matero.net

Countries

1. United Kingdom (not included in Rail Pass)
2. Belgium
3. France
4. Portugal
5. Spain
6. Italy
7. Greece
8. Turkey (not included in Rail Pass)
9. Switzerland
10. Austria
11. Hungary
12. Poland (not included in Rail Pass)
13. Germany
14. Czech Republic (not included in Rail Pass)
15. Luxembourg
16. Netherlands
17. Denmark
18. Norway
19. Sweden
20. Finland

Languages

1. English
2. French
3. Portuguese
4. Spanish
5. Catalan
6. Italian
7. Greek
8. Turkish
9. German
10. Hungarian
11. Polish
12. Czech
13. Dutch
14. Danish
15. Norwegian
16. Swedish
17. Finnish

Currencies

1. British Pounds
2. Euros
3. New Turkish Liras
4. Swiss Francs
5. Hungarian Forints
6. Polish Zloty
7. Czech Koruna
8. Danish Kroner
9. Swedish Krona
10. Norwegian Kroner

I ate breakfast for free in the school cafeteria in Lehtimäki, Finland. Hmm, maybe I fit in with all the other mentally ill kids there, or at least what my mom would say! I took the bus at 9AM back to Seinäjoki and then a train to Tampere, Finland. Tampere is the second largest city in the country. It has been raining most of the day, so not the greatest for being outside. Also I read that there is an old, huge, public sauna in this city. But it is only open 4 days per week, and today is not one of them. I did try taking some candid photos of people on the street for a bit.

One nice thing about Finland is wireless hot-spots. Wi-Fi is in every major city I’ve visited; it hasn’t been a problem to find a free wireless signal. Finland is the best country I’ve seen for public Wi-Fi. On a related note, my computer model has been discontinued. So three months old and you cannot order a new one like it anymore.

I am nearing the end of my Europe trip. Tonight at 10:55PM I am taking Ryanair, a budget airline from Tampere, Finland to London, England. Then I am going to try to sleep in Stansted airport upon arriving in London. Then at 7AM or so I’ll take a bus to the center of London and spend the day there. Then I have another flight at 8:40PM from Gatwick airport to Hong Kong, hence starting Phase II.

I woke up early to catch a 6:22AM train to Oulu, Finland. Being in the city for only an hour, I took a quick look around. I think it felt the coldest here, almost cold enough to snow I think. Next, I took a train to Seinäjoki, followed by a Bus to Lehtimäki. I was met by my host, Claudia, at the bus stop (a gas station). The biggest thing in the town is a school for the mentally handicapped. This is where Claudia volunteers. One nice thing about the school is they have a cafeteria and I was able to have some free dinner there. She told me she was able to get some information on Albin Leskinen’s parents. I now have full names and birth dates of his parents: Hanna Leskinen and Elias Luoma. This will also allow me to trace back the family tree farther.

I rode a bike down to the biggest cemetery in town. I didn’t find any Luoma and only saw one Leskinen. So they must be pretty rare names, even around Lehtimäki. The town has a lot of farms around it. There are two gas stations, two supermarkets, and one bar/restaurant. Only one bus per day connects the town to the next largest city.

Today was mostly catch up day on the computer. Riding a bike around town was one of the other activities. I also enjoyed some of Kirsi’s cooking in the afternoon as well as a visit to Kirsi’s parents who live just down the street.

In the evening, Maki’s sister and her boyfriend (Anaka & Marco) picked me up and we drove to Kajaani. I was supposed to stay with someone else who I contacted a while ago, but that got canceled a couple days ago. Luckily, everyone was able to help me arrange someone else to stay with. On the way, I stopped at Ristijärvi, Finland. This is where one of my great-grandparents, Aino Kemppainen, was born. However I didn’t have many other details or time to look around town.

This same region of Finland is home to Säräisniemi, a very small town where Tapani Laamanen, another great-grandparent, was born. I do notice now that a train does come within 9 miles of the town, but it is so small I have no contacts there.

