The Life and Travels of Mrs Suvi

I’ve been missing writing my Weekly Favourites posts so I think it’s time to try again. The last time I wrote was in September 2017! I might not be able to write every week but let’s see how it goes. The past week has been very eventful as my daughter and I visited Gdansk. There were so many favourites on the holiday but I’ll tell you about a few of them here.

We had opted for an evening flight so I was able to postpone packing till Saturday and even take some time to go for a walk before the flight. The atmosphere at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport was very relaxed compared to mornings, it was nice to see the airport like that. The airport is going through some major renovations outside which means that dropping people off or picking them up is very complicated indeed. So, if you are heading that way, be aware!

The airplane taking us to Gdansk surprised me as I hadn’t really paid any attention to the details of the flight. Finnair has cheap fares to Gdansk with flights operated by Norra. The airplanes are propeller planes!! ATR-72s for flight buffs. Everything went smoothly but I have to say that I felt a bit nervous during takeoff and landing as it was so noisy and shaky!

Our hotel was definitely one of my favourites this week as it was stylishly decorated and the breakfast was divine. I highly recommend Puro Gdansk. The location is excellent with the Old Town is just a stone’s throw away.

The first evening we had dinner at an Italian restaurant, Chleb i Wino, which was very popular. We had to queue for an hour to get in! They served hot wine as we waited. The restaurant is just across from the hotel, so it was perfect. The pasta was delicious and very affordable.

Another favourite restaurant on the trip was Mandu which specializes in Polish dumplings (pierogi). Again we had to queue to get in but it didn’t take half as long, probably because the restaurant is quite big and we were there during the day.

My favorite terrace was at Guga Sweet and Spicy. People were enjoying the sun on loungers laid across the grass.

My favorite cafe was Jozef K in the Old Town. There’s many cool and trendy cafes around away from the main tourist street, so it’s worth venturing out! Joseph K has really quirky decor and seemed to be very popular with the 30s crowd.

My favourite building was the WWII museum. It’s very unique.

My favourite experience was visiting a neighbourhood called Zaspa. There you can see massive murals painted on Soviet-style concrete buildings. I will tell you more about the area in another post later on.

We used Uber in Gdansk which worked beautifully. Uber is so expensive in Finland and there are so few cars in Espoo where we live that I only use it on trips abroad. From the Gdansk airport we got a free taxi ride! We missed the bus to the centre as did a couple who were going to the same hotel as us. Obviously I thought that I would be paying half of the fare but the gentleman insisted on paying. Just as well, as when he heard that the taxi would cost us 70 Polish Zloty, he exclaimed that he would pay 100! I thought you are supposed to haggle the price not pay extra straight out!?

After Gdansk I have been absolutely exhausted but managed to plough through work (two days only) to today. I did meet up with my mom one evening after work to look for new eyeglasses for her. Inspired by that I went to test my vision as I have been feeling that I can’t see as clearly as before. But as the test results weren’t alarming at all, my eyes getting tired may be the result of staring at the computer screen all day or perhaps due to the lousy air inside our office.

My favourite book this week was Where the Crawdad’s Sing by Delia Owens. Have you read it yet? I had the audiobook and it took me ages to get into. I had to rewind and listen to the beginning at least three times but after that I was spellbound. The Southern accents  in the audiobook made the book come alive. I found the book through the Hello Sunshine bookclub founded by Reese Witherspoon. Another excellent book recommendation I got from there is This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel.  I even love the name of the book. It tells the story of a family with a transgender child. The story is heartfelt and compassionate. Believe me – you’ll love it!

Now I’ve just started my Easter holiday with today and Monday off work. This morning I woke up at 10.40 am which is a first for years. I guess I really was tired. We’ve been promised sunny weather so we will be concentrating on various projects that have been awaiting in our yard and boat.

How has your week been? Will you be doing something special for Easter?

Happy Easter and Happy weekend y’all!

xx