Ready for Winter

Our lovely winter studded tires

We are ready for winter! This morning, I took the car to the tire hotel, where they took off the summer tires and put on the studded winter tires. They stow our summer tires there -- that's why they call it the tire hotel. It took less than 10 minutes for the guy to change the tires, and I really didn't notice much difference when I drove the car back to the apartment.

We also purchased a shovel and long brush/scraper to keep in the car. We've heard stories from others who have returned from flights home to find their car buried in snow at the airport, being unable to get into the garage (we have a one-car garage space across the street from our apartment) because of overnight snow storms, and walking to the parking lot at the power plant after work to discover that the car is covered in ice.


Sounds like great fun, huh? Meanwhile, you wouldn't know winter is coming here, yet -- the weather is still very nice. Mostly sunny and in the 40s.

Baked goods we didn't need

We went grocery shopping at the big Prisma Saturday, and a group of very nice ladies were selling the most beautiful baked goods to raise money for their sons' hockey team to travel to Toronto next May. So of course, we bought 40 Euros worth of stuff that we didn't need. But Tom took it all to work today, so it's good to get it out of the apartment.

I am flying to Copenhagen tomorrow and will return Thursday. Then we are coming home on Saturday for a week -- yay! Once again, it's a roundabout route to get home -- Turku to Stockholm; Stockholm to Chicago, and Chicago to Charlotte. We have a 3-1/2 hour layover in Chicago, so that will give us plenty to time to find a restaurant and enjoy a decent American-style hamburger!