Tomorrow I am going to travel to Lehtimäki, Finland, which is home of Albin Leskinen. I was able to find someone there to host me for a night and maybe I’ll be able to find something out about the family.

Today was spent all around Suomussalmi. I had some oatmeal and berries for breakfast. A little later in the summer it is possible to walk around anywhere in the forests and pick Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, and Cloudberries for free. So everyone around has a great number of these handpicked berries. There is forest everywhere; just driving through town it is hard to see any homes since forest lines every street. Almost all of buildings in the town were destroyed in 1939 during the Winter War. A large battle between Finnish and Russians occurred inside and around this town.

Today we visited the House Museum. It includes an 18^th century local house and other buildings and objects used by people living around here in the past. This gave me a better idea of how my ancestors lived here. Seemed very tough, for example, making bread from the bark of a Birch tree.

Next we visited the cemetery in town and saw the grave of my great-great-grandparents (Vilhelmi and Eeva-Stiina Matero). Very strange to see a tombstone with Matero carved into it. Afterwards, we visited Kaarlo Matero, who is 82 years old and a relative. He took us to the sight of the old Matero house, which isn’t standing anymore. It is a few miles from town, down a long dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I learned it is a 115 hectare property. Kaarlo said the home was already very old when he was born. This was where Vilhelmi Matero and his family lived. Kaarlo says he remembers when Rudolph (my grandfather) and John Matero (my great-grandfather) from Detroit, Michigan visited this same place many years ago.

Next we visited Kaarlo’s sister, Eeva. It seems this home is also in the middle of nowhere. Outside is a small sauna building, potatoe field, and Finnish flag. They showed me a few old photos and told me that Vilhemi Matero was a farmer and a tailor and spent much time in Russia. Suomussalmi is very close to Russia; in fact the old house is just 12 miles from the border.

We returned to Mika’s cottage for the evening because it is still Juhannus today. Perfect weather, lots of food (freshly caught fish and sausage), and a hot sauna probably made it the perfect day.

Today is Juhannus or Midsummer’s Eve. I did what most Finns do, which is get out of the city. I took a train from Helsinki to a small town called Kontiomäki, which is the closest I can get to my destination by train. From there I was ready to hitchhike, so I noticed other people getting off the train and getting picked up by family in cars. I asked someone if they spoke English, “No.” Then I started walking to the highway, but another car stopped and a woman and her grandpa gave me a ride in the direction I had to go. They drove me halfway to my final destination, plus they helped me out by calling my contact and arranged for me to get picked up at a gas station along the road. I think that was a good idea, since there wasn’t too much traffic going down the road by this time and place and I don’t think there are any pay phones around since not having a mobile phone is unheard of here (plus every business is closed due to the holiday).

I’m spending the next few days in Suomussalmi, which is the hometown of the Matero’s. I am being hosted by Kirsi (my 3^rd cousin) and her boyfriend, Mika. Kirsi & Mika picked me up at a gas station ($6.98/GAL) along the road and we headed to Mika’s family’s cottage. His whole family was there along with lots of food cooked on an outdoor wood burning grill. A wood burning sauna was nearby as well as the cottage itself, all along a lake. It is down a dirt road a ways, but they do have electricity and propane. However, all cooking was done with wood. I took a sauna and jumped in the cold water twice. At midnight they lit small bon fire by the water, which was welcome since it was getting cold by this point. I think the sun set at about 11:30PM in the Northwest and someone pointed out the sun will rise again just a little bit over in the North or Northeast in about 2 or 3 hours. Every lake here in Finland seems like Sun Lake at the Finn Camp. There are very few boats, very quiet, and you can’t see many houses around the lake. There’s a sandy beach and forest surrounding the entire lake and cottage. Other cottages are far enough away you cannot see them.

About 1 or 2AM (still bright enough you don’t need headlights), we returned to Kirsi & Mika’s home in town and slept.

