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FINLAND: Helsinki day 3
Jan. 9th, 2012 12:28 amToday was really long, and I am really tired! So it might be a little short (it might not, it all depends on how rambly I get). Today, Zae and I decided that it would be a splendid idea to go to Suomenlinna, because it was no longer snowing and seemed rather bright outside. Of course, what we didn't know was that with good sunshine also came a ridiculously COLD day -- it was, at its lowest 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Being from South Carolina, I was pretty sure that I was going to die. Zae's from Minnesota, so she handled it a little better than I did. But we were both pretty frozen.
The boat ride to Suomenlinna is approximately 15 minutes, through a bay which holds both small boats and large cruise liners, as well as boat restaurants. At this time of year, it's just cold enough that the ice is thin on the water; it shows up in large patches that you can see out of the windows on the ferry. Since it snowed yesterday, there's still a ton of it sitting around on the island. There was a pretty brisk breeze, as well. We wandered around (and through the museum, which was in Finnish) before finally sitting down for some delicious lunch in a teeny tiny cafe.
Today's Special: Reindeer Cheese Soup!
OF COURSE WE TRIED IT for those of you going WELL DID YOU? It was pretty delicious, though as a cheese lover I can honestly say that it might have been a little better without so much...well, cheese. Then again, I suppose that's the entire point of the cheese soup. The reindeer was good, but overpowered by the STRONG WILL OF CHEESE.
After lunch, we wandered through the snow and wind to go find some places to take pictures. While we were eating, a huge fog had rolled in off of the sea -- the islands were completely covered in it. You couldn't even see the end of long bridges any more, or the actual sea itself. We were encased in a wall of fog. But to make up for it, we roamed through empty places that were probably of some historical significance -- mostly we took pictures of icicles in the dark and slipped on a bunch of ice (don't worry, we're fine). As soon as we couldn't stand the cold any more, we decided to head back to the mainland.
Tonight, we finally found our authentic Finnish restaurant, a tourist place that serves remarkably good food. We ordered whitefish -- assuming that, like in America, the fish would come served in properly sliced slivers. We were wrong. The fish still had scales and their fins attached; thankfully there were no heads, so I would've run screaming out the door. As it was, I apologized to every single little fish I ate, even as i pulled it's vertebra out so I could get at the meat. At least, until Zae found a pregnant fish. That was when all hope was lost -- there was not much more fish eating after that occurrence. We finished off the night with blueberry pie, a tiny little circle of pie not much bigger than a golf ball. It was pretty delicious! And at least the blueberries didn't have faces at some point in their lives. That made me feel a whole lot better about it.
But now, it's bed time. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to upload my favorite pictures of the trip so far, so look forward to that. Right now it's just too late, and we've got to get up early to figure out the tram system. Wish us luck!
The boat ride to Suomenlinna is approximately 15 minutes, through a bay which holds both small boats and large cruise liners, as well as boat restaurants. At this time of year, it's just cold enough that the ice is thin on the water; it shows up in large patches that you can see out of the windows on the ferry. Since it snowed yesterday, there's still a ton of it sitting around on the island. There was a pretty brisk breeze, as well. We wandered around (and through the museum, which was in Finnish) before finally sitting down for some delicious lunch in a teeny tiny cafe.
Today's Special: Reindeer Cheese Soup!
OF COURSE WE TRIED IT for those of you going WELL DID YOU? It was pretty delicious, though as a cheese lover I can honestly say that it might have been a little better without so much...well, cheese. Then again, I suppose that's the entire point of the cheese soup. The reindeer was good, but overpowered by the STRONG WILL OF CHEESE.
After lunch, we wandered through the snow and wind to go find some places to take pictures. While we were eating, a huge fog had rolled in off of the sea -- the islands were completely covered in it. You couldn't even see the end of long bridges any more, or the actual sea itself. We were encased in a wall of fog. But to make up for it, we roamed through empty places that were probably of some historical significance -- mostly we took pictures of icicles in the dark and slipped on a bunch of ice (don't worry, we're fine). As soon as we couldn't stand the cold any more, we decided to head back to the mainland.
Tonight, we finally found our authentic Finnish restaurant, a tourist place that serves remarkably good food. We ordered whitefish -- assuming that, like in America, the fish would come served in properly sliced slivers. We were wrong. The fish still had scales and their fins attached; thankfully there were no heads, so I would've run screaming out the door. As it was, I apologized to every single little fish I ate, even as i pulled it's vertebra out so I could get at the meat. At least, until Zae found a pregnant fish. That was when all hope was lost -- there was not much more fish eating after that occurrence. We finished off the night with blueberry pie, a tiny little circle of pie not much bigger than a golf ball. It was pretty delicious! And at least the blueberries didn't have faces at some point in their lives. That made me feel a whole lot better about it.
But now, it's bed time. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to upload my favorite pictures of the trip so far, so look forward to that. Right now it's just too late, and we've got to get up early to figure out the tram system. Wish us luck!
