we might need to buy galoshes.

Sorry, no fabulous pictures today, the rain was too heavy to get any decent ones... maybe we'll find some older ones to post. Our adventure today was getting from Porkala, the island community where Cora's grandmother lives, to Helsinki via Ikea. This trip was surprisingly soggy.

After a fun handful of days with Fammo and Tetta, her sister, we decided it was time to get back to Helsinki to do laundry and see everyone who had requested coffee or dinner with us, the famous Americans. This is a picture of me dodging the paparazzi, since, you know, I'm a famous American. I'm not sure Tetta was excited to meet this famous American at first, but the morning after she picked us up rowing the boat (see below), she gave me a big hug and introduced herself. Phew!


We planned to leave in the morning after a run, but it was raining, so we decided to wait a bit. Seconds later the chimney sweep came by with Fammo's neighbor Gitti. Chimney Sweeps are a lot less musical and a lot more speedy than in Mary Poppins. No songs, not even a hum, and they were in and out in about 20 minutes after cleaning 2 chimneys. No popping up the chimney when the wind blows either, they work with ladders.

As thanks to Gitti for her help organizing the non-musical chimney sweeps, we decided to have some coffee and cake. However, I had so been looking forward to that run that Cora gave in and found a way for us to slip out for a quick run before coffee. The timing was perfect, the second we laced up our shoes, the heavens opened up, and between the short boat-ride and the short run, we were soaked for the first time today. The run was nice though... a beautiful country road that was only slightly hard to see with rain in the eyes. Thank you, Cora. After a much needed shower we had a lovely coffee, and Gitti was a lot of fun. We had a difficult time cutting her off, but decided we should make our way before the rain hit too hard again.

We made our way right as the rain hit too hard. To get to Fammo's you have to take a small, old, aluminum boat across an inlet from the parking area. The engine no longer works in reverse, which can make parking difficult, which is part of the reason Tetta prefers to row. Taking the boat back to the car, we could barely see through the pelting rain.

We were soaked to the bone by the time we got to the Merce, the 1982 Mercedes which is trying to hold it together as we make our way around Finland. The Merce, however, has a few problems.

First, the key no longer opens the passenger door, which was, until recently, was the only way in. Fortunately (?), Raz rolled down the back window a few weeks ago and it stubbornly refuses to go back up. We can push it up, but the motor piece is still down, so unless the car is stationary, it slides down. This happily means that we can get into the car by pushing down the back window. This also means that when we are moving, the window falls down on its own. When it's raining, it's a bigger problem. Also a problem in the blinding rain is when the windshield wiper on the drivers' side flies off dramatically, as ours did on our way home from IKEA.

Making it to Helsinki in one piece was no small feat. Making it out of IKEA with only what we went to buy may be equally grand of an accomplishment for the two of us!

Then we arrived...ahhh... and then the power went out. We called around, fidgeted with the ancient, European, breaker-box until we could no longer imagine a solution and settled in to wait for Cora's uncle to help tomorrow. Inexplicably, two hours later, it came back on. Typiskt?