Sunday, 23 August. I found Wi-Fi. Read on for a summary of Thursday (the 20th) through today… We left Helsinki under cloudy skies at 12:50 on Blue 1. Despite flying business class, we were stuffed like sardines into an Avro RJ85 with about 100 other poor slobs. Tiny little seats, cold pasta lunch, terrible leg room… pretty under-whelmed by the whole flight to Copenhagen. The only saving grace was the nice young German sitting with us (yes, 3 seats wide in business class). He was very friendly and helped make the time fly by (no pun intended). We had a short lay-over in Copenhagen, and then boarded a small CRJ200 (like the jets from Lewiston to Salt Lake City) for Gdansk. Rhoda and I held down row 2, all the Poles were seated in the last 4 rows of the plane. Nothing but empty seats between row 2 and about row 18. Weird. The food was better and the flight went fast. Before we knew it we were landing in Gdańsk. On approach you could see the older European architecture, and the mostly butt-ugly, square concrete apartment complexes of the Communist, post WWII, era. The old town area of Gdańsk looked inviting from the air.
We landed at the Lech Walesa airport. I think it’s the first airport I’ve ever been in where a pilot car leads the airplane to one of the three gates. We walked across the tarmac to the one and only luggage claim. With our luggage in tow we started looking for our ride. No signs for “Dumroese”. We had landed about 10 minutes early so we waited patiently, and finally our driver appeared. It took us about 20 minutes to drive to Oliwa (Oliva) which is north of, but still part of, Gdańsk. On the way we drove through Trójmiejski Park Krajobrazowy (I think that’s correct), which we had seen from the air. The 20,000 hectare (about 44,000 acre) park separates Gdańsk from the airport and is a really nice mixed forest… oaks, beech, Scots pine, maple, basswood, and others. We soon found ourselves at the Pensjonat Stara Karczma, a very nice little hotel (upper left photo). The rooms are spacious, clean, modern, well decorated, and inexpensive (about $70), and it has free WiFi. Life is good. It's lcoated right on a main street (photo). After settling in, Rhoda and I headed off toward the Oliwa Cathedral (St. Bernard’s Church). It boasts a 7000 pipe organ. It was just a few minutes away, and we went inside. Unbelievable. The pipes are surrounded by intricate, moveable wood carvings of angels with golden trumpets. The first church on this site was built in the 13th century, with reconstructions after fires in 1350 and 1577. The current style is Baroque, and it is in-your-face intense. Mass was about ready to start, so we waited to hear a bit of that organ, and then continued our walk. Adjacent to the church was some sort of museum, and the grounds around it were an arboretum.
That’s me with an Alnus glutinosa, the biggest alder I’ve ever seen. We were impressed by the number of people out walking in the sunny afternoon weather. Old people, young people, families, lovers, all strolling and enjoying the wooded park and flower gardens. We eventually found an ATM and got some Polish Zlotych (3 Zlotych to 1 US dollar), then had some dinner at the El Paso, where else? It’s under the hotel and had some outdoor seating where we could watch Gdansk go by. The food was pretty good. Tomorrow, Dumrose?Saturday, 22 August. Rhoda and I headed down about 8 am, had some breakfast, and then walked over and caught the 61 bus. It was pretty empty. At the Tikkurila station we boarded the first train headed for “downtown” Helsinki… it only made one stop on the way and at a top speed of 160 km/hr is didn’t take long to get to the main station. As is becoming my custom, we left the station and headed southeast toward the Lutheran (Helsinki) Cathedral and the Market Square. Rhoda and I prowled the vendors; she bought some souvenirs and postcards, and we had a pear and Nutella crepe at my favorite crepe stand. About 11 am we boarded the ferry for Suomolinna. We walked the main path in simply glorious weather: sunny, warm (70 F) in the sun, although it was a bit brisk in the wind. The islands were covered with Finns soaking up the last long rays of summer, either sun bathing or picnicking. After a couple of hours, we headed back to the Market Square, visited the nearby Market Hall, and then did a bit more walking/shopping in the area, working our way back to the Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral. We couldn’t get in right away because of a wedding, so we soaked up some sun on the south-facing steps in front of the cathedral. After touring the inside of the cathedral, we agreed the crepe was long gone and decided to find some dinner. We tried a Finnish restaurant on the main street but needed a reservation (too bad, because the food sounded good and the prices looked good) so we ended up at Nuevo (yes Tom, we ate there last fall) for a very delicious meal. After dinner we hiked back to the train station. Rhoda bought a couple more stamps at the Kioski and after about 10 minutes we were heading back north to Tikkurila station, repeating our train and bus sequence back to the Hilton. Rhoda retired to write postcards. I put my feet up. After a day of walking on cobbles, my dogs were barking.
Friday, 21 August. Wow, my last day in Suonenjoki. Where did summer go? I finished packing and did a little cleaning before Rhoda and I headed up to the station for the 9:00 coffee break. After coffee, Rhoda and I stuffed my suitcase, full of everything I really didn’t need for Poland (extra clothes, photocopies, bike helmet, exercise gear, etc.) into a couple of taped-together boxes to be shipped home. It didn’t look too pretty but should do the trick. I turned in the key to my trusty bike. Farewell faithful friend. Heikki stopped b y with a nice birch serving tray as a going away present. That was kind of him. I had everything wrapped up by the 14:00 coffee break. While everyone was assembled, I made my last rounds of “good-byes” and then Risto drove us to the train station. We were a bit early, as I like it, and had some final small talk before the train arrived. Risto helped us toss the luggage into the train… this was an express train, so the cars appear a bit older and the steps a bit more steep, so his help was appreciated. It was very warm in the train, even with a few open windows and a cruising speed of 160 km/hr. At Kouvola we had to switch to a much nicer intercity train into Vantaa and the familiar Vikkurila station. Because it was 18:00, we made the short walk over to the Thai restaurant for dinner. We then caught the 61 bus, using our tourist transit cards purchased at the Kioski, out to the Hilton.
Juha, Marji, Jaana, Evemaria, Heikki, Katri, Timo, Risto, Markku, and Leo
Thursday, 20 Aug. This morning at 9:00 I introduced Rhoda to the coffee break, and then gave her a tour of the building, the nursery, and finally my office that has been my home for the summer. After the 14:00 coffee break it was time for my seminar. I knew I would have non-nursery people, so I tried to keep it fairly general, and fairly short. I introduced the differences in latitude between Finland and the US, gave one-slide summaries of nursery practice in the southeastern northeastern, and western US, contrasted the main differences between nursery practices in Finland and container production in the Pacific Northwest, asked some questions of my Finnish experts, briefly discussed the new collaborative work between Metla and the Forest Service, and then finished the program with a few memory slides. In attendance were Elena, Otso, Marji, Risto, Juha, Markku, Heikki, Evemaria, Ville, Leo, Jaana, Timo, and Katri. After a few questions, we moved down to the cottage by the lake. 
Heikki was busy in the kitchen and appeared to be chief organizer. We feasted on a what I think was a turnip and pineapple salad, green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, rye pasty stuffed with lamb and garlic (photo), and raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream for desert. Risto gave me a nice Suomi cookbook as a parting gift. After dinner, the party wound down fairly fast. Markku, Juha, and I took a sauna. When we were done, it was the girls turn. Rhoda and I helped clean up a bit, and called it a day.
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