It had been a while since my last visit to Finland, so I was quite looking forward to spending some time in my native country. After a weekend with temperatures in excess of 20 degrees (actually, even warmer than on the Cote d’Azur…), I was looking forward to some nice weather. Alas, 'twas not to be – the temperatures plummeted to a mere 10-12 degrees by the time I arrived (rumour has it even snowed in Oulu!).
On the way from the airport to Helsinki I got a phone call from my brother Janne, who invited me to go and see a play (of all things!). So after a quick but very tasty pizza at Dennis', I headed down to Lilla Teatern for the play. It was a monologue by one of the best Finnish actors around, a living legend almost (by Finnish standards, at least) – Lasse Pöysti. The whole thing was about a lonely chap whose only friend in the world was an elevator. Doesn't sound like much of a story I suppose, but it was very funny and a bit sad (I mean, a story about a guy whose only friend is an elevator has to be a bit sad, right?). The point is, not once did I even yawn during the play – which is pretty remarkable for a 90-minute monologue, I reckon. And in spite of his 80-odd years, old Lasse didn’t seem to have problems remembering the script (except maybe intentionally a couple of times ;-). After the play we had a pint in Praha, after which I rushed home to watch the Finnish Ice-hockey world championships game against Norway (after 2-2 in regular time we managed the winner during extra time - a very painful experience all in all).
Tuesday was spent in the conveniently located Ruoholahti office, after which I headed to the airport with Aki and Riku to pick up the passport I had applied for the day before. After this we went to Sports Academy for dinner (over a few beers, naturally), and to catch up on the latest news. Jani and Jocke also joined our merry pack. After the others headed home (making lame excuses about having to work the next day), Jocke and me continued our adventures in the Helsinki nightlife at an old favourite of mine, Molly Malone. Molly Malone is famous because it is twinned to the oldest pub in Ireland – Brazen head in Dublin (which incidentally is also one of my favourite pubs…). I was nearly overwhelmed by nostalgia (or Guinness?).
On Wednesday, after a somewhat difficult day at the office (mostly because I had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to catch the train to Tampere), I met up with Frank (an old mate from Southwood, whom I ran into at the Ruoholahti office, which is where he works these days) for dinner and some drinks in Iguana. Afterwards I watched Finland continue their championships trials with a win over Slovakia (a slightly more convincing 3-2 win than against Norway – but still not exactly beautiful to watch…).
The next day was less painful work-wise, since I managed to scrounge a lift off Frank to Tampere (who had a meeting there). After work, I met up with Mari (an ex-colleague, whom I bumped into by chance in Nice, where she was actually living for a while at the same time as us) for a Thai dinner – very nice actually. The number (and quality!) of ethnic restaurants in Helsinki has definately increased dramatically in recent years – a change for the better if you ask me.
Friday morning was a bit tough again – as I had to get up before 6 AM to catch my flight to London…. But I suppose by now I was used to it :-)
On the way from the airport to Helsinki I got a phone call from my brother Janne, who invited me to go and see a play (of all things!). So after a quick but very tasty pizza at Dennis', I headed down to Lilla Teatern for the play. It was a monologue by one of the best Finnish actors around, a living legend almost (by Finnish standards, at least) – Lasse Pöysti. The whole thing was about a lonely chap whose only friend in the world was an elevator. Doesn't sound like much of a story I suppose, but it was very funny and a bit sad (I mean, a story about a guy whose only friend is an elevator has to be a bit sad, right?). The point is, not once did I even yawn during the play – which is pretty remarkable for a 90-minute monologue, I reckon. And in spite of his 80-odd years, old Lasse didn’t seem to have problems remembering the script (except maybe intentionally a couple of times ;-). After the play we had a pint in Praha, after which I rushed home to watch the Finnish Ice-hockey world championships game against Norway (after 2-2 in regular time we managed the winner during extra time - a very painful experience all in all).
Tuesday was spent in the conveniently located Ruoholahti office, after which I headed to the airport with Aki and Riku to pick up the passport I had applied for the day before. After this we went to Sports Academy for dinner (over a few beers, naturally), and to catch up on the latest news. Jani and Jocke also joined our merry pack. After the others headed home (making lame excuses about having to work the next day), Jocke and me continued our adventures in the Helsinki nightlife at an old favourite of mine, Molly Malone. Molly Malone is famous because it is twinned to the oldest pub in Ireland – Brazen head in Dublin (which incidentally is also one of my favourite pubs…). I was nearly overwhelmed by nostalgia (or Guinness?).
On Wednesday, after a somewhat difficult day at the office (mostly because I had to get up at 6:30 in the morning to catch the train to Tampere), I met up with Frank (an old mate from Southwood, whom I ran into at the Ruoholahti office, which is where he works these days) for dinner and some drinks in Iguana. Afterwards I watched Finland continue their championships trials with a win over Slovakia (a slightly more convincing 3-2 win than against Norway – but still not exactly beautiful to watch…).The next day was less painful work-wise, since I managed to scrounge a lift off Frank to Tampere (who had a meeting there). After work, I met up with Mari (an ex-colleague, whom I bumped into by chance in Nice, where she was actually living for a while at the same time as us) for a Thai dinner – very nice actually. The number (and quality!) of ethnic restaurants in Helsinki has definately increased dramatically in recent years – a change for the better if you ask me.
Friday morning was a bit tough again – as I had to get up before 6 AM to catch my flight to London…. But I suppose by now I was used to it :-)
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