Vaasa was definitely the highlight of our trip...and the purpose; to see where my dad grew up. I'm sure so much is different now than when my dad was there, and it was crushing to not be able to talk to him about all that I saw and experienced, but I will forever be grateful that I got to go.
When we drove into Vaasa, we weren't sure where to go, so we just parked and got out to find somewhere to eat. After some terrible pizza, we discovered that we had parked exactly across the street from the Borenstein's old suit shop (Kansa) where my grandma worked and where both Bene and his father, Felix had lived.
The "poopy" pizzeria
The street where the shop used to be...oh how I wish it had still been there! Crazy to think that my grandmother was a young girl walking these streets to work.
We decided just to walk around the little square in the center of Vaasa. I recognized this church from my cousins Facebook as the place my Grandma and Grandpa Kurki were married. It had a beautiful park around it. As we walked through the grounds all the emotions hit me, and I felt so unbelievably sad that Dad wasn't with me...or the rest of my family...or that I couldn't even just talk to him about where I was and what I was seeing. That was the only time on the trip that I cried. I wish I had been able to make this trip when Dad was still alive.
One of my absolute favorite things I saw on this trip was this statue! It was in the park surrounding the church in Vaasa, and was just the epitome of Finland to me--haha
The little house we stayed at was actually 15-20 min outside of Vaasa in the middle of nowhere. We drove through fields and fields of (what we think were) rye and barley. It was so beautiful and peaceful...and maybe a little too rustic;)
When we were driving home one night, we saw a couple moose running through the fields right across the street from our house. Then, one morning a giant jackrabbit ran across the street!
The next morning we grabbed some "piggies" and fresh fruit for breakfast, and then met up with one of Dad's cousins Marion. She was absolutely fabulous. She showed us all around Vaasa and even brought us back to her home to sit in her beautiful garden and eat her homemade pulla.
She took us to the beach where Dad and his siblings used to swim
The street my dad lived on
(Walking around the streets where my Dad lived, we noticed all the yards looked very similar to the yard he created for us in Canada--all filled with fruit trees, bushes and vines.)
One of the schools Dad went to
The church where he was most likely baptized
A buffet style lunch (which Mike LOVED)
She smuggled us into the music festival to get a picture with the only Vaasa sign
She took us to the bakery that had the best pulla in town!
The old Vaasa ruins
The statue in the center of the square
The factory where my Grandpa Kurki worked
A festival where people showed off their tradition Finnish costumes
And so many more places!
We were all surprised by how much Marion could walk...she's almost 70 but we could barely keep up! She was so wonderful and I am so glad we were able to meet up with her.
While in Vaasa we bumped into some missionaries from our church--twice! It was so neat to talk to them and share the story of Dad's family being introduced to the church by missionaries in Vaasa 60 years earlier. Amazing to think about all the lives that were changed by two young missionaries serving the Lord in a far away land. It was very special.
On our last day in Vaasa we decided to head to the cemetery. We weren't sure if we had any relatives buried there, so we started to research. We discovered that Grandpa Kurki's parents were buried there, and with the help of google, "find a grave", and a very helpful priest, we found their headstone. We were amazed at how beautiful (and organized) the cemetery was; very well maintained with beautiful red flowers everywhere.
With all the rain we had on our trip, we were so happy that our last day in Vaasa was warm enough to go for a swim at the beach by where Dad used to live. Tina and Ted had the idea of bringing some little pots that Dad made and leaving them in Vaasa, so Tina and I swam out and threw them into the grasses on the edge of the water. One of my favorite things while we were there, was listening to all the natives speak Finnish. While we were laying on the beach, there were two ladies just chatting away. They sounded so much like my Grandma Kurki, I just imagined her sitting there with her friend, chatting as their kids swam. It was such a beautiful, peaceful little place, I loved it.
On our way back to Helsinki, we finally tried a Finnish McDonald's. Not too different from America in taste, but their menu was about 10 times longer! They even had burgers with rye buns haha.
That is a wrap on our time in Vaasa. Such a magical, special experience that I will cherish always.
Now on to Sweden!
