Julia's confirmation

Quite a few years ago, when I was still young and foolish (now I’m just foolish), my brother Tomi bestowed a great honour on me – he made me godfather of his new-born girl, Julia. Over the years, I suppose I’ve not always been the best of godfathers (I use living abroad as an excuse, a bit lame I suppose).

This weekend she had her confirmation, which is a pretty big thing in Finland, so it was an easy decision to go. So off I flew to sunny Finland on Friday. Well, actually, not so sunny and warm – it got cloudy and windy by the time I arrived (pretty typical, really…). After a lazy Saturday in Helsinki (seeing the latest Indiana Jones flick, watching footie, and having too many pints in Mr. Pickwick with Riku), it was time for Julia’s big day.

So off we set, after the usual kerkuffle that takes place whenever the Turtiainen’s try to do anything basically (ironing the shirts last minute, rushing down to the florist last minute to buy the flowers etc.), toward Kauklahti. In spite of my pessimism, we actually mate it on time! After the typically austere Lutheran ceremony, with the wise priestly advise to the youngsters for how to face the challenges of the modern world, we headed back to Tomi’s and Leena’s place (my childhood home – oh the sweet memories…) for cakes, conversation, cakes, music and cakes (and coffee). Yummie. It was really nice actually, great to see my cousins Jukkis and Mikko (with his wee twins) as well. Julia, the star of the show, handled it all with grace and style.

After the festivities we headed back to my parents’ in Helsinki, and embarked upon the nearly impossible mission to find a decent restaurant that is open on Sundays. We eventually ended up going to Saslik – not a bad choice at all, actually. Saslik is one of the oldest and most famous Russian restaurants in Finland, a really atmospheric place (with cyrillic writing and authentic Russian waiters ‘n all). And the food really is something to write home about – we had some tasty Russian starters including bear sausages (probably the tastiest sausage I ever tried) followed by an equally tasty chunk of elk steak. Janne and Katja had to shoot off early for a poker tournament (my dear brother has set his sights high – he’s trying to qualify for the Poker World Series in Las Vegas this summer).

After a productive day of work in our Ruoholahti office on Monday, I met up with my old mate Jaro (former landlord of the famous pub Polloranta in Guildford – invitation only) for a couple of pints, before taking the bus to the airport. Jaro has taken our decision to escape the cold northern climate for a bit of warmth even further – he is now working literally in the middle of the jungle in Manaus, Brazil. And seems very happy there indeed ;-).

More photos here.