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Published: December 22nd 2006
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Fireworks in Helsinki
We still don't know the occasion, but it may have been for Guy Fawkes day. From our hotel room. J is one half Finnish on his Mother's side. His family lived in Helsinki for a few months about 20 years ago and he attended a Finnish school where only a few teachers and students spoke English. Amazingly, he was able to make email contact with several of them and we arranged to meet. We spent a very enjoyable evening with two of his schoolmates (and one of their husbands). It was fun for me to hear their tales of 12 year old J in school! Sounds like he hasn't changed much.
We arrived in Finland on a clear, cold day and departed Finland on a clear, cold day. In between we had one day of snow and one day of clouds above and slush underfoot. So we experienced all winter has to offer!
The first night we were quietly sitting in our hotel room when we heard a loud boom. We opened the curtains to discover there was a fireworks show going on over the small lake just opposite the hotel. It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was a real treat.
In the morning we ventured out on foot in the snowstorm. Although we had
Morning Snow
We awoke to snow the first morning in Helsinki packed cold weather coats and hats, we didn't have enough room for longjohns and snowboots so we had to suffer a little. In the nearby park, we met a 9 month old golden retriever named Siiri who loved frolicking in the snow (just like someone else we know). It was nice to play with her for a few minutes before heading over to Temppeliaukio Church or "church in the rock." This church was carved out of natural bedrock which provides a stunning setting for worship.
J was very excited to find that the Finnish photographers he follows online
HEL LOOKS were having an exhibit at the local tourist office. We had a most pleasant conversation with the lady working there, who told us all about the area. She even gave us two beautiful hardbound books on Helsinki and famous Finns. We hope you are reading this so we can say thank you so much! Later we stopped by the covered market for some Pulla bread pastries and Leipajustoa (mild, squeaky cheese) and hot cocoa to warm up. The building reminded us of Granville Island Market in Vancouver, BC or Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia (on a smaller scale). There is also
an outdoor market with dedicated Finnish merchants standing out in the cold selling their wares!
The following day we met J's former English teacher, Mrs. H, who took us for a tour of the school. While there, we met with his former homeroom and art teachers. His dashing good looks are still winning over the 6th grade girls - two asked him (through their giggles) to take their picture!
Afterwards, we went for panukakku with Mrs. H at a nearby Finnish restaurant. Panukakku is a traditional Finnish dessert pancake baked in the oven in a cast iron pan (similar to a German oven pancake). J makes them for Sunday breakfast at home served with lingonberry jam and powdered sugar. Apparently, it is difficult to find panukakku in restaurants as it is traditionally made at home and served with pea soup on Thursdays. The building housing the restaurant was built in 1812 and has a beautiful basement cavern dining room, similar to those in Prague.
We had a wonderful dinner at a Finnish restaurant with Mrs. H's son one night also. He and J had been friends and participated in the Finnish Boy Scouts together. It was so
Temppeliaukio Ceiling
Concentric copper rings nice to catch up with him after such a long time! We started the meal with an elk consomme; the meat was incredibly tender. For the main course, we had reindeer steaks with mashed potatoes. Of course for dessert we had more panukakku, this time with vanilla ice cream and cloudberries (a yellow berry similar to a raspberry).
On our last day we walked to the famous Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral built in 1868. It is very different from the many Roman Catholic Cathedrals we have visited in Europe in that it is nearly square shaped and there are no pews, only chairs set up in the middle during services. From there we strolled over to Senate Square and into the Lutheran Cathedral, built in 1802. The contrast between this church and the Orthodox Cathedral is striking. The interior of the Lutheran Cathedral is all white with very little decoration or ornamentation.
One would think that November in Helsinki would not be a popular time to visit and hotel rooms would be abundant. Well, currently Finland is the seat of the EU presidency and so there are many meetings that fill the hotels with businesspeople and delegates during the
week. We had secured a hotel room for Sunday and Monday without a problem but did not have one for Tuesday. Our hotel attempted to help us find a place, but there was not a room to be had - even the youth hostel was totally booked. Fortunately, Mrs. H took us in for the night. Thank you very much for your hospitality, we really appreciate it. She even served us a terrific breakfast and prepared a luncheon feast of salad, meat patties with hand-picked Finnish mushroom sauce, and potatoes before we left for the airport on Wednesday!
Side note: CM has some Swedish heritage. Her great, great-grandparents were named LLunggren which was changed to Young when they arrived in Canada. Our Finnish friends told us llung means heather and gren is twig in Swedish. Very cool! Why would the Finns know Swedish you ask? Well, Swedish is an official language in Finland and is compulsory in schools even though Swedes make up only 6% of the population. Sounds like Canadians having to learn French all the way out in Tofino, BC!
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angela
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motherland
i'm still impressed you guys packed so well for so many different countries! at least you had some sort of jacket, right? ;)