Monday, 19 October 2015

Autumn holiday & visit to a chocolate factory outlet

Last week was autumn holiday and though we spent the time mostly relaxing (reading, writing, visiting the library, watching movies – we even made it to the theatre... twice!), we also made a short little trip to Jyväskylä, the town I like to refer to as the most romantic city in the world. There is a simple reason: it was there I met my husband and thus the place where we spent the first years of our relationship. Beautiful memories! We mostly just visited memorable places, such as this park where we often went for walks and picnics:




And the university campus; the library, the book store, an exhibit about the history of the university etc.

Don’t know if this piece of installation art in front of the library was meant to be interactive, but for a seven-year-old, it was an irresistible site for a game of hide and seek:


Like so many of our holidays, this one wasn’t complete without some Indian food and ice cream... and chocolate. One of the Finnish chocolate companies, Panda, has their factory close by... and there’s a factory outlet! They usually offer small samples for tasting as well as chocolate and licorice at reasonable prices. I especially liked their new invention: chocolate with witty wrappings! Some examples:


Onnen hetkiä -suklaa – Happy moments chocolate (Well, who wouldn’t appreciate a happy moment?)



Inspiraatio-suklaa – Inspiration chocolate (Needs no explanation.)


 
Rohkeasti vaan -suklaa – Just be brave chocolate (Sounds like something I desperately need!)


 
Pystyn mihin vaan -suklaa – I can do anything chocolate (Ah. I find myself in a serious need of this one.)



And finally... After imurointi -suklaa – After vacuuming chocolate (Yes! Now I’m actually excited about cleaning days!)

8 comments:

  1. Hi Ulla! :) How are you?

    Sorry for the "long time no comments". :/ I'll try to correct that. ;)

    I've just checked the map to see where the city you mentioned is and was again astonished by the number of lakes that exist in Finland!

    Ah, and the city seems really lovely. :)

    I didn't know there was an "autumn holiday", but it seems that you've made the most of it. :) The photos are very nice.

    As for the chocolate outlet factory, it must be fun. Outlets tend to give us the impression that we need to buy something since, you know, it's an outlet and the prices are lower than normal! :D But the most interesting thing in this case is the genius idea that the marketing department of that company had. You can only imagine where the can go with those lines, the new products they can create. (Of course they are relying on some stereotypes, but who cares? I bet a lot of people would buy those chocolates just for the phrase on the wrapping.)

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    1. Hi dear i-user, lovely to see you here! :)

      Yes, we love Jyväskylä, mostly because of the lovely memories. And you're right, there are lots of lakes in Finland. :)

      The "autumn holiday" is a fairly new thing. It didn't exist when I was in school... it's lovely, though; a small break in the autumn when it's cold and dark can really cheer you up. :)

      Yes... I don't know if I'd actually care much about any other kind of factory outlet (I guess they don't have them for books) but chocolate... that's another matter entirely! :D I thought the witty wrappings were a very amusing idea... they'd make lovely gifts, too. :)

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  2. And the comment above went without any kind of signature. :/ Typical me. :/

    i-user

    Have a nice day.

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    1. Don't worry about it. :) And have a nice day, too!

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  3. Hi again, Ulla! Lovely to see you, too. ;)

    I know what you mean - there are places associated with memories that will always be magical!!! ;)

    I grew up having two holidays per year: one at the end of the year and one in the middle. Here they have all these term breaks and I'm always surprised by them. :D But a few days to enjoy the autumn is a nice thing, especially if you do enjoy the autumn and stay in contact with nature. :)

    As for outlets, I kind of like them. When I was a student, I used to go to a very nice sausage and ham factory outlet! (Ok, you can stop laughing now... :D)

    As for the chocolates, yeah, I was thinking the same - they'd make great gifts.
    We could help them expand that line with some suggestions. Let's see... rainy day chocolate, waiting for the bus/train/etc chocolate, traffic jam chocolate, pre and post battle chocolate... They could have a "reading chocolate" that came with a book mark but what would the people who prefer e-readers do with it???

    i-reader








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    1. Haha, the sausage factory outlet does sound... amusing. :D But you're right, factory outlets can be interesting, maybe you'll find a real bargain or something new or unexpected.

      Yes, here the schools have a rather long summer holiday (over 2 months), a Christmas holiday of about two-three weeks, and winter and autumn holidays (one week each). Then there are some longer weekends and public holidays...

      I love your suggestions for chocolate wrappings! They're really great. Pre and post battle chocolates really made me smile. :) Oh, and even though I have an e-reader and use it a lot, I still need bookmarks because I also read print books. So that's a great idea too...

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  4. Beautiful autumn photos, and awesome chocolates! What a great marketing idea, chocolate for every occasion :) Who could resist that?
    Love,
    Kathy

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. :)

      Yes indeed... I found way too many chocolates that I absolutely needed very badly... ;)

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