Helsinki times Hei!

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14 August onwards sorta
in Finland they say “hei” (pron. 'hey' as you might expect) for hello. the T shirts on the breakfast staff at the Grand Marina where I stayed 2 nights - said it in 4 languages - hei and hei - for finnish and swedish I assume - hello for UK and something else, I forget. Helsinki was a nice place to spend 3 nights, 2 days. My first night was spent at the Klaus K hotel- once I found the damn hotel (Helsinki central is so small I had virtually walked around the block where the hotel was sort of before getting directions and finding it - this despite a rudimentary map. it was a very groovy hotel in terms of design and décor - the room sort of surprised me as being a little small (not Japanese size tho!) - but it was a single room with a ¾ bed I spose. the price I managed thru Expedia.com.au was about 180AUD once they added their commission - but would normally be 160E so that was quite cheap. Free wireless with a very simple 4 digit code - the Scandic hotels had a 6 digit user name, then 6 digit password! I got the bus in from the airport in about 40 mins to the railway station then walked - around the block a few times! cobble stones a lot and trams of course - which went right past the hotel, which I eventually did on one as I did a city loop. basically I walked everywhere anyway. the first night I just hit the sack early.

15 August
the Klaus K breakfast buffet takes the cake so far - the sort of thing where they label where the butter is from - hand made of course (they did not name the cows however) - and much darker yellow than the factory stuff back home and looked a bit rancid one would assume from just looking at it. and did I tell you how many ways the Finns do fish?? pickled, soused, smoked etc, herrings and salmon are Ok with me for brekky fortunately. and they also love rye bread which is definitely a plus for me. they do lovely round flat circular pieces marked into pie slices - yummy. as I tend only to eat twice on the weekend at home anyway decided that a huge buffet breakfast - then nothing till dinner - was the way to go - with lots of walking in beween to work it all off.

in my walk around the previous night I had identified the Demo restaurant I wanted to eat at - just around the block. but as I had only one night at Klaus K - bit rich for me to stay there for more than that, but as it turned out they had no nights over the weekend anyway. So dragged my bag on wheels at noon to the other side of the inner harbour to the Scandic Grand Marina - I got a weekend rate there, plus discount for doing it more than 7 days in advance. this was more of a business hotel - an iron + board, plus Corby trouser press! for the cheapo traveller like me the basin had a plug so able to do some washing - and hang it up. Here it costs about 8E to have a shirt laundered! - I bought a new cotton shirt yesterday in a 70% off sale for 9E - as I saw somewhere - cheaper to buy new clothes than have them washed! free wireless again and a little desk and also a safe. timber floors etc - they go in for the wood stuff the scandinavians. was able to check in and walked around the little peninsula behind the hotel - there seem to be a lot of Nepalese restaurants (well, more than one anyway) and they seem to be open on Sundays as well - most places here do not open on Sundays. Lots of pizza kebab joints - but 8E or for a kebab was more than I could bear! - on Sun. 15th I actually decided to eat at a Thai place called Lemon Grass as I was out wandering - a pretty reasonable Pad Thai for 10E was a relative bargain. The area behind the hotel was full of groovy old buildings and apartments - would be a lovely place to live. wandered from there aroudn t the Eastern Orthodox Uzpensky cathedral - its brass spires stand out - all the landmarks in Helsinki seem to be churches. then over to the St Nicholas cathedral which is the blinding white building on top of a pile of granite steps. the Parliament (I think) was in the street behind, opposite the Bank of Finland building. I went inside the cathedral - its Lutheran, like 93% of the population supposedly - and they are very sparse with very little detail or ornamentation. If you have ever heard the Garrison Keilor radio show on Radio National and comments on Lutheran farmers I am sure you will know what I mean....

then on a tram - they virtually all go to the central station - and got my train tickets to Turku for Mon. 17th. I had tried to do it n the Net without success so decided easier to do it there. there was also an Otto ATM so able to get some Euros out for cash on my debit Visa - 'credit' tranz are free but ATM access costs 2.1E a time. I got a coffee and cake near what was supposed to be a market with stalls etc - but seemed mostly outdoor sunny drinking area to me. discovered a couple of camping shops there - so bought the same Swiss army knife as SYD airport security seized a couple of years ago when i went out to meet my brother at domestic. I had considered buying a fancier one in HK but the shop was closed when I came back.

I walked back towards the Demo “goal” restaurant and got there at 6pm thinking I would get in early. However it was fairly small - and as they only do a 4 course meal my offer to get out by 7pm was not persuasive. Could have booked on the Internet too which I might have helped. so it was around the corner to Loft which was an equally nouveau style. very few people there even by the time I left at c8pm - the waiter said a lot of people would still be away at their summer houses - when you cruise the harbour in Turku as I did later the summer house in the woods, with a view of the water thru the woods, seems a very desirable concept! he also said that Finns tend to eat at either 5pm with young families or 7pm. Loft was pretty nice food - a cold mixed fish entree with (yellow - in season) chanterelle mushrooms under one piece- with a glass of spanish white - then a duck breast and a confit leg - with a glass of italian red. then a dessert of berries and fine biscuits and some white chocolate - and a glass of Austrian beerenauslese sweet white - the food was 42E for the 3 courses and the total bill was about 65E and well worthwhile. May be my one gourmet experience!

I then wandered around the Punaviori district I think - all on the Finn design trail with lots of those sort of shops. And also found a park on a hill with lots of teens young people hanging out drinking and stuff.

16 Aug. started a little late due to bad weather and rain in the morning - did not leave the hotel until almost 4 and it was quite fine. finally got my all day travel ticket - trams and buses and metro - and also the Suomenlinna ferry - for 6.8E and headed north past the station. jumped off aorund te opera house - but it looked dull so did not investigate. Into what I believe is the Taka-Toolo district - found the Sibelius memorial 'sculpture' by accident (old silvery pipes mounted like organ pipes) - I was there and so was it.

written on the train back from Turku to Helsinki - another story - that's all folks from the Wascally Wabbit

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Comments

[phil]

you write a mean commentary michael look forward to more of yr misadventures