Hawaii - Day 2

The typical Hawaiian winter weather continued the next day. Sun, some rain, sun and lots of rainbows! The nature is green and the views fantastic.
We decided to drive to the west shore of Oahu.
First we had to get some gas and were getting a bit nervous as we didn't see any gas stations for many miles. Then finally we found one, but didn't know how to refuel the car. We asked someone to help us and could relax again when the car tank was filled with gas.

First stop at the Waianae coast where only very experienced wind surfers could enter the water at least this day.

Makaha Beach Park

We saw a beautiful rainbow.

Another lovely beach, but with quite big waves.

Driving on. We had to turn back because at Kaena Point the road finished and you could continue only without the car.

We decided to cross the Island and drive towards the north shore.

We drove to Haleiwa to try the famous shave ice at Matsumoto's. Not to my taste, though. Far too sweet!

From there we went to see very big waves on the North Shore. In winter time it's dangerous to swim there if you aren't an expert surfer. There was a surfing competition going on, so it was difficult to find a parking space.

There were nice small cottages along the beach.

 On our way we found a small beach were we could have a swim.

Driving along we saw a fruit stand where we stopped to buy some fruit. Hawaii isn't a cheap place. Anything you would buy cost 5 dollars. But we had got really hungry and the taste of the fried bananas and the fresh coconut milk was unforgettable.

 

We drove back towards Haleiwa where we had seen lots of shrimp trucks. You can buy shrimps and hamburgers and other plates in these trucks.

On our way back to Honolulu we stopped at the coffee farm in Waialua and tried different coffee types.

Coffee beans

And then a quick stop at the Dole Plantation just to see how pineapples grows and to discover that there are many different types of pineapples.

We did many things that day!

Aloha Hawaii and mahalo for everything!

Over two months have gone since our trip to to Hawaii in December. Now it's nice to look back at all those lovely memories! One of the reasons I love photography is that they bring back so many nice memories.
It was a very long travel. First from Rome to London and then from London to Los Angeles and finally from San Francisco to Honolulu. The last flight was the less comfortable one, but we were so tired so we slept anyway. We arrived to Honolulu late in the evening and as we had rented the car from the next day in order not to have to pay another day for just one hour, we had to wait till midnight to get it. When we finally got into the car, we had some problems with the automatic gears, but in the end we managed to leave the parking lot. I still don't understand how we found our apartment so easily without any navigator, but we just drove straight there. Afterwards we realized that Honolulu wasn't a small city at all. We got lost there and stuck in the traffic many times on our day trips from and into Honolulu.
The next morning we woke up quite early because there was a 12-hour time difference. We woke up to a beautiful view that we hadn't seen the night before as it was dark already. We put on our summer clothes and went out for a good and caloric American breakfast with coffee, pancakes and scrambled eggs.

Then we went out to explore the city. Armando reminded us that we actually were there for his marathon, so we had to look for the Marathon Expo first of all. On our way there we soaked up some Hawaiian atmosphere. It was two weeks before Christmas, so of course there were some Christmas ornaments too among the palm trees.

Getting into the Hawaiian spirit. Aloha!

At the Marathon Expo. I don't know how Carlotta found Armando's name on the big cloth among all the names of the participants written with tiny letters. They were not in alphabetical order!

 Then we walked back to the hotel to eat some lunch and watch the view from the terrace before we headed to the beach.

The weather changed very quickly, but we got to enjoy our first swims in December.

Freezing cold Finland

Our last days here in Finland now. It has got really cold these last days. Today it was -23.
Yesterday we went out sledding and managed to do it for an hour or so with the help of the hot chocolate and warm coffee that my friend brought in a thermos.

It's really cold and very beautiful. Today we went to our friend's house and after that I took a short walk with Carlotta, but couldn't resist long as our faces and fingers were aching from the cold.

Before these extremely cold days we went to my sister and Carlotta had a nice ride with her Shetland pony Perfecta. Just in time before it got too cold!

Two days ago we went to see the beach were we go in summer. Now it looked quite different!

 

Yesterday I went out with my sister's daughter. It has become a tradition for us to go out for dinner and this time we also went to the cinema to see a Finnish film "Nuotin vierestä" which happened to have been filmed in my home town, Kotka. It has been a nice and relaxing winter holiday for us here in Finland.

Snowing in Finland

The day after new year's day when we woke up it was snowing! I woke up Carlotta telling her that and she got up faster than ever, put on her clothes and went out. After breakfast I took a walk out with the girls and my mother. They took their sledges to the nearby wood, but the the very thin layer of snow wasn't quite enough for sledding. Anyway everything looks white and beautiful now. It's very cold, too, about -15 centigrades, so quite a short walk was enough for today.

After lunch me and the girls went to Kotka to do some shopping and had a coffee. It's so beautiful out there now.

Good ending and Happy New Year!

This year the manly half of the family stayed in Rome and the other half of the family went to Finland to start the new year.
Me, Sofia and Carlotta arrived to Finland on the 28th in the evening.
On new year's eve we were invited to our friends in Espoo, so in the afternoon we went there and slept over at their house.
We had a really nice evening at their house. We took a walk with their dog, ate a very good meal, played a fun game and watched the fireworks.

The next day we woke up slowly, had brunch and then we went to my brother's house. Their boys hadn't woken up yet after their late nights out. The days are short here, so we drove home when it was dark already. Luckily the weather was really good. It's quite cold, but there is only a very thin layer of snow to lighten up everything.