Day 117 - Wednesday 28 August - Costco

 Wednesday 28 August

Kaori cancelled today’s trip on the special tourist train to Oita because of the rain.  There is considerable flooding around Saga and other places east of here, and we watched quite a bit of news.   Some places had 110mm in 1hr, and up to 400mm in about 60hrs.  At last count, 3 had died, and there were 2 severe land slips.

So instead we went to Costco.  The carpark and the store were remarkably empty.   We had pizza in house,

 

....  then went across to Daiso and Hard-Off.   It was raining again as we left the store.

Day 116 - Tuesday 27 August - raining

Tuesday 27 August

It rained all night, and in the morning.  We stayed dry, and did drawing, and playdough, and other stuff.

In the afternoon, it cleared up a bit, so the boys put boots on and we went for a walk to see the water rushing, and to jump in puddles.  We played pooh-sticks in the storm water channel at the bottom of the steps.

 
 But then it rained some more.

Day 115 - Monday 26 August - Fukuoka Handsman

Monday 26 August

This morning Tomoki had a sumo practice.  The final competition, which we will miss, is on Sunday.  But we also wanted to go to Handsman, so we decided that we would see the next, and final, sumo class.  So 4 people went to Handsman, and 3 to sumo.

Icecreams at Handsman

In the afternoon, we had 4 visitors from Moji.

Day 114 - Sunday 25 August - Fukuoka Tenjin

Sunday 25 August

Since I had found out last February where the church is, we decided to have a day in town.  Church is at 10:30, so we got the train and were there in plenty of time.  There were about 10 people present, with a couple coming in late, after the 'meet and greet' time.  At the end of the service, we turned around to find that sitting behind us was the young guy who'd been next to David on the plane from Helsinki.  He was rather blown away that, knowing nobody in the city, we should turn up here.  We left him talking with another couple of single young people.

We headed towards North Tenjin, where Daiso and Book Off have stores, and went via the arcade where I had seen a big winter lights display last time.  Today there was a university band from Tokyo.  They were very good.

We found nothing very exciting in either of the shops, so had lunch downstairs and made our way back home.  Steve and Kaori were going to the last night of a local production of Les Mis, and we had to mind the kids.  The boys put stickers on the fans that the band people had given us.

All went well until bedtime, when Taiki got sad, and cried lots for Mummy and wouldn't go to bed.  Luckily it was an early show, and they weren't home late, so they stepped in and all ended well.

Day 113 - Saturday 24 August - Nokonoshima Is.

Saturday 24 August

After spending from 2:30 to 4:30 catching up on this blog, in the dark, I went back to bed and slept until after 8:00.

Steve decided that we should go on a boat ride today, so we drove to the ferry terminal down from the tower, and went 10mins to Nokonoshima Is.  We headed off along the road, along a couple of beaches, then up a very long, long hill, 3km in total.  Then we had a picnic the steps of a deserted picnic shelter, and the boys played in the long grass and on a swing.

We caught the bus back again, and the ferry, then Steve went into town and Kaori drove us home.

Day 111,2 - Thursday 22, Friday 23 - Helsinki to Fukuoka

 
Thursday 22 August.


We had done a reasonable job packing last night, so had time to go to the station and buy bus tickets without the bags.  Then we had morning tea at McD to get some happy toys.

We got the bus at about 12:15, which took us on a tour of the city and the new developments (business parks and residential) out further.

Finnair allow only 23kgs each person downstairs, and 8kg in hand luggage, and it was always going to be a problem.  So we did a weigh in, with bag A-11.2kg, B-19.4, C-21.6, D-5.8, E-7.4. Total weight for checked in luggage = 52.2 which was 6kg over.  I asked, and was quoted E95.

So we re-organised A-10.3, B-18.4, C-18.3 (check in now 47kg), carry on 15.5kg and we stuffed my handbag and carried our hoodies. All the same stuff, now legitimate, and  we saved the E95. 

We ate a sandwich and watched the planes come in, then walked for miles to the bussing off place, and were among the first in, and it looked pretty empty.  The plane gradually filled, and an announcement said they were waiting for a late flight to deliver more, so we ended up full and 35mins late. 

 Previously we had swum in the Red Sea, and this trip we paddled in the Black Sea (way back in week 3). I had  tried to fit in the White Sea, a trip from St Petersburg to Archangel, but it was just too hard, so here it is - maybe.  The dinner trolleys came at the wrong time, and I couldn't get to a window.

Friday 23 August

The guy next to me swapped seats, but even though I had extra space, I couldn't sleep until the last 15mins, so I missed the landing and docking.

and the Yellow Sea, which we just might get to on a trip to Japan via Korea.


Steve and Tomoki were late because of traffic, so we waited in the heat and humidity, and it was nice to get home.  Cars driving on the left, a house full of English speakers, and a very bouncy Taiki.  We had a big sleep after lunch.

Then I got up at 2:30 and worked until 4:30 finishing this.

Day 110 - Wednesday 21 August - Porvoo

Wednesday 21 August

Today we had a bus ride out of Helsinki to the town of Porvoo, 50km east and 200yrs older than Helsinki. V. Putin is in town today, so it's a good place to be out of. Because the Presidential Palace is right on the quay, all the market stalls were gone. I don't know what happened with the island boat trips.

 Through the barricades to a deserted Market Square.

 Auto cow sculptures.

Finland also has the highest per capital boat population.

Finland is the most forested country in Europe, the 2nd most lakey country after Sweden, and has lots of granite. The countryside is quite different from the flat fields of the Baltic countries just over the sea (it's 80km to Tallinn). 

Porvoo has survived in its medieval state, despite attacks in wars and self inflicted fires which have ravaged it over the years. But each time they have rebuilt in the old style (except for the turf roofs they used to have), and it has left a pretty old town which is very attractive to tourists.

 

We had a walking tour for an hour, starting at the church, ...

They also have a hanging boat, like the church in Vilnius.  Casper said they were often placed in thanks for safety at sea.

  ...   then were on our own for another 90mins. They were filming a movie in the old town square, and there were lots of old cars as props. So we ate on the move, and then headed back to the capital.

 Action -- and the lady wheeled the blue pram through the market square.

Old warehouses, from when Porvoo was a major port.

Because of road closures we had to walk a long way round to get to the 4D cinema. This flight over Finland was not as good as the Netherlands' one was, but we saw some nice scenes of snow and lakes. Then we came home to tackle our last packing, to suit Finnair.

 A couple of fancy houses opposite the Tove Jansson (Moomin) park.