Destination Unknown Part 5

 We were finally able to leave Manchester on our second attempt. There were several new lockdowns and flight bans implemented during January. Our first flight from Manchester to Helsinki got cancelled. We managed to book another flight with a layover in Frankfurt. To board the flight our butler had to take a Covid-19 test and fill out an entry form to Germany. We decided to book a hotel by the airport so our butler could take the test the day prior to the flight. This way the test will still be valid for the entire trip and we do not have to stress about receiving the results or the trains being late. 

Our room at Doubletree Hilton.

Grandpa and Bu ready to enjoy the warm cookie.

We stayed at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel. The hotel is only a five minute walk from the train station at Manchester Airport. We checked into the hotel and stayed in our room with the free cookie while our butler went to take the test and buy some dinner. We really liked the hotel and the free cookie was such a nice touch to make us feel extra welcome.

We got the results back that our butler tested negative for Covid-19 and that we were good to go. Our check in to the flight the next morning went smoothly. There were some customers that were disorganized with their tests so the queue took longer than necessary. After the security check we went to Boots and got ourselves some breakfast. We got the chicken sandwich trio. Perfect, one for each of us. We got the meal deal so we also got a smoothie and a cookie dough brownie.

The flight itself was uneventful. We got free coffee and bottled water. 

We had a couple of hours to kill in Frankfurt Airport so we found a cozy corner to relax in and watch Netflix. Later on we got some snacks from the bakery at the airport. A delicious sandwich with smoked salmon, cream cheese and egg. We also got a delicious nut croissant. Mjau, we were watching Netflix on our phone and forgot to take pictures.

This time we got some apple juice and a power bar on the flight. 

Since we already had a valid covid-19 test, our entry at the boarder control went smoothly. Since we had been in England we just had to fill in an additional form with our butler's contact information.

Our room at GLO Hotel Art.

In Helsinki we stayed at the GLO Hotel Art. We really enjoyed our stay there. Our room was a bit on the smaller side. However the bed more than made up for it. We think this is the first time we have used a smart bed. So wonderful to be able to adjust the bed to your liking. We also like that the hotel provides you with a friend in your room. It is nice with some company and you will not feel lonely if you are traveling by yourself.

Our new friend!

Comfortable position for relaxing.

Our reservation included breakfast. The breakfast buffet was served in the restaurant at basement level. The atmosphere is really nice and cozy with brick walls. The breakfast was delicious. They had warm bread, karelian pies, crêpes and croissants with different jams. They also served warm potato patties, bacon and scrambled eggs. A selection of fruits such as watermelon and pineapple was also served. We got a bit excited and might have eaten too much. No worries, we went back up to our room and laid down in our magnificent bed for a bit.

First plate of breakfast.

Crêpes and croissants with jams and nutella.

We were happy to see that they have several new chocolates and snacks in Finland since our last visit. They have a new delicious Tupla Nougat, we think we might prefer it over the original. They also have a new Geisha Salted Caramel. We were really looking forward to this one since we love salted caramel and we love Geisha. Unfortunately we have to say we were disappointed by the new Geisha Salted Caramel. We think it might have worked better if they had a layer of liquid salted caramel in the chocolate instead of having it incorporated into the filling. Perhaps if they had regular Geisha with bigger chunks of crunchy salted caramel it would have been better. We still prefer the original and the delicious Cappuccino Geisha.

Excited to try the new chocolates!

The new Tupla has a delicious white nougat centre.

We also tried some new Fazer Chocolate Thins with strawberries, oat and almond. They were really light and a good snack. We liked that it had proper chunks of strawberries in it. The almond and oat also gave the chocolate thins some extra crunch. We like our snacks and sweets to have different textures in them.

Delicious strawberry bits in the chocolate.

Bu and Grandpa trying some new chocolates.

They also had some new savory pastries. We also revisited some old favourites of ours. We had a Eromanga Lihapiirakka (meatpie). We have not had this brand before. It was really delicious and the filling-dough ratio was perfect. We also had a Dallaspulla. Dallaspulla is a bun with quark and vanilla filling. So delicious. We like them when they are a bit darker and the top of the filling is a bit crispy. The new savory pastry we tried was a new take on the traditional Karelian pie (karjalanpiirakka). This one was basically a Karelian pie with egg butter already in the pastry. A really nice addition. Usually when buying Karelian pies from the store for a snack we find ourselves wishing they sold a packet of egg butter on the side. This solves the issue perfectly. We definitely recommend trying this one.

Ready to start our feast.

The yellow is the egg butter, the white is rice filling.

Delicious meat filling. Lihapiirakka is one of our guilty pleasures.

We were also excited to finally be able to visit cafés again. We just had to visit Fazer Café and get the Geisha pastry. It is our favourite pastry at the Fazer Café. We also got a Chai Latte to warm ourselves after walking in the snow. The Geisha pastry is a milk chocolate mousse cake on a chocolate biscuit and with hazelnut crunch in the middle and there is also some pieces of hazelnut in the mousse. So delicious, especially the hazelnut crunch. We really enjoy the mix of the smooth and crunchy textures.

Enjoying Geisha pastry and a Chai Latte.

Delicious Geisha mousse cake 

We also found some additional new snacks in the grocery store. They now have a limited edition white Snickers bar. It is coated with white chocolate and we think the filling also differs from the original. It looks lighter. We also bought a Brunberg Mocca Kiss. It has been a really long time since we last had them. Our butler was not a fan of them when younger. Our butler was pleasantly surprised that the Mocca Kiss was not as bad as memory had served. Perhaps they only tried the regular ones before. The Mocca flavour was however not as strong as we had hoped. It was still really good and light and fluffy.

I wanna stuff some chocolate in my face.

So delicious!

