"If You're Happy and You Know It..."

"...Then Your Face Will Surely Show it!"

My Finland Report

Finland:
-Teens rank highest on math performance in the world.
-Ranked 2nd most stable country in the world, based on social, economic, political, and military indicators.
-Ranked 1st out of 104 countries in the 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index, which attempts to assess quality of life.
-35 national parks; 187,888 lakes; 179,584 islands.
- Santa Claus lives here, in Lappland.


Finland's Parliament:
1906 - Finland becomes first country in the world to give full suffrage to all citizens, including women.
1907 - 19 women were elected to Parliament, the world's first female members.

Lutheran Cathedral:
This towering white church dominates Helsinki's cityscape. The person responsible for bringing Lutheranism to Finland was Mikael Agricola, a bright scholar/bishop who actually came to Wittenberg, Germany, to study under Melanchthon (an expert in Greek who gave eye-opening lectures on the original meaning of the New Testament) and Luther. In 1537, Agricola began working on the first translation of the New Testament into Finnish (completed in 1548). Because the language did not have a written standard at the time, he is also known as the Father of the Finnish language because of his formulation of rules for spelling and publications of ABC books.

Today, 80% of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

Seurasaari:
We enjoyed an afternoon at this overwhelmingly peaceful and beautiful open-air Finnish folk museum. Costumed women knit away at little socks and discussed life on whatever manor or farm we were standing in.

The 19th century educational system made an impression on me. In a given village in the middle of the country, there might have been 10 families. A rotating teacher would come to visit the village, and it would fall upon a family give the teacher a bedroom and provide a teaching space.

The teacher was most often male, educated at the university, and likely clerical. Not just children would come to lessons, but the entire family. Literacy was highly valued - people could not get married unless they could read and write, or at least write their own name. This emphasis on literacy sprung from the religious conviction that it was important to read the Bible.

Just look at the red-painted wood. I love it in this setting.

Pulla:
My bun was almost finished by the time Chris turned the camera on. I was so happy to find so many variations! This one was sugar-coated. Daisy loved it, and I wanted to squeeze her every time she chirped, "Would you like some more pulla?" (--her way of asking us to ask her...) I know that my family did not originate in Helsinki, but the feeling of being in the same part of the world as my ancestors was a special feeling. The string of decisions that led from Finland's forests to me being born in California is mind-boggling.

Family was on my mind! We saw resemblances to everyone in my family: "Behind you...it's Aunt Betsy!" and "Is it just me, or does that voice sound exactly like Uncle Chuck's?" or "I think that she could be Grandmother's sister...."

From 1837-2002, Katajanokka County Prison served as a pre-trial detention facility for all of Finland. Many high-profile intellectuals and politicians have passed through these cells, in addition to the riff-raff. In 2007, this historic building was made into...a Best Western hotel. We spent two very comfortable nights here. Once we got inside the door.
We came away surprised by our introduction to Finland: on one hand, a woodsy northern outpost with fur-traders in the market and reindeer and elk on the menus; on the other hand, an educated, socially progressive and artistically vibrant community. I honestly hope I can return again to paddle out into one of the thousands of lakes, or maybe strap on skis up in snowy Lappland, or just have Daisy educated at one of their fantastic schools...

Pictures from our trip with Brent and Cindy

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Our travels with Brent and Cindy

Faced with both the file of thousands of pictures from our time with Chris' parents and the rapidly approaching date of departure for our Scandinavia trip, I am abandoning, for the time being, my habit of long-winded posts and settling for a more concise update. A complete picture collection will be posted soon.

Naturally, we had a wonderful, memorable time. Here is the story in a nutshell:

Mülheim an der Ruhr - we visited the outdoor markets, saw Chris' lab, and took Daisy to the park as tiny pink petals flew off the blossoms on the trees. We napped. Chris and I conceded that Mülheim isn't as glum as we'd made it out to be.

Cochem an der Mosel: This cute riverside village in the middle of steep Riesling vineyards was our home base to explore Burg Eltz, this castle pictured below. (This was the beginning of Brent and Cindy's "Scaffolding of Europe" tour.)
Köln: In 2005, Chris made his first trip to Europe to attend a chemistry conference in Köln. He came home with stories and memories that surely were springboard to our eventual move here 4 years later. How special, then, to introduce this city and great Gothic cathedral to his parents.

Paris: well, Chris, Daisy, and I went back home after Brent and Cindy boarded the train to Paris. A few days later, we met up in...

Venice! I honestly couldn't predict how I would like Venice this 2nd time around, now that we are "seasoned travelers" and all. Final verdict: I love it. It is quite possibly my favorite place in Europe.

I must share this fascinating tidbit: all the gondoliers (always men) must be Venetian-born locals. Our gondolier, Simone, learned the art from his father, who learned from his father before him.

