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Turku Day 3 + 4
Jan. 15th, 2012 12:49 amYesterday was uneventful as well; not because we wanted it to be (we didn't) but because when we woke up, all we could see out of our window was a solid wall of white. That's right -- a white-out! We're in a hotel room facing the river, and we couldn't see the buildings across from us. The river isn't very wide, so we were a little hesitant to go outside until we could actually see properly. When we did, it was freezing; the wind was blowing the snow everywhere, so the little bits stung your face. We wandered into a restaurant that supposedly served Irish food, but really, I had a cheeseburger and Zae had chicken fingers. We did happen to try their flavored mayonnaise, though -- turns out that mayo is a Finnish specialty or something. It's on almost every burger, or comes as a side for dipping. There are so many different flavors that I've kind of lost track - the specialty mayo at the Irish restaurant and the BBQ mayo I had tonight come to mind - but the most important thing is that it tastes way better than any stuff we could get at home. Who would've thought?
After we ate lunch, we decided to retire back to our hotel and wait out the worst of the weather. When in Finland, do as the Finns do -- well, almost no one was out on the street, so it seemed rather sensible. To pass the time, Aave came over, and we all played really silly computer games because we couldn't go exploring like we wanted to. By dinner the snow had stopped, so we wandered around until we found Rico's, an Italian-like place that served really good pasta (trust me, the chicken pepper-cheese sauce was excellent). While sipping drinks and eating our various meals, we finally figured out the secret to getting the check quickly: you ask for it with your dessert. Unfortunately, this also has the added side effect of the waitress or waiter demanding payment immediately after you receive the bill, forcing you to dig through your wallet and produce the right amount of change before you can eat your ice cream. We finished off the night by giggling over another silly computer game, before Aave had to catch the bus and go home. Zae and I still haven't figured out the bus system yet, so we kind of awkwardly wave as she leaves. We were going to go visit her house, but Aave has ten cats which makes my presence in the house a little hard. I suppose I could stand outside while Zae wanders around, but I might get a little cold, and also a little lonely. For those not in the know: another of my myriad of allergies is to cats. It's not severe enough to cause me to die or anything [we think] but with ten cats I would probably have some sort of hive reaction.
---
TODAY was bright and sunny; we got out of bed before noon (this is an important thing; we rarely do because we're just so exhausted) and rounded up Aave before heading off to the Turku Cathedral. This cathedral is extremely pretty -- I am a big fan of old architecture, especially of churches, so this trip was very exciting for me. Started in the 13th century, but finally completed somewhere around the 17th, it's a beautiful building with a vaulted ceiling and clerestory windows. I couldn't quite figure out what the columns and ceiling were made of -- it looked like painted brick, I think, with some sort of plaster over them -- but it was pretty nonetheless. We saw lots of famous Finnish and Swedish people, though none of us knew who they were (not even Aave, who said that she couldn't make out Old Swedish to save her life). The altar piece was beautiful; I'll put up pictures later, but trust me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Yes, I am a slight bit of an art history nerd.
After we went to the church, we decided to hit up the market square, which is filled with different shops -- including our friend the Stockmann! Aave got a really pretty sunhat, while I finally got a change purse to put all of my Euros in (as I was painfully stuffing them into a pocket of my purse before). Zae kept looking for a real, Finnish purse; finally we found one at another store. It's very pretty -- red leather, made by a Finnish designer -- so we all came out of our shopping adventure happy with our purchases. My own coin purse is actually by a Finnish design brand, as well: Marimekko, which sells fabric that my personal fashion sense was going wild for. If only we had stores like this in the United States! I would make so many pretty dresses and skirts. For dinner, we had a restaurant remarkably similar to Chili's. It was actually named Red Hot Chili's as well, surprise surprise. I had a bacon burger with -- you guessed it -- more mayonnaise! The waiter was really interested in why we were in Finland in the first place. Apparently they don't get many tourists in the southern part of Finland in the winter time, especially people from America. But really, who wants to freeze their butts off in Lapland? Come on.
Tomorrow we are (hopefully) going to the Turku Castle, which is a little bit away from us, but it's on the same street as our hotel! There will be pictures. Perhaps another picture post tomorrow, with more than last time. It just takes me a long time to upload them, so that's why there were so few.
After we ate lunch, we decided to retire back to our hotel and wait out the worst of the weather. When in Finland, do as the Finns do -- well, almost no one was out on the street, so it seemed rather sensible. To pass the time, Aave came over, and we all played really silly computer games because we couldn't go exploring like we wanted to. By dinner the snow had stopped, so we wandered around until we found Rico's, an Italian-like place that served really good pasta (trust me, the chicken pepper-cheese sauce was excellent). While sipping drinks and eating our various meals, we finally figured out the secret to getting the check quickly: you ask for it with your dessert. Unfortunately, this also has the added side effect of the waitress or waiter demanding payment immediately after you receive the bill, forcing you to dig through your wallet and produce the right amount of change before you can eat your ice cream. We finished off the night by giggling over another silly computer game, before Aave had to catch the bus and go home. Zae and I still haven't figured out the bus system yet, so we kind of awkwardly wave as she leaves. We were going to go visit her house, but Aave has ten cats which makes my presence in the house a little hard. I suppose I could stand outside while Zae wanders around, but I might get a little cold, and also a little lonely. For those not in the know: another of my myriad of allergies is to cats. It's not severe enough to cause me to die or anything [we think] but with ten cats I would probably have some sort of hive reaction.
---
TODAY was bright and sunny; we got out of bed before noon (this is an important thing; we rarely do because we're just so exhausted) and rounded up Aave before heading off to the Turku Cathedral. This cathedral is extremely pretty -- I am a big fan of old architecture, especially of churches, so this trip was very exciting for me. Started in the 13th century, but finally completed somewhere around the 17th, it's a beautiful building with a vaulted ceiling and clerestory windows. I couldn't quite figure out what the columns and ceiling were made of -- it looked like painted brick, I think, with some sort of plaster over them -- but it was pretty nonetheless. We saw lots of famous Finnish and Swedish people, though none of us knew who they were (not even Aave, who said that she couldn't make out Old Swedish to save her life). The altar piece was beautiful; I'll put up pictures later, but trust me when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Yes, I am a slight bit of an art history nerd.
After we went to the church, we decided to hit up the market square, which is filled with different shops -- including our friend the Stockmann! Aave got a really pretty sunhat, while I finally got a change purse to put all of my Euros in (as I was painfully stuffing them into a pocket of my purse before). Zae kept looking for a real, Finnish purse; finally we found one at another store. It's very pretty -- red leather, made by a Finnish designer -- so we all came out of our shopping adventure happy with our purchases. My own coin purse is actually by a Finnish design brand, as well: Marimekko, which sells fabric that my personal fashion sense was going wild for. If only we had stores like this in the United States! I would make so many pretty dresses and skirts. For dinner, we had a restaurant remarkably similar to Chili's. It was actually named Red Hot Chili's as well, surprise surprise. I had a bacon burger with -- you guessed it -- more mayonnaise! The waiter was really interested in why we were in Finland in the first place. Apparently they don't get many tourists in the southern part of Finland in the winter time, especially people from America. But really, who wants to freeze their butts off in Lapland? Come on.
Tomorrow we are (hopefully) going to the Turku Castle, which is a little bit away from us, but it's on the same street as our hotel! There will be pictures. Perhaps another picture post tomorrow, with more than last time. It just takes me a long time to upload them, so that's why there were so few.