On our last day in Helsinki we left our luggage at the hotel and decided to walk around Helsinki for a bit before leaving the city.  We visited Akateeminen kirjakauppa, a bookstore, and found some interesting new reads. We bought The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. It is a collection of 34 Japanese short stories by different authors translated into English. We are really looking forward to reading the stories. After the bookstore we went to Paulig Kulma. There we got a cup of coffee, a delicious chocolate-ginger raw cake and a Runeberg's torte.

Delicious raw cake and Runeberg's torte.

After our café visit we returned to the hotel to retrieve our luggage. Our butler then dragged our suitcase through the snow all the way to the train station. We bought a train ticket and were on our way to Lahti.

Bu and Grandpa back in Finland.

Destination Unknown Part 4: Christmas Edition

 

Our wonderful Disney Christmas Tree and Stockings.

After a long layover in Schiphol Airport we were finally on our way to England. Due to the covid-19 we would have to stay in quarantine for 14 days. In typical British fashion it was raining when we got here. An unwanted change from the wonderful weather in Croatia. 

As we had to stay in quarantine in our apartment there was not much we could do. Mjau, we mostly watched Disney and Muppet Christmas movies and enjoyed homemade gingerbread and special hot chocolate.

Our home made gingerbread ornaments.

Stella Lou and Gelatoni ornaments.

Fortunately our second butler was still allowed to go outside so we got food and equipment for art and crafts. Mjau, so much fun making our own christmas ornaments. We made our own Disney Character Gingerbread Ornaments. We also made some Mini Disney Plushies for last minute stocking stuffing.

The Mini Disney Plushies we made all by ourselves.

Cookies and Milk for Santa.

Our butlers made us go to bed early on the 23rd so after leaving out gingerbread cookies and special milk, our butlers tucked us in. Mjau, so difficult to fall asleep amidst all the excitement. We could hear some thumping footsteps above us and rustling sounds coming from the living room. It must have been Santa! We were so excited! We were still awake when our butler got to bed and we had to pretend to be asleep. We do not think they noticed our eyes were open.

Mjau, Santa enjoyed our sacrificial offering. We got many presents!

On the morning of the 24th we rushed to the living room. The cookies hade been eaten and the milk had been drunk! Under the Christmas Tree was a heap of presents and our stockings were filled to the brim.

Mjau, our stockings are filled with presents.

So many gifts under the tree!

Before opening the presents we had to watch the 12 days of Christmas Disney Song Along special. Mjau, so difficult to concentrate with all the gift waiting to be opened.

Christmas Clutter

First we took turns opening the gifts under the tree. Afterwards we took turns with our stockings. Mjau, so many wonderful gifts. We got several Disney Legos and other Legos as well. The biggest Lego set we got was The Little Mermaid. We also got smaller Cinderella, Frozen and Iron Man Legos. We also got a festive Lego gingerbread house and Santa and Mrs Santa Claus. 

Es also got two baby bunny bunnies from Sylvanian Families. Am's babies also got two kittens from Sylvanian Families so that they can play together.

We also got our very own My Adventure Book. Hopefully we will be able to go on more adventures in 2021.

Mjau, wonderful new Legos.

Our Lego Gingerbread House.

Our Christmas Minnie Ears and Adventure Book.

We also got new Christmas Minnie Ears. Si even got bridal Minnie Ears for when she and DC can finally have their wedding. We got amazing custom made Disney and Muppet costumes. We all got our favourite characters: Figment, Sam the Eagle, Kermit, Big Al and a double dose of Heimlich. We like the costumes so much that we have not taken them off since Christmas. Our butlers would not allow us to wear them to bed, so we slept under the christmas tree for a couple of nights. Mjau, now we take the costumes off just before bed and put them on immediately after we wake up.

Our custom made Disney Costumes.

We also got a pocket version of the Labyrinth game which is fun to play. However, not as fun as our own Hugo Expressen game.

In the stockings we also got delicious chocolates and our custom made Disney mini plushies. Mjau, we had to pay our butlers their annual salary with our chocolates. Mjau, they went around the room with their collection plate, like common beggars.

Si and her Dragon Egg.

Si also got a Dragon Egg. It had to be submerged in water. Mjau, after two days the egg started hatching and we could see the baby dragon. Just a couple more days in water and the dragon almost doubled in size.

The egg is starting to hatch.

Mjau, the dragon egg has hatched.

A baby dragon is born.

The siamese cat boys also got Disney 3D puzzles: Chip, Donald and Mickey. They also got mini cars from Pixar's Cars and some silicone cake molds. Mjau, they also got some Legos.

Legos, 3D puzzles and lots of other toys.

Grandpa, Farmor, Farfar and the Aunties also got some delicious Baileys liquor and Cherry liquor from Croatia. 

We played all day with our new toys while listening to Disney Christmas Music. Our butlers devoured their bodyweight in chocolate and were experimenting in mixing different liquid magic drinks. On the 25th we had some homemade pumpkin pie and stuffing falafels with cranberry sauce and chicken. Mjau, we could not find turkey from the store. Our post-Christmas blues had started to set in. Mjau, our butlers could prevent this by buying us some more Christmas presents so we could celebrate Christmas on the 25th as well. Mjau, we wish Christmas would last longer. Christmas always seems to last longer when spent in Disney.

Playtime with our new fancy toys.

After Christmas Manchester set stricter restrictions so now we are pretty much stuck in the apartment. We only got a couple days of freedom between our quarantine and the new restrictions. The New Year's Eve celebrations were almost nonexistent due to the restrictions. We could hear and see some fireworks going off in the distance. We just watched the Disney fireworks from YouTube instead. We read our fortunes in online fortune cookies and tarot cards. Mjau, we will have to see where life and 2021 takes us next.