The last couple days we have spent in the seaside town of Naantali, which sits on the west coast of Finland, looking out into the Finnish archipelago, which is a group of about 40,000 islands. While most of the town is like any other around here, there is a small section of it by the harbor that still has a slice of old town, with wooden buildings and narrow streets. It is only small, but quite pretty in the sun,
and it was sunny.
It wasn't warm enough to move onto the beach we were planning for the next leg though, so we decided to end our adventure for now and headed home.
Smallsteps is growing up.
It has been a nice six days away, with three quite different kinds of places, with the middle with family friends better than expected perhaps for Smallsteps. Even if the boys fought a lot with each other. That was actually a pretty decent experience to see for Smallsteps, as she hadn't witnessed that kind of arguing between siblings before. We discussed it on the drive to the next location, as she had many questions.
I have questions too.
Why was this model ship floating in the sky inside the old church?
One of the other things I liked about this little section of old town was that pretty much everywhere we went there was little pieces of original artwork, rather than prints. Below is a display on a wall from a local artist, and as Smallsteps and I had a couple minutes to ourselves, I asked her what the difference was between them and what kind of story it tells.
At first she was quite visual, noting the changes in, hair, age and then the patterns in the background. But with a little prodding, she started to think that it might represent how the girl's life changes as she gets older.
Not bad!
And what is also good, is that the day has inspired her to want to paint a canvas that has been waiting for her to start a self-portrait upon. That is a win.
It is only a small harbor in this area, but there were quite a few boats in the slips, as people who are summering around the archipelago will visit various ports in the area to resupply, or stop in for a tour. There were some pretty fancy boats around too, but Finland isn't really the place for those billionaire yachts to visit. I don't really get "super yachts", because it just seems like the people who buy them, can't really spend that much time on them anyway, so what is the point.
I also don't understand those massive palatial homes with 22 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms.
While that is not any of us playing tennis, a couple times throughout the trip Smallsteps asked if it was possible to try tennis, because she never has. I don't think it is her game to be honest, but I guess we must have some friends with kids who have some racquets we can borrow for a hit around to see if she enjoys it.
I don't think she will like chasing the ball all the time.
And to finish up, we walked to the top of the hill that overlooks the bay to see what the view was like.
Pretty good.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I love to see photographs that show family togetherness, the enjoyment of the places visited and, of course, the colourful landscapes.
You have two beautiful women who pose very well in your photos. Little Smallsteps's mischievousness makes her more and more charming, curious, and certainly looser. Growing by leaps and bounds. Blessings.
Yeah, she is growing fast, but is still holding onto her childhood, which is nice to see.
Indeed, she is almost a teenage :)
I think those islands are not so popular or obsolote, otherwise they would be used for tourist attraction 🙄
It is cold here most of the time. In the winter, it is possible to drive to many of them, as the sea is frozen over :)
That is so awesome Smallsteps is that perceptive about art at her age. As I tell @erikah, I don't know nothing about art or music. I just know what I like. I couldn't gather that from looking at the pieces hanging. Maybe if I was there in person or gave it more time to just look and think about it? I don't know. What I do know is that you have an impressive young girl.
So glad you are enjoying your time off with the family and hopefully getting a good reset.
Exploring new places can spark such great questions and reflections. It’s wonderful to see that growth. Small steps is growing faster than the !WEED under a faucet hehehehw
Looks like it was a really awesome time for you guys. I'm sure you are going to be happy to be home. One of the things I was most looking forward to after our recent 13 day trip was settling back into my routine. There's just something comfortable about it even though I would rather be in the mountains or at some seaside town.
I worked as a draftsman during the McMansion heyday before the 2008 collapse, and even then, custom homes of the nouveau riche weren't that absurdly large. The only point I can see for such a large home is hosting a lot of guests, or well-appointed quarters for the small army of staff necessary to keep it clean and keep things running.
I had friends who took to tennis like a duck takes to water, but it was never the sport for me.
beautiful and very nice picture.
Smallsteps seem like she’d be good at having fun when she grows up since you’re teaching her now😄😄
I’m glad you enjoyed the locations and you chose to go back up your heated home for now
How hot is Finland during summer?
That is a pretty nice painting and analysis. As for tennis, I don't know if they have children's rackets, since the regular ones are heavy. Has she tried badminton? Kids usually like that, and it is easier to get into.
Dear @tarazkp !
I am always amazed by your photography skills!
Smallsteps seems to be growing very quickly.
By the way, I felt that the coast of Finland was not very beautiful!
It’s a beautiful thing that you and your family had a nice time and you explored new places
I wish you all more to come
Looks like a charming place! trip! It's amazing how different places can spark new interests and it was great to read smallsteps is getting inspired to paint 🧡
Congrats you had a great trip!
Very nice view indeed! Tennis was the one sport I took a few lessons when I was a kid. It remains one of my favorite sports, but I don't get to play it nearly as much as I'd like to. This new pickleball revolution is pissing me off too, because now I have even less tennis people to play with and all my courts are getting retrofitted for pickleballers. To me, pickleball just seems like a game for people who are too lazy to run around a full-sized tennis court.