Florence: Art and history come alive here. A list of famous Florentines: Dante (we saw his house), Botticelli (we saw his Birth of Venus), Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Brunelleschi (who made the big dome of the main church), Michelangelo (we saw his David), Leonardo da Vinci, Giotto (we saw some great early Renaissance paintings of his), Donatello (fell in love with his David), Galileo (the museum that has his finger preserved was, sadly, closed!), Leone Battista Alberti, Gucci (I know, weird addition), Machiavelli (saw his tomb), the Medici family, Florence Nightingale, Raphael, Savonarola, and Amerigo Vespucci.

Our rooms in Florence were run by a small, lovable family who made a lasting impression on us as we were paying our bill the last night. Francisco, 70 years old and newly mute due to some sort of surgery, is fluent in German, Spanish, and English, yet now, with a steady smile on his face, has only his haphazard hand gestures to help him communicate. He and his wife, Maria, who speaks minimal English, adored Daisy and we all spent quite a while in their office/living room. Francisco took Daisy out to his patio to show her Giorgio, the bunny. He enthusiastically stuck his basil plant under my nose. He ran to the back room and gave us a bottle of wine as a gift - and then returned with a stack of plastic cups. He insisted that Daisy take a little sound-effect toy that made incessant chirping sounds. As we pulled ourselves away, I had a strong impulse to mail them a thank you note, or maybe pictures from our time in Florence, or even, over the years, pictures of Daisy as she grows up and poems that I compose in Italian. Well, maybe I'll start with the thank-you card.

South of Florence lies the Chianti region, where we enlisted Mimma and Franca, sisters, to hold a private Tuscan cooking session with us in Mimma's farmhouse kitchen. We came away with a bottle of Mimma's olive oil, a disc of recipes, a trick for making awesome caramelized onions, and a glowing memory of a special cross-cultural moment, something off the beaten path.

Tuscany surprised us with its beauty. We targeted cities like Siena (saw St. Catherine's home), Montalcino (sampled their prized Brunello wine), and Montepulciano (again known for a wine, Vino Nobile), but my favorite part of the region was our peaceful overnight stay in the countryside. After checking in to the Agriturismo, we hung around outside, gushing over the landscape until the sun finally set. Cheers to Brent for bravely driving a car in Italy! (And sensitively, gently driving a car, with many rest stops, following Daisy's....episodes.)

After making it to the ancient Etruscan town called Civita and a brief overnight in the relatively unappealing hill town of Orvieto, we came to our final stop, Rome.

We waited in a long line to get into the Vatican Museum (Sistine Chapel!) and then saw St. Peter's Cathedral. Although we're not Catholic, this still felt like a part of our tradition and heritage.

In Rome, we dodged the rain, survived the buses, and spent time at the Colosseum, the Forum, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Bernini's amazing sculptures such as David and Apollo and Daphne, and the catacombs.

Well, this looks long! But when you consider that I covered Muelheim, Cochem, Köln, Venice, Florence, Chianti, Siena, Tuscany, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Civita, Orvieto, Vatican City, and Rome, all in a single post, you have to admit that it's pretty good!

Tulip Mania

Tulip mania or tulipomania was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble.

We took a train to Leiden and then a bus through the heart of the bulb-growing region of Holland to the Keukenhof, near Lisse. This huge garden is only open mid-March to mid-May, has 9 miles of footpaths (I converted the kilometers for you, reader!) and 4.5 million tulips in 100 varieties. We took out our camera and the rest is history.

Amsterdam

After a buttery, delicious bakery breakfast (during which both servers commented on how much we were eating - that's European customer service for you!), we walked through outdoor organic produce markets and the canal network to the city's top museums. One museum featured Dutch artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Jan Steen. There was also a "tulips on paper" room and a collection of Delftware. We noticed the lack of nudity in the artwork and read many allusions to Protestantism in the art guides. The clarity and detail of faces and gauzy lace was just spectacular.

"Flowers in the shoe?"

The next museum was devoted entirely to Van Gogh (which is supposed to be pronounced gutturally: "Van Gochhh." (Which reminds me of the way they say Gouda: "ChhhOWda.") We loved this museum because it traced the development of a single artist, especially since Van Gogh transformed his style so drastically. For example, we saw a still life of a pair of shoes which he painted during his early, Dutch period. He was actually once a "normal artist!" The colors were brown and dark. Displayed next to this painting was another pair of shoes from during his Paris years. These colors were bright blue and purple. I am a huge Van Gogh fan, so we got up close and savored the brush strokes, bits of empty canvas, and bold colors. Daisy slept!

