hei! from helsinki
Hi Girlies!
I'll post pics from the trip here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mullerb/2009_06EuropeTrip#
How do? It's 12:40 in the morning here and the sky is still totally lit up. Amazing! I had a grand tour of a day with Jaakko. After last night's late escapade for dinner and a midnight stroll around the city center. I ate reindeer for the first time in my life. I also picked up the tab in order to pay back their hosting me. Despite the late night, I still managed to beat the jetlag and got up by 8:30 local time. Jaakko reluctantly gave up a late morning slumber on the first day of his 5(!) week break from work to take me to see his office where I visited with several folks that I know. We bussed it across town, about 3 miles, to get there. Nice place. It's the country's center for atmosperic research; a brand new building tacked on to the university's physical science research campus. It sits on a hill to the north of downtown and the views from the upper floors are expansive. Being Finland, the roofs of each of these research buildings also include a sauna! I have yet to take a sauna, but they are everywhere and I've been promised one for tomorrow.
After the office visit, we bussed down to the city center and the waterfront. I picked up my train ticket to St Petersburg and bought a 2-day pass for the local trams and busses. 13 euros gets you unlimited travel on any and all public transport for the up to 72 hours. The Helsinki Harbor plays host to several cruise ships a week during the summer and today was a banner day with 2 of them disgorging pastey white, primarily over weight German and English folks with the occasional American couple mixed in for good measure. The tourist scene is fueled by (or maybe it fuels?) a sort of farmers market on the waterfront. Jaakko and I shared a very tasty plate of salmon there. The rest of the day was spent walking down to the marina and around the old city area. It looks a lot like the stark, straight, unadorned buildings of Hobart's waterfront. Very modest but also very solid and proud. The marina is filled with sailboats and it was very busy on this unbelievably warm and sunny day. Jaakko is convinced that this weekend will be the highlight of the summer weatherwise, with temps in the low 80's and clear blue skies. They only get one or two weekends like this a year!
This evening we went out for a very fine dinner at the Kappali Restaurant (kappali = chapel) along a very busy walking mall. Dinner was care of the Finnish Meteorolgy Institute: Jaakko warranted that since we talked work for a part of it :-) Very nice. And in a great setting. We lounged around afterwards with Maria quizzing me on the names of all 50 US states. Given the heavy tummies but still light skies at 11PM, we decided to walk the 3 miles back to their apartment. So another stroll through the old town, this time busy with late-night drinkers and revelers instead of shoppers, then a meandering route along quiet side streets and the western waterfront. I think you would very much appreciate this city, Rachel; not in the winter, as that sounds pretty grim, but in the summer for sure. There are lots of little parks and bike paths filled with very friendly people and absolutely no crime or trash.
Bedtime now. It's 1AM and I have to get some sleep and try to get tuned to the local timezone. Which is 9 hours later than Colorado. Tack another hour on for when I get to St Petersburg on Sunday.
Love and hugs from the land of herrings,
bruce/dad
I'll post pics from the trip here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mullerb/2009_06EuropeTrip#
How do? It's 12:40 in the morning here and the sky is still totally lit up. Amazing! I had a grand tour of a day with Jaakko. After last night's late escapade for dinner and a midnight stroll around the city center. I ate reindeer for the first time in my life. I also picked up the tab in order to pay back their hosting me. Despite the late night, I still managed to beat the jetlag and got up by 8:30 local time. Jaakko reluctantly gave up a late morning slumber on the first day of his 5(!) week break from work to take me to see his office where I visited with several folks that I know. We bussed it across town, about 3 miles, to get there. Nice place. It's the country's center for atmosperic research; a brand new building tacked on to the university's physical science research campus. It sits on a hill to the north of downtown and the views from the upper floors are expansive. Being Finland, the roofs of each of these research buildings also include a sauna! I have yet to take a sauna, but they are everywhere and I've been promised one for tomorrow.
After the office visit, we bussed down to the city center and the waterfront. I picked up my train ticket to St Petersburg and bought a 2-day pass for the local trams and busses. 13 euros gets you unlimited travel on any and all public transport for the up to 72 hours. The Helsinki Harbor plays host to several cruise ships a week during the summer and today was a banner day with 2 of them disgorging pastey white, primarily over weight German and English folks with the occasional American couple mixed in for good measure. The tourist scene is fueled by (or maybe it fuels?) a sort of farmers market on the waterfront. Jaakko and I shared a very tasty plate of salmon there. The rest of the day was spent walking down to the marina and around the old city area. It looks a lot like the stark, straight, unadorned buildings of Hobart's waterfront. Very modest but also very solid and proud. The marina is filled with sailboats and it was very busy on this unbelievably warm and sunny day. Jaakko is convinced that this weekend will be the highlight of the summer weatherwise, with temps in the low 80's and clear blue skies. They only get one or two weekends like this a year!
This evening we went out for a very fine dinner at the Kappali Restaurant (kappali = chapel) along a very busy walking mall. Dinner was care of the Finnish Meteorolgy Institute: Jaakko warranted that since we talked work for a part of it :-) Very nice. And in a great setting. We lounged around afterwards with Maria quizzing me on the names of all 50 US states. Given the heavy tummies but still light skies at 11PM, we decided to walk the 3 miles back to their apartment. So another stroll through the old town, this time busy with late-night drinkers and revelers instead of shoppers, then a meandering route along quiet side streets and the western waterfront. I think you would very much appreciate this city, Rachel; not in the winter, as that sounds pretty grim, but in the summer for sure. There are lots of little parks and bike paths filled with very friendly people and absolutely no crime or trash.
Bedtime now. It's 1AM and I have to get some sleep and try to get tuned to the local timezone. Which is 9 hours later than Colorado. Tack another hour on for when I get to St Petersburg on Sunday.
Love and hugs from the land of herrings,
bruce/dad