Today I took the bus into the center of Helsinki. I visited the National Museum of Finland, which showcased the history of the country. Then I walked down to the harbor and back. When I came back to the house, Kirsi was cooking a big Juhannus feast. I ate lots of good food!

I also stopped at the train station for my next ticket. Found out the train I wanted was fully booked, since it is Juhannus. Everyone leaves the city at that time. I was given some more options (smoking compartment, pet compartment), but I ended up getting a ticket 3 hours later than my plan. However, I’ll still have to hitchhike to get to my final destination since buses aren’t running on the holiday either.

I had high expectations for the Silja Line cruise ship, but it didn’t seem too great for me at least. If you have a cabin, it is fine, but if you’re just on the deck like me there isn’t too much seating. Then they close off different parts of the ship at certain times of the night eliminating more seats and space. They had an area with live music, closed at 2AM. Then they had a dance club, closed at 3AM. In the end there was just a tiny room with a few airplane style chairs and a handful of people in sleeping bags on the floor. I didn’t have a sleeping bag, so I just sat in the chair and got maybe 1 or 2 hours of sleep. I wasn’t expecting to get any, actually. But that’s why I’m doing this trip at 25 years old instead of 75.

I didn’t try going to sleep early because it just didn’t get dark outside. It was like a continuous sunset, the horizon was red all night. The cruise was pretty neat because there were islands all most the entire way. I must have seen hundreds go by, many with cottages along the shores.

I arrived in Turku, Finland on time. Turku is the old capital of Finland (before Helsinki). There is a medieval castle there that I walked around first near the ferry docks. Then I went to the center of the city and walked around a bit. Being an old city, there isn’t too much that looks old though. After two hours total, I boarded my next train for Helsinki.

I had an hour free in Helsinki, walked over to spy on a computer game developer called Recoil Games followed by the largest Lutheran Cathedral in Finland. Then Kirsi picked me up and we drove to the Sibelius Monument for some photos. Finally, back to her home in Espoo. I was able to get a family photo with Kirsi and her three kids: Kaisa, Kalle, and Kosti.

 I was able to borrow a bike and ride for the first time in months.  It was great, wide paths, bike lanes everywhere, trails cutting shortcuts through the streets. Then Kalle, 18, his friend, and I went to a nearby beach and then visited another computer game developer office, Remedy Entertainment.

Now I’m going to finish off the day with a Sauna and sausages. This one is inside the house and wood burning.

Today I got to see Stockholm. The big attraction is the Vasa Museum, which holds a 350 year old ship that sunk right out in the harbor on its maiden voyage. It was excavated in the 1950’s and partially reconstructed and the ship was floated into this museum and it has been here since 1990.

I walked around the harbor, the old town, and royal palace (saw a marching band going down the street there). There was a Sci-Fi Bokhandeln (bookstore) in Sweden with mostly English books. Probably the best collection I’ve seen anywhere, but prices are kind of high with a 25% sales tax.

I had some more pasta today (this time I bought some sauce too). About 5PM I started walking to the ferry docks where a ship for Turku, Finland awaited. I am using Silja Line (ship name is Festival) and it is free with my Rail Pass. Leaves at 8:15PM and arrives in Turku at 8AM.

I awoke early in Oslo, Norway so I could catch my train. I tried to eat the breakfast at the hostel, but I used up all my Norwegian money yesterday, and they wouldn’t take Euros even though they advertised a Euro price too. Instead, I ate some instant noodles I bought a few days before.

There was a six hour train ride to Stockholm, Sweden. I got kind of spoiled in Norway with all the mountains and waterfalls. Sweden is mostly flat. I checked into a hostel in Stockholm, which was pretty nice. They have free pasta (although you have to cook it), so I had a big plate of that. They have a free sauna one hour per day, which I tried and it was fairly hot. They also have a free wireless with 12Mbit speeds (although it broke the 2^nd day). However, it is one of the more expensive hostels at $40 per night. I must have spent at least eight hours planning for the Finland portion of my trip today.