La Mat’faim is a small and idyllic restaurant in the downtown of Grenoble. There are some 20-30 seats in the restaurant, so the service is personal and friendly.

The menu is based on traditional French cuisine, and it is only available in French. The staff speaks only a little French English, so prepare to be adventerous or have somebody that speaks the language with you.

The selection is not very wide, only a few portions and two pre-set menus — but the food is excellent. There is a better variety in the desserts, and they too are really delicious.

La Mat’faim, 9, Rue Bayard, Grenoble, France, +33 4 7654 7593

Best Western Hotel Terminus is a three star basic hotel with an excellent location near railway and bus stations in Grenoble. Despite the central location, the hotel is surprisingly quiet… Or I was there in a really low season.

The rooms are very basic, not much amenities to speak off. Bathroom is equipped well, but shower curtain should be a compulsary accessory. The toilet seat is placed to a room of its own, as usual in France. I just wonder whether people find it unhygienic to touch so many doorknobs before you can wash your hands?

All in all, the hotel is an excellent choice, if you are planning to spend only the nights there.

Best Western Hotel Terminus, 10 Place De La Gare, Grenoble, France

I am now fully recovered from our past trip to Lahti. It’s funny how much more toiling it can be when travelling with a kid. Not that our son would have been demanding or anything, but I just have to think for the three of us instead of two — and one has obscure demands, like being fed every now and then.

Anyhow, Lahti was quite a nice experience. We visited Sibelius Hall on the waterfront — the wooden interiors of the hall are just amazing. I’ll try to provide some pictures any century now.

I got a chance to meet a couple of people that I mostly talk on the phone only, and it was a refreshing experience to see them face to face.

The hotel was really, really good. Just renovated, and everything worked like a charm. The bed was good, and they provided a cot for the baby, plus a few extra towels, a potty and a picture book that we could take with us.

Lahti is not exactly the prime shopping city. There is a biggish shopping mall in the downtown, but it’s mostly filled with low-end shops. There are a few perks, but they are far and between. The best (and probably only) department store was in front of our hotel, and the both bookstores were found also on the same street. I was very lucky in Suomalainen kirjakauppa (one of the bookstores), as I found six hardcover books worth buying in less than 50€. The number of books, according to PocketLibrary in my Palm, is now over 900. I’m planning to have a celebration, when the number exceeds 1,000. It will take at least a year, though.

On Saturday, we visited in Luhta factory shop and found nothing there. Then we headed towards Iittala, some 20 kilometers north from Hämeenlinna to see the glass factory and other stuff.

Iittala was a little disappointment for me. I was expecting to see a big hall with several workers making the glass vases and other objects — but alas there was a tiny room, enough for one guy, in a corner of a café. And it was considered the showroom! Well, there was another place in the factory, but we didn’t go there.

There was also a glass museum that was explored fast. It had a lot of fascinating items, and many of them I could recognise from my parents’ or relatives’ homes — the design glass is found everywhere here in Finland.

Before finding the naivistic art exhibition, Naivistit Iittalassa, we ventured to a chocolate factory shop and a few other shops that didn’t have anything that we were even remotely interested.

The art exhibition is really worth visiting the place. The naivistic paintings make you feel happy and joyful, and you just can’t leave the place without a smile on your face. We were also pondering on buying a painting there, as all the works are on sale. At the end we decided not to purchase, at least for the time being.

The last shop that we visited was the Iittala factory shop, and there we bought something: Sanna had broken a glass a few weeks before, so this was an excellent place to get a replacement. Otherwise, we seemed to have mostly everything already, so no purchases.

Looking back the trip, it was really nice time to spend with my family (it’s really funny to say so, I’m not yet used to being a father), and the trip was cheap, too, as we didn’t find anything worth spending any money.

L’épicurien is a smallish restaurant that has a largish patio for open air dining. There are only a few tables inside, and dining outside is much better choice when the weather is nice. The patio is a splendid way to see the local life while enjoying a good meal and some wine.

Food is good, some portions were excellent. Service is courtesy, but somewhat a hassle — the waiters tried to figure out who had ordered what for every single course!

An extra plus is awarded for the English menu.

L’épicurien, 1, Place aux Herbes, Grenoble, France, +33 4 7651 9606

O’Callaghan is like a piece of Ireland transferred to the French Alps. The pub looks and feels Irish inside, but once you get to the patio, the almost mediterranean sunshine automatically tells that you are far far away from Ireland.

All major Irish drinks are available, including Guinness. The place is an excellent stop before visiting some French restaurant in the nearby area.

The pub is crowded during weekday evenings, and you may have hardships to find a place to sit — especially, if you are in a larger group.

O’Callaghan Irish Pub, 2, Place Bérulle, Grenoble, France, +33 4 7601 0566

Tomorrow morning I’ll have a day off — a day from my parental leave — that we’ll spent in the city of Lahti, some 120 kilometers up north from Helsinki.

Lahti is a medium-sized city in Finnish terms, about 100,000 inhabitants in the city and a few smaller towns around it. If it wouldn’t be located so near Helsinki, it would have more importance as a local centre. Now it’s known best as the end point of Lahti highway that is used to go to Jyväskylä, Oulu, Kuopio and Joensuu, among others.

Before the depression in the ’90s, Lahti was one of the first Finnish cities to brand itself: Lahti — the Business City. The slogan was laughed already back then, and now it looks ridiculous. The place was (and maybe still is) also called the Chigago of Finland.

Lahti has also upsides: it’s located next to Päijänne, one of the biggest lakes in Finland and you could have a combined city apartment and cottage by the lake with less than one hour to Helsinki-Vantaa international airport. The Sibelius Hall is a famous wooden concert hall near the shore. Tomorrow, we’ll find more about the city.

By the way, the word lahti means either bay or butchery in Finnish. Don’t we have a wonderful language?

On Saturday, after a good sleep in Sokos Hotel Lahden Seurahuone, we’ll head towards Iittala — a smallish village north from Hämeenlinna (if that really says anything to any of my both readers?) to visit a glass factory. This is the place were the famous Finnish houseware brand Iittala (known previously as Arabia) is originated, at least partially — they have several original places due to various mergers and acquisitions.

Iittala should have, according to the Finnish only travel site of Kalvola (the town in which Iittala is located), a glass museum, several factory shops, a café and an art gallery featuring naivistic art.

Apple has a miniscule retail store in Stanford Shopping Center. Despite the size, the store hosts a wide variety of Apple computers, displays, iPODs and accessories.

The store is designed to resemble Apple hardware: stainless steel walls and white ceiling and floors. The items are placed spaciously so you are able to study them in relatively peaceful settings.

The staff is very helpful and you do not have to be a techie to get good service. There is also a small “Genius Bar” for solving your technical issues.

Andalé is a small, but busy Mexican restaurant on University Avenue in Palo Alto. The food is basic tex-mex food with some hints of authentic Mexican cuisine (read: beans in every portion — you can ask your meal without them, too).

The restaurant itself is very noisy, so the smallish patio facing a public park is much better alternative. You can watch the people passing by while enjoying your meal.

The place gets filled quite fast during lunch hours, so try to avoid the busy hour.

Andalé, 209 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA, USA, +1 650 323 2939