Week 51-52: Prague and Finland

This is our double Christmas edition, taking you from Prague to the dark and snowy Finland. There was some good luck, getting together with family, enjoying Christmas treats and the white landscapes, plus catching up with dear friends.

Welcome to our weekly recap! This one's for December 20th - January 1st, which are the weeks 51 and 52, 2014.

Tip of the week: Our last day in Prague was busy with working, having a very tasty goulash soup for lunch, taking part on a free (read: tip-based) walking tour of the center and browsing through the Christmas markets. Luckily the rain picked up in the evening (yes, luckily, you'll get the why soon) and we headed to the airport early. When we got there, I couldn't find our flight on the screen. I did find one that was scheduled for an hour before our flight. Oh, wait! That's our flight! Luckily (there, you see!) we were early enough to make it. The lesson: when writing your flight into a Google calendar, add the departure time to the title. Just in case somethings gets screwed up with the time zones...

Surprise of the week: We were afraid of not getting a white Christmas, since the ground was mostly black when we got to Finland. But it only took a couple of days and the snow started to fall! And fall and fall, and on the Christmas eve there was so much of it already that my dad had to get his tractor out to clean the road. (Oh yes, I'm very much from the countryside!)

What I've learned: It really is dark in Finland at the end of the year! Of course I knew this, having lived here for most of my life. But normally you're eased into it gradually, days getting shorter day by day. Now we were brought in to the darkest time of the year, just around the winter solstice. Add there some very cloudy days and we hardly saw sun for a week. When driving from Hämeenlinna to Kokemäki, we were witnessing a nice sunset, and then realised it was around one in the afternoon... This pic (of a sunrise) was taken around 9 o'clock in the morning.

Food love: Finnish Christmas food of course! Last year we spent the Christmas housesitting in New Orleans and although I did prepare some dishes, it's not the same. This year we got the whole deal: house full of family and tables full of treats. Cheeses, ham, casseroles, salads, home made bread, etc. Yam!

Random thought: Antti was trying to take pictures, but most of them turned out out-of-focus due to the lack of light (that's Finland in mid-winter for you!). So he bought a tripod to get better pictures with a long exposure. And a bit later on he bought a gorillapod and a wide angle lens. So look forward for some cool winter pics!

Workwise: We spent the Christmas time without laptops, whole three days without getting them out of their packs! And right after Christmas we both got a flu and spent the next three days in a bed recovering. All this lead us to not getting much done workwise. Well, there was nothing too urgent and it was good to get some rest and relaxation.

Memorable moment: Bringing in the New Year with a bunch of dear friends, plenty of food and sparkling wine, fireworks, laughter, hugs, bad jokes and singing out loud.