Going down memory lane

Driving back home with Mom and Dad after funeral services at the Klaukkala Lutheran Church.

Anneli, a brisk octogenarian, was a close friend of our family, going back 53 years. In the summer of 1956, right after my first birthday, my parents rented a small one-room house from Anneli's father-in-law. The house stood right next to theirs and that's how the two families became acquainted, building up to a life-long friendship. (The house is no longer there, but we passed the site just minutes after our starting point.)

We moved away from the house after a year, but the friendship stayed and we visited them every so often all through my childhood. I have a ton of fond memories staying at their house, playing with their two sons, Risto and Mauri. In those days, the neighborhood looked very different, of course. What is now a busy suburban center, with shopping malls and apartment houses sprouting everywhere, was a sleepy country village surrounded by woods and farmlands. For a city boy like me there was always plenty of exciting things and places to be explored. And, judging by my feelings today, I guess part of me never left.

Route: Klaukkala-Helsinki
(see map) (see track only)