dragons? (Julius' is "Pain in the Ass"). Well, I try to live up to my name by taming any dragons that I come across.

This is a basilisk from the Trsat Castle in Rijeka, Croatia, that I defeated with my own bare paws. It was a great moment, I felt as powerful as Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones.


3. Charles Darwin

Here I am with Charles Darwin in the Museum of Natural History in London. I'm not a big fan of the theory of evolution — I mean look at Julius, something clearly went wrong there — but I feel Charlie and I could have had some stimulating and interesting discussions had he still been alive.

By the way, the Museum of Natural History is worth a visit if you happen to be in London. And it's free! (Not that I normally pay for museums, I just sneak in.)


4. Shepherd and Sheep

Speaking of London. Julius and I went there last November. The city is almost too big for me. There are too many statues and monuments you can climb on. We were quite exhausted.
We found this funny sculpture in Paternoster Square behind St. Paul's Cathedral.

Sheep are stupid, you don't need to be Charles Darwin to prove that. The silly things refused to move no matter how much I shouted and kicked.

Come on now, move it, I'm in a hurry.

5. The Cordwainer

I quickly lost patience with the stubborn sheep, so we went to Cheapside were we met this dude.

We played shoemakers for a while. The man held Julius in very tight grip (he could hardly breathe) which gave me an idea. I went for ice-cream in peace and quiet while he held on to Julius. Thank you, shoemaker!


You can't write a blog post about sculptures and statues without mentioning the Vigeland park in Oslo. I went there for Easter 2017 and it was (literally) freezing cold. But I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. Until then, here's a preview:

Staring into the abyss.

While you're waiting for my next post you can check out my other top 5 lists: tops, sports and drinks.

Cactus

Zdravo!

Here's a random picture from last year of me hiding behind a cactus somewhere in Croatia. My humans were so worried when they couldn't find me. Haha, that'll teach them for not buying me a sladoled (Croatian ice-cream).

Tomorrow I'll be back with another top 5 list, I promise.

Doviđenja!

Top 5 drinks

Hello again! Welcome back!
I finally got round to making another top 5 list. This one is about drinks, or well, beverages I guess.

1. Coffee

Coffee is number one on the list just because I need coffee to function. At home I start the day with a nice cup of no-nonsense Finnish filter coffee. Lots of suger of course.

When I'm travelling I like to drink espresso. It makes me feel European.

Julius says he likes coffee too, but I suspect he just drinks it because it gives him an excuse to order a piece of cake with the coffee. Of course he's even more unbearable than usual when he's had too much coffee.

2. Coke

Coke is great, sugar and caffeine, what's not to like? It's a staple part of my diet. None of that zero nonsense, though. What's the point of sugary drinks without sugar? I'll stick to the real stuff, thanks. It's my drink of choice when eating junk food. Speaking of which, I think this picture is from a kebab shop in Brussels. I should go back, it's pretty much impossible to find a good kebab in Finland.

3. Wine

I like to relax with a nice glass of wine. Nothing like sitting down at a café with a glass of red wine and just watching life go by.

If it's hot I might treat myself to a glass of cold sparkling wine.

4. Beer

If you've read my sauna post, you'll know that no sauna is complete without a beer. In the sauna any kind of light beer will do, but my favourite beer in the whole world is a Berliner Weisse mit Schuss. It's a low-alcohol, sour wheat beer mixed with a shot of syrup. The one in the picture is mixed with woodruff flavoured syrup, that's why it's green. The red one with raspberry syrup is also very popular.

5. Glühwein

Talking of German drinks, there's nothing like a mug of hot mulled wine in the winter. Just the thought makes me happy.

Hmm, now I'm thirsty. Time to end this writing and go see what's in the fridge.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Also, don't forget to check out my other top 5 lists: tops and sports.

Books, books, books!

Heippa hei!

Today's post is going to be a quick one. I just wanted to tell you that Julius, Jevgeni and I went to the library.

Julius went straight to the kids' section. I don't like when he read Pippi Longstocking, it put's crazy ideas in his head.

Uncle Jevgeni seems to have a new craze for history. I'm sure he's up to something I just can't quite figure out what.

I of course got some proper interesting reading.

That's all you'll get for today, folks. Now stop looking at monkeys on you screen, and go read a book instead.

Tschüss!