Tel Aviv

Shalom y'all!

After our Sabbath excursion to Bethlehem we decided we'd had enough religion for one holiday, so we left Jerusalem and headed west. To Tel Aviv of course.

As you can see from the pictures Tel Aviv has some pretty nice beaches. Unfortunately they really don't want you to go in the water in the winter.

All the beaches had signs like the one above. They also seemed to be really worried about tsunamis, as you can see below. I didn't even know tsunamis were a thing in the Mediterranean...

Anyway, here's a picture of me about to throw Julius in the water. He came back shivering and murmuring something about really dangerous currents.

New Year's Eve came around while we were in Tel Aviv. Obviously New Year's Eve isn't really a thing in Israel so Julius and I went shopping in preparation for our own little party.

We found some nice Soviet champagne in one of the local shops but Julius kept nagging me until I bought a bottle for him too. Can you guess which one is his? The gold one of course. He really likes shiny things the little critter.

Finally I'm going to leave you with one more picture of me and the Tel Aviv skyline.

More things to do in Helsinki in the summer

Hello!

We're back from Russia so it's time to tell you more about how we spend our time here in Helsinki.

Like I explained in my previous post you can take one of the yellow citybikes to get round the city, but, if like me, you are to lazy for that you can take the metro instead.
As you can see it's probably the world's most orange metro. Even the interior is completely orange. But did you know that it's also the northernmost metro system in the world? Tickets are quite expensive but I never pay anyway, tihi...

One thing you can always do in Helsinki even if the weather is bad, (which it is most of the year...), is to go second-hand shopping. I like second-hand shops. You never know what you're going to find. By the way, did you know that's how I got Julius?

When you're done with your shopping you might want to relax. For that you can go to the beach. Helsinki is surrounded by the sea so there are plenty of beaches and they all have wonderful views of the archipelago.

Julius doesn't like the beach. He thinks it's boring, he prefers to go skateboarding. I keep telling him to wear a helmet but, as usual, he doesn't listen. It's not like there is much to protect anyway.

Hope you're having a wonderful summer like we are!

Picnic on the beach

Moi!

This summer has been incredible in Finland. Last week we spent a lot of time in the sun. It was almost 30 °C. Julius gets very cranky when it's this hot – somebody shoot me. So I took him to the beach to cool down a little. We packed a grill and a picnic basket and walked down to the sea.







Jevgeni wasn't really invited (he's really annoying 'cause he just keeps blabbering on about his goats), but he tagged along and we let him join us.

We live near a beautiful beach with rocks and plenty of birds. For some reason I always end up in a brawl with the seagulls. I know they are after my candy. I just know it. Once they even abducted Julius and took him the bird reserve on the skerries just off the beach. Luckily it wasn't far away so Jevgeni swam there to save him. I wasn't too worried, Julius is a tough kid.

Stupid bird.

Tomorrow I'll tell about our berry picking trip.

Vi ses!

Lake Garda

No holiday is complete without at least one day at the beach. Luckily it was a part of our travel itinerary. Have you heard about Lake Garda or Lago di Garda as the Italians say? It's the biggest lake in Italy. Located on the edge of the Dolomites and surrounded by picturesque holiday villages it's definitely worth visiting if you happen to be in Northern Italy.

Me by the lake

One beautiful morning we packed our swimwear (or, well, I did – Julius prefers to swim in his "birthday suit") and headed to the bus station. One hour later we arrived in the village of Garda on the eastern coast of the lake.

What to do in Garda? Well, walk around the narrow shopping streets and enjoy the smell of handmade soap. Sit down in one of the restaurants by the water and enjoy a cold beer. Btw, Julius the sneaky bastard, tried to order a beer but I told the waiter to bring a coke. Enjoy the sun on one of the small pebble beaches. Good thing we'd remembered to bring our flip-flops.

No, we haven't drowned and washed up on the beach. We're just enjoying the sun.

Next we went to Peschiera del Garda at the southern end of the Lake. We went down to the beach and rented a sunchair. The view from the beach was beautiful and the water was nice and warm.

After a couple of hours we had had enough of the sun and water so we went looking for a nice restaurant. On the way we saw a snake in the water. Naturalmente I wasn't scared but Julius nearly peed himself.

My humans found a good restaurant and had a delicious lunch of local grilled fish.

From there we went to the centre of the town and had a walk around the cozy streets. I made some new friends.

Hanging with the locals

I had a brief holiday flirt with a nice blond Juliet.

Of course we stopped at a nice gelateria. While we were there a couple of sweaty joggers came in. They had a gelato and then continued their jog. Maybe I should take up jogging too...

Me trying to decide what flavour to get. Snickers or Oreo?

Finally we walked to the station and took the train back to Verona.

Next stop Bologna. Stay tuned!