Cookie travels

I have over a week left in preparing for the visit of my dad, mom and sisters to our place in Finland. There are still matters that are not taken cared of yet. I am still undecided how I will pick them up at Helsinki airport. I have some options but, well, I will get to that soon. I’m just glad that there’s a cheaper way to make an international call to my family in Prague for some concerns we need to sort out before they come here.

There are international calling cards available online for those who want a cheaper rate, convenience, mobility, and a control of phone bills when making overseas calls. For example, calling cards that can be used to call from Finland to Prague range from 4.7 cents to 16.1 cents per minute and the cheapest provider is Continental Phone Card. You can purchase prepaid phone cards online at getmecallingcard.com, one of the largest retailers of phone cards, thru their hacker safe online payment server. Their prepaid calling cards have a number of options for the customer. You can choose from PINless dialing, rechargeable or refillable, permanent PIN and international call backs. For me, overseas call becomes affordable.

Okay so here’s the continuation of the Medieval Market event in Turku I posted earlier today. If movies about knights are enjoyed by the children like ‘Knights of the Round Table’, here in Turku, the Black Knight Sir Accolon and the other last knights of Camelot will ride to the Medieval Market, and a popular jousting event will happen next. I’m sure the whole family will enjoy watching the knights in this medieval fighting environment, the battling of swords, and bow shooting on horseback. The city of Turku rates this as an event suitable for the whole family.

The jousting event will be on 26-29 June 2008: Thu-Fri at 20:00, Sat at 18:00 and 20:00, Sun at 17:00 and at 19:00.

This is not a free event though. The fees are: Adults 12 Euros and children 8 Euros. You can book your tickets in advance at the Turku Cultural Centre until 20 June at Tel: +358 2 262 0941/ +358 2 262 0944. Or you can purchase your tickets at the info booth during the Medieval Market event.

I wonder why I’m into medieval thing today. I visited mom’s blog this morning and she was mentioning about their visit to medieval and fascinating Cesky Krumlov last week. Then here I am recently posting about a Medieval Market event this June in Turku, with the continuation of that post still underway.

And now to Brussels I come with its beautiful medieval streets, in addition to its parks and monuments. Place Royale situated at the edge of the medieval city center of Brussels is a place to see. If you are traveling to Brussels on a budget and looking for discount hotels, easytobook.com has cheap Brussels Hotels to offer. Aside from that, if you want to visit the above mentioned Cesky Krumlov in Prague, this online hotel reservation has an extensive list of Prague Hotels to suit your need. Or you can book for Helsinki Hotels and travel to Turku to join the upcoming Medieval Market event.

At easytobook.com, you can view and compare the popular hotels in either of these places, based on its description, picture, location, price rate of up to 80% discount and the guest rating it earned. And much more, as you book your accommodation, you can learn about the points of interest in places you will be visiting.

I wonder when I will ever have a chance to travel to New York City. Right now, there are many things to consider and there are priorities, and yet I’m still looking at this website offering New York tours. They are so enthralling that I really got myself absorbed in dreaming of joining one of their tours someday.

So what’s up in New York City aside from the famous Statue of Liberty? There are lots of interesting sights to see but let me list down some of them. In uptown area, you can visit Central Park, a widely visited public urban park that has always appeared in movies and TV shows, Museum of the City of New York, or the Lincoln Center for those interested in Performing Arts. And in downtown area, places like Times Square, Wall Street, Empire State Building, and the skyscraper ‘Top of the Rock’ for a view of New York City can be included in the tour.

The website I have been browsing is CitySightsNY.com. Various kinds of New York Tours can be booked online in their website. They offer double-decker sightseeing tours, helicopter rides, harbor cruises, uptown and downtown tours, tickets and daily trips from New York. You can visit their website for all the tours, trip and attractions they arrange. But their ‘Shop, Hop & Top’ is worth thinking over. It’s a 4-day value package that includes a chance to shop at Woodbury Common Premium Outlet, plus hop on hop off double-decker tickets valid for 72 hours for Downtown Tour, Uptown Treasures & Harlem Tour, Night Tour, Museum of the City of New York (free admission), 2 hours Harbor Cruise, and ticket to the top of Empire State Building or Top of the Rock observation deck. At a price of 109USD for adults and 80USD for child 5-11yrs, you might want to consider this one.

One of the events I would like to witness is Turku’s Medieval Market which will be on 26-29 June 2008, an event our family can experience right after our very own Pori’s Midsummer celebration.

Why the fuss? I have seen medieval era in movies only but in Turku it will be for real. In this event, country folks and the nobles will join the medieval market, and everyone is welcome. There will be handicraftsmen, jokers and fools, and fighting wild knights to entertain the people, as well as tables filled with diverse food and drinks to fill the hungry stomach.

There will also be a market play that will be shown in this event, a romance in the year 1413. It’s a complicated story to tell but will love and justice win? Well, it’s worth seeing this plot, courage, and romance happening during medieval period. The market play will be shown in these times: Thu-Fri 14:00-20:00, Sat-Sun 12:00-18:00.

The exciting part is, the back knight will ride to Turku. More about this knight in shining armor next post…

I better mark our calendar first.