Summer vacation '11 in Finland, a set on Flickr.
Last full day of our summer vacation is coming to an end. It's been wonderful to have the almost stereotypical Finnish domestic summer vacation.
The pictures are from my parents' place in Kerava, a rental summer cottage in Hauho, Parola Tank Museum, Häme Castle, Hämeenlinna Artillery Museum, Finnish Aviation Museum, Sääksi lake beach and from around urban Helsinki. The pics can also be viewed as a slide show.
The military theme with the museum visits is because of our son has reached the "weapons age" - things that don't go "bang" are just not very interesting at the moment :-).
Now it's time to fly back to India for the final quarter of the expat assignment. It seems one needs to spend time away to truly appreciate the things one has at home...
A day at the races, a set on Flickr.
The Overseas Women's Club organized a charity event at the Bangalore Turf Club. What a great day! The theme was to dress posh for the box section, eat and drink there, bet on the fine horses and generally have a good time with like minded people. For me, also take a lot of pics of something I've never seen with my own eyes - or through my own lenses - before.
The drinking bit probably had a somewhat negative impact on the picture taking aspect, but some of them turned out OK anyway thanks to having the camera on continuous shooting mode all day. I also got quite excited about the betting, which was a surprise - but a fun one. I also won some money in a couple of races, which meant I ended up just shy of break even.
My expectations going in were pretty low. In Finland they organize trotting horse races, which are almost as exciting as drying paint whenever they show highlights on the TV - which is often.
So, this was an activity I never would've done on my own, but if there's another opportunity later in life I'm definitely game for another day at the races.
Right after a vacation we took another. This time we went to Kuala Lumpur for an extended weekend trip timed around Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. It was my first GP viewed live since the 2000 Montreal GP. In KL we visited Chinatown, Petronas Twin Towers, various shopping malls, a big walk-in aviary, a beautiful but scorching hot orchid park and took the hop-on, hop-off tour around around the sights. There were many more things to see, but there was limited time with 3 days spent on viewing fast cars scream by.
In Sepang I roamed around the various grand stands during the Friday practice and then on Saturday and Sunday we watched the qualifying and the race with the whole family. We were in grand stand F which gives a fantastic view of the complex of fast corners 5-8 as well as the straights and the hairpin between them. You can follow about half a lap from your seat, which is pretty amazing. The challenge with F is logistics - it's time-consuming to get there and even more difficult to get back. We took the KLIA Transit train on all 3 days and on Saturday going back to KL was a disaster with the airport to circuit shuttle buses stuck in traffic. Took over 4 hours to get back to the hotel...
Anyway a great race, a great track and a great city. Much recommended!