Below, I captured another image that I would have never dreamed up. Anything goes in this city. We then saw a jogger wearing white socks on his hands to keep them warm. And then a shopkeeper plop down a chair and stool in the middle of the pavement to enjoy her coffee and newspaper in the sunlight. Our theory is that the legality of things like prostitution and marijuana trickles down to smaller things: you can ride a bike without a helmet and even sit on a couch on a bike without a helmet; you can make your own sidewalk cafe; you can make do with what you have and no one's going to shake their finger at you. (Unless you order too much at a bakery.)

We then visited the Anne Frank house. We could see the cramped, make-shift rooms where the families were kept hidden and there were videos, quotes from Anne's diary, and objects throughout the rooms. In Anne's old bedroom, sweet pictures which she had pasted on still clung to the walls. There were head shots of movie stars, postcards, and other clippings - I particularly remember a nature scene with a caption, "The Lark's Song." Seeing this last image, with the black curtains shutting out light in her small room, and remembering her years without freedom and her ultimate death in a concentration camp moved me to tears.

We bought a copy of her diary, which I've never read. I've learned that there are different versions: Version "a" was her first go at the diary. Version "b" is her edited copy, which sprung from a news announcement requesting 1st hand accounts of the occupation, to be published at a later date. Anne added pseudonyms, rewrote certain sections, and left out what she thought would be uninteresting. I can just imagine her dedicating herself to this project! Finally, version "c" is Otto Frank's version (her father, who alone survived). He left out unflattering family tales and other things he deemed too personal to publish. Our copy is version "b" with the original names from "a" and 30% more "c" than before!

The exterior of the Anne Frank House

We then met my old friend from Anaheim Vineyard, Brooke Christensen. Brooke moved to Ohio (the Columbus vineyard) during high school, but then we reconnected as freshmen at Wheaton. She is now helping to plant a Vineyard church in Amsterdam and has been there almost 2 years. We learned from her that only 5% of the city attends church. She is learning Dutch and is actually leading a small group in Dutch! That sounds way harder than teaching a kid piano lessons. Daisy was overjoyed to play with Brooke and swing from our arms down the streets of the Jordaan neighborhood.

Haarlem, Holland

Although we are only two hours by train from Amsterdam, we have been saving this trip for springtime (you'll understand why when I post our Keukenhof pictures). Daisy and I left on Friday morning and spent a half-day in Haarlem before meeting Chris at our hotel in Amsterdam that night, after work. The Iceland volcano ash was halting air travel, and our trains were both so packed with people standing that the train personnel didn't even bother checking tickets. Frederic, the person we rented a flat from, said that he had 9 cancellations for that night because of flight delays.

Haarlem, Holland gave its name to Harlem, New York back when New York was still New Amsterdam. Like Amsterdam, it has canals, brick buildings, and even a red light district. Daisy and I came to see its beautiful central square, its church, and the Corrie ten Boom house.

Here's the scene: Daisy is sleeping soundly in her buggy. I am striding into town, trying to decide what I'll eat with my coffee as I relax in the quaint central square I had read about. Slowly, I realize that the music is thumping louder and louder, and that I'm hearing more and more choruses of screams. As I turn the corner, my hopes plummet as I take in the massive carnival whipping up the peace of quiet square. There is hardly any room for sidewalk seating! Daisy wakes up due to the screeching and it's on to plan B.
We seek quiet in the old church and I can't stop gasping at the huge, steely floor-to-ceiling organ with baroque ornaments. Daisy even starts repeating me: "Oh my gOODness!" When it was built in the early 1700's, it was the largest in the world. Handel, Mendelssohn, and a 10-year-old Mozart have played this organ. It is also mentioned in Moby Dick as the author describes the inside of a whale's mouth: "Seeing all these colonnades of bone so methodically ranged about, would you not think you were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand pipes?"
Next, we make it to the Corrie ten Boom house for an hour-long tour. Daisy likes walking up and down the very steep staircases and nibbling raisins. I hear the story of Corrie's protection of Jews in "the hiding place" but I'm even more captivated by her message of forgiveness, even after half of her family dies in the camps, and her simple, humble, practical, child-like faith. About this picture: Corrie's family built a fake wall in Corrie's bedroom. They were careful to reproduce water stains on the same wallpaper, and made the wall really go down through the carpet. They stuck a pantry on the left. The refugees would hear a warning buzzer, dive into the lower section of the pantry and pull down a door, leaning against it so that it would sound solid if knocked. (It was never discovered; the hole in the wall is just for tourists to see inside better.)
Haarlem has a renovated windmill. We ended up seeing multiple windmills while in Holland, much to my delight.
My first glimpse of the superior level of creativity the Dutch achieve with their bicycles. Not to mention their footwear.

York, Scarborough, and Edinburgh - April 2010

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