Picnic in the park

How nice it was to see good old Maikel again at Helsinki airport! We went home to Kliment's flat, left the luggage there, and were off again to Helsinki center to meet Pulina "under the balls".
She showed us around - Maikel was impressed, of course -, and then we texted our friends in and around Helsinki to meet us at famous Kappelli Terrassi for a beer or two. 5 € per glass - might get you off drinking...
They all came but Temmi (who was sleeping and verrry sorry later he had missed us). Duck85, Lea, Maikel, Pulina, and me, plus this nice guest from the States who came right from the Tallinn ferry - not bad for such a short notice!
Maikel had brought some italian wine left over from his birthday party last friday, and we went on to a park close to Pulina*s place to have a small picnic. Turned out to be just the bottle of wine, no food. ;-)
It was nice to sit close to the beach and the Sibelius monument (see pic), and talk to new and old friends - we knew each other from hc-chat, mostly.
A cute little black doggy came running and sniffing, greeting us with enthusiasm and a waving tail. The owner wasn't far away, collecting empty bottles from the waste bins to make some money out of the return, like 10 cent per bottle.
He was a short, slim oldish guy, nice and friendly, greeting us and telling us about his three beloved dogs. From small talk we got onto serius topics. He was from Israel, and worrying about his family in Haifa. We all want peace and friendship, and hate wars, but you feel so weak and unable to do anything about preventing or stopping them.
We walked back to the tram station together, where we hugged this friendly old man and artist goodbye, wishing him all the best for his suffering family.
Traveling is fun and you tend to forget about the rest of the world, but then harsh reality will find you.