Cookie travels

Pori Jazz is an international jazz festival held annually in Pori. There were lots of visitors during the remaining few days of Pori Jazz Festival. The highlight of this year’s International Pori Jazz Festival was Carlos Santana’s concert and it was packed with concert goers.

It was during this event when I saw one man suddenly collapsing on the street. He could be one of the many visitors who came to Pori to enjoy the international jazz festival. There were two ambulances that arrived on the scene and a police car. This is the first time I witnessed something like this happen.

Tip to concert-goer travel bugs traveling to crowded places to enjoy a concert, get drunk, or whatever, make sure your health is fit for this kind of thing. And make sure your heart is also in good condition to avoid Cardiac Arrest. Try to visit your doctor or the HeartLibrary to know more about your health and your heart before you travel.

This post will be more on my travel photos at Jazz Street, selected ones, coz some photos have already been posted in my previous 43rd Pori Jazz Festival articles.

I previously mentioned that I visited Jazz Street three times. Although it was more on souvenir shopping but I did walk around Jazz Street and took some photos. The scenes were almost the same scene everyday except for a pouring of more visitors as the day got closer towards the end of Pori Jazz Festival (with the changes in musicians and bands, for sure). The most number of people I think was during Carlos Santana’s concert last 18th July, Friday and perhaps the weekend that followed.

Here are some of Jazz Street scenes at 43rd Pori Jazz Festival:

entrance to 43rd Pori Jazz Festival venue, less people the night before opening week

Jazz Street hours: opens daily, 11am to 12 pm

unwinding at a bar and coffee shop

bar and coffee shop overlooking Kokemaenjoki River

a pose with restaurant boat behind, great ambiance for dining

there were portable toilets distributed around the area
so no pee problem at all

We have been searching the city center for items our visitors wanted to carry back home as souvenirs of their trip in Finland. They already bought some but as we visited the shops at the 43rd Pori Jazz Festival venue, we found nice usable stuffs with Finland name on it. So those three times I visited the festival venue they were mostly for souvenir shopping with a bit of watching free open concerts at Jazzstreet Stage and walking along Jazz Street. There were a lot of items to shop here but our eyes were fixed on souvenir items.

- The first time our family walked at Jazz Street was with dad, young sis and baby Caite after a heavy Pizza buffet. It was a bright night time, a nice evening for walking. There was one shop selling Finland souvenirs so we bought some cap, t-shirt and moose magnets. There was also a shop selling Pori Jazz souvenirs but there was no Finland embedded on it so we didn’t purchase any. Had it included the name Finland we could have brought some small stuff…hehe.

- The second time I went to Jazz Street was to buy additional Finland cap my dad requested.

- And the third trip was with mom and two sisters. We went to the same shop we have been coming back for souvenirs. Obviously, the lady selling those items already recognized us so as we left her shop, she bade us goodbye with: ‘see you tomorrow!’ After visiting Jazz Street three times, no more tomorrow for me…

Finland caps and other souvenirs for sale

crocs can be purchased at 43rd Pori Jazz Festival, too

The recently concluded 43rd Pori Jazz Festival organized during 12-20 July 2008 included 110 full concerts with 70 of them open to public for free. Pori Jazz is not an event for grown-ups only. Kids were encouraged to take part in this event. In fact, Pori Jazz Kids concerts and workshops were free. Pori Jazz 2008 sold a total of 66,000 tickets compared to last year’s 58,000 tickets. This might be due to the fact that among the many invited performers, the legendary Carlos Santana is present. His concert alone at Kirjurinluoto Arena held last Friday, 18th of July sold 34,000 tickets with all tickets sold out.

Here are some photos taken during this event and more coming up:

band performing at 43rd Pori Jazz Festival

people walking at Jazz Street lined with shops selling food, candies,
souvenirs, shoes, bags, and other items

Ever thought of how to let your family, relatives and friends know of a coming addition to the family? Photo Birth Announcements would be a perfect way to do it. Most of the time when we have these celebrations in the community we assign someone to make a photo invitation. But here’s an alternative…

A photo speaks a thousand words so let a simple photo speak. You can add some personally written wordings to complement the photo plus add some birth stats with it. The perfect way to do it, if you don’t have time doing it in the computer is to order it from photoaffections.com. This will surely free you from all the trouble of announcement preparations for the big day especially if you still have some travel plans ahead.

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.

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.

Ag-Quip, Australia’s largest annual exhibition of agricultural equipments and machineries, held at Gunnedah, a town in New South Wales is scheduled this coming 19 – 21 August 2008. This 3 days major trade fair event will showcase not only agricultural equipments but also cropping, livestock and services. This annual event attracts over 100,000 visitors and about 500 exhibitors from 2000 companies so it’s quite a huge number for a town of over 7,500 people.

I’m sure organizers are now busy preparing for this major trade show. But this one won’t be a major problem coz there’s a business dedicated in the design and sale of trade show displays. These companies can design booths that can be easily set up using the portable collapsible or compact modular truss or employ one of those telescoping banner stands for graphics presentation. There are more types of trade show displays actually, but no matter what type there is, if you are interested in agricultural products, you better head off to Gunnedah this August and experience the largest agricultural fair in the Southern Hemisphere.

During midsummer which will be held on 19-21 June 2008, the city of Pori will be considered as the largest festival city in Finland. RMJ 2008 will rock Kirjurinluoto Arena in Pori starting on Thursday until Saturday. For those who doesn’t know what RMJ 2008 is, you can check out their official website at www.rmj.fi. Sorry folks this website is written in Finnish so if you are like me you might not understand the excitement here. But take a look at their photos at the tab ‘kuvagalleria’ and you will get an idea of what RMJ 2008 is. In short, it’s about music and fun. If you are really interested, I found an English information at last.fm. So come and join in the celebration as the top bands in Finland and foreign guests (Alex Kunnari, Jay-Z, The Rasmus, The 69 Eyes, The Hellacopters, Poets of the Fall, Apulanta, Kaizers Orchestra, Negative, Mokoma, and more) pour out their energy and music at Kirjurinluoto Arena, a Midsummer festival that fun and concert goers shouldn’t miss.

This year, Finnish midsummer celebration is celebrated during 19-21 June. Midsummer is a celebration of light. It marks the summer solstice, the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and concurrently the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere. For us living in the northern hemisphere, it signifies the longest day of the year where in the sun almost never sets. You can expect 24 hours of daylight north of the Arctic Circle.

In Finnish, this event is known as Juhannus with reference to the Feast of St John the Baptist. Juhannus is also Finland’s Flag Day where in flags are raised at six in the evening on Midsummer’s Eve until nine in the evening of the following day.

How is it celebrated? A typical celebration will consist of Midsummer bonfire (or kokko) which is associated with beliefs concerning fertility and purification. There will also be merrymaking, drinking, dance and music. Finns at this time would like to travel towards the lakeside, forest or summer houses to feel at one with nature on Midsummer Eve. But for those who are in the city, there are celebrations to be enjoyed as well. Take for example in Pori, Finland, the midsummer festival will be held at Kirjurinluoto Arena on 19-21 June. So after a visit at the housing fair in Reposaari, stay for a while in Pori and experience midsummer festival in the city.