Home of DJ and technophile Jonathan Puddle (aka J Puddy)
Archive for August, 2006
Lahti, Days 7 and 8
Aug 28th
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We’ve spent the last 2 days taking it easy, so there’s not been to much exciting to report. We did a little shopping and visited a beautiful church, and have been hanging out with some awesome people that I’m profoundly sad to leave. Luckily, Heinola (where we head to tomorrow) is only 30 minutes away, so Veikko said he’d likely come and hang out with us some more.
Downtown Lahti
Lahti’s Market Square (albeit an empty market square)
Company at Santa Fe (sans wife)
Beautiful Old Church
Graveyard Surrounding Church More >
Lahti, Day 6
Aug 27th
Yesterday Veikko drove down to Helsinki and picked us up, and drove us up to Lahti. We haven’t taken any pictures of the town yet, but we’ve met a lot of people and had a fun time last night.
Veikko’s Ride – A
Veikko’s Ride – B
Jakko (some will recognize this gentleman)
Veikko villainously ravishing his burger
Beautiful Finns (and Veikko and Jakko)
Today we got up at 11, and will be visiting an old church, and I think a lake and a sauna. w00t w00t w00t.
Uniq – The Ice Bar, Day 5
Aug 26th
Last night we visited Uniq, a small club in Helsinki with an ice bar!
The place had a lot of character, I must say.
Inside, there was a dance floor and 2 bars. You buy a drink ticket from either of the bars for 10 Euro, which gives you entry (and 1 drink) to the Arctic Ice Bar.
Finlandia was the only drink available inside. Can I say corporate sponsorship?
The DJ was decent. He played 2 great choons but the rest was not my flavour.
If I’d only known
Aug 25th
So it turns out yesterday we visited the infamous Kiek in de Kok!!
I wish I’d known at the time. In honour of Kiek in de Kok, I might have even let my wife **** me in the ***. (She thinks she should just do it today anyway.)
Here’s someone else getting in the spirit
Anyway. Today we slept in till 2pm. We’ve been having a relaxing day.
Tallinn, Day 4
Aug 24th
Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia, is very possibly the most beautiful city Maija and I have ever been in. As mentioned, the cruise is quite affordable, though you don’t get a cabin unless you pay extra for one. At 3 hours, a cabin’s not really necessary (though we chose to get one for the ride home, as we were both exhausted).
The ship featured a few bars and cafes, and a large market, with the widest selection of alcohol I’ve ever seen in one place. It also featured some of the largest bottles of alcohol we’d ever seen.
Estonia buys and spends More >
Helsinki, Day 3
Aug 23rd
Today was a bit like yesterday, TO THE MAX! We shopped for what I deemed to be far too long of a time. Too long for my feet, and too long for my wallet also, but what’s a loving husband to do?
We took the train today instead of the bus.
Everyone in Helsinki rides bikes. They have their own sidewalk.
Tori (Market)
Helsinki’s huge cathedral
It’s not everyday that you see Mercedes Ambulances, especially one giving another a boost
One of Helsinki’s icons
We walked through a forest and went swimming in a cold cold lake. Here’s Suski mentally preparing More >
Drunken Russian Forest Fires
Aug 23rd
We chatted with some folks on the ferry ride to Suomenlinna yesterday, and they explained the smell of smoke that lingers in the air in Helsinki. Apparently there is a huge forest fire in Russia and the wind blows the smoke over. Many asthma sufferers have had to go to hospitals. So Russia doesn’t feel like fighting the fire and instead are letting it burn. “Finland” is pissed and has repeatedly offered to put out the fire themselves. Russia doesn’t want any help, and some speculate its because Russia had planned to cut down that forest anyways and build on More >
Helsinki, Day 2
Aug 23rd
Day 2 saw us doing a little shopping and sightseeing, namely the island fortress of Suomenlinna.
I laughed at the English on this.
Beautiful downtown Helsinki, (it doesn’t get any busier here than this)
Wierdest bike ever
On the ferry to Suomenlinna
No better church than one guarded by cannons
Europe’s so ancient and awesome
Hehe.
No Finnish vacation starts without Sauna.
*lots more available on flickr, check “Trip to Finland 06″
Helsinki, Day 1
Aug 22nd
I’m told Musta Pekka translates to “Black Peter”.
Remains of our Mexican meal at Santa Fe
My lovely wife Maija, and our gracious host for a few days, Suski.
Central bus station
Flying over Finland
Clouds over the Atlantic
On board the flight
Waiting in Toronto
Finns as far as the eye can see
We’re all living in America
Aug 21st
9 or so hours later and we’re sitting on a bus in the beautiful city of Helsinki :) We missed our stop, so we’re waiting for the bus to leave again, and I figured it’d be a perfect time to see what the wireless wares were in this fine city. I’m currently connected to Helsingin kaupungin WLAN, which Maija tells me means Helsinki City WLAN. Convenient.
In the 20 minutes we’ve been here, we’ve seen:
Shell, FedEx, DHL, Cat (boots, heavy machinery), Esso, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Ricoh, Canon, Subway, McDonalds and various other Americorps. We also saw an Irish Pub and an More >
Sitting in Lester B.
Aug 20th
Finnair only had one check-in counter open, so we’ve just sat down after being in line for almost 2 hours. Boarding should start any minute and we’re due to depart at 16:55.
Just skyping my Mother now. See you all on the flip side.