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| The humble manor house. |
Having a bike in a bike-friendly country--with bike trails everywhere--makes life so much fun. (Not sure I will be saying that in the dead of a snowy winter, but let's wait and see.) This weekend we took another day-long adventure with our down coats, a backpack, two bikes, and a map. Our first destination, five kilometers from our house, was the
Kuokkalan Kartono a manor house built in 1904 and later transformed to a coffee house (cafe Wivissä) and event venue. The house has been renovated into
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One of the window views from the manor house.
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separate coffee rooms, each room sporting its own character with different color schemes, furniture pieces, and amazing paintings embodying the national spirit and culture of Finland. We toured the house and then relaxed and enjoyed coffee/tea and the delicious home-baked cakes. We would have never found this place if it was not for GROUPON!
Yes, Finland has groupon coupons (which they call CityDeal) and I bought two coupons for a tour of the house and tea/coffee and a cake for 5
€/each (value of 11
€/each). More on the groupon coupons in a later post.
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| One of the many dining rooms in the Kuokkalan manor house. |
Our second destination:
City Market! Yes, it is a market and so much more. It is one of the superstores or hypermarts where you can find almost anything (food, clothes, housewares, etc.) We had never been to this particular City Market before and discovered it was actually closer to our house than the other one we had been frequenting. A good find! We exchanged a faulty bike light that we had bought there (which, by the way, bike lights are becoming increasingly important with the darkness settling in). I bought some wool socks for the impending cold winter days ahead of us and we picked up a few other food items (Finnish style "faux" tortilla chips). Then, we biked home around 4 p.m., as the sun was setting.
Having a bike in a bike-friendly country--with bike trails everywhere--makes life so much fun. (Not sure I will be saying that in the dead of a snowy winter, but let's wait and see.) This weekend we took another day-long adventure with our down coats, a backpack, two bikes, and a map. Our first destination, five kilometers from our house, was the Kuokkalan Kartono a manor house built in 1904 and later transformed to a coffee house (cafe Wivissä) and event venue. The house has been renovated into 
Yes, Finland has groupon coupons (which they call CityDeal) and I bought two coupons for a tour of the house and tea/coffee and a cake for 5€/each (value of 11€/each). More on the groupon coupons in a later post. 
Our second destination: City Market! Yes, it is a market and so much more. It is one of the superstores or hypermarts where you can find almost anything (food, clothes, housewares, etc.) We had never been to this particular City Market before and discovered it was actually closer to our house than the other one we had been frequenting. A good find! We exchanged a faulty bike light that we had bought there (which, by the way, bike lights are becoming increasingly important with the darkness settling in). I bought some wool socks for the impending cold winter days ahead of us and we picked up a few other food items (Finnish style "faux" tortilla chips). Then, we biked home around 4 p.m., as the sun was setting.
1 comment:
You and your groupons!!!!! Now you are in your element. How well are bikes going to get you around in the snow? New experience. Your bike tour sounds fun and beneficial as you found a store closer to home. Great!
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