Next Stop: HELsinki

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We landed in Helsinki in the early morning. I guess it was sometime between 6 AM and 9 AM Helsinki time. It had been an 8 hour flight, and I really wanted to play with the first class media toys they give you, but I was sleepy. I pretty much slept the whole way.

So we landed and checked into our hotel. It was GORGEOUS:
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Hotel KAMP had all kinds of history. It was the location for lots of artistic and revolutionary talk. I envision the intelligentsia talking over Frazer chocolates and coffee, pounding the table about ideas to improve the world.

Utter delight. And it was so beautiful. Let us all have beautiful revolutions, friends!

All right, so we did not linger in the hotel room. We had to see the sites.

Chris said, “It’s raining.”

“How long are we here for?” I asked.

“Today, tomorrow, and we leave the next morning.”

“Well, it may be a rainy day, but it’s the only day we’ve got. We must get out and see the city.”

So we did.
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Alright. So there was a lovely park that ran down the main street in front of the hotel.
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And there were gorgeous buildings all around. The town didn’t become the capital until 1812, so all the achitecture is from the 1800’s. see?
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See that big domed building there? Presiding over the city like…Like a god? Well, that’s the Lutheran church. I did not expect the church to have domes, because I thought that was an Eastern thing. But Helsinki rides the line of East and West.

THIS is the Eastern Orthodox Church (look in the back right corner):
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It’s kind of steepley, which is what I would have expected of Luther. There is a teeny little gold onion at the top as a concession, like a maraschino cherry.

We walked through the town to see the sites. Like this cafe:
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And we heard a military band:
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We made our way to the Orthodox church. It was beautiful. Here’s what you see when you look up:
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And the iconostasis in the front:
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The whole interior was elaborately painted. Here a piece of the vaulted ceiling and a pillar:
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Yes, I enjoyed that church. I bought some postcards there, and sent them to a few of you, my readers. Thing was, Helsinki charged RIDICULOUS amount for a postcard. I figured, the church should at least get my money if I was going to be robbed. A whole euro for one post card!

The next day, we did visit the Lutheran church. It was startlingly plain.
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Basically, the best you were going to get was the view from the outside. I really hate to take that metaphor too far.

Chris said, “We have to go to this one store, Stockmann’s.”

“What is it?”

“Apparently, it’s this great department store that was really popular with Russians during the soviet period. They came over to Helsinki to go to Stockmann’s. It was so common that a lot of Russians thought that the name of the city was Stockmann’s.”

“Let’s go!”

We kept looking for that IKEA look. You know? It was everywhere in Stockmann’s. All the sheets and curtains and kitchen utensils had that look. It was totally IKEA in everything but the price. Wow! No 2-dollar measuring cups there. More like 15 dollars.

I bought an illustrated version of the Kalevala in finnish. Do I read finnish? No. But…well…it’s a national epic poem that was never written or read, only spoken, for century upon century. I think that if I sat and read it out loud, even not understanding it, I will get more of the beauty of the phrasing…

Plus it was a paperback and therefore cheaper that way.

We went to the Stockmann’s grocery section and bought food for a room picnic. We were tired, and it was time for eating and sleeping.

Back to our gorgeous hotel.
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We decided to check out a nearby fortress island tomorrow: Suomenlinna. We’ll have to take a ferry. Should be exciting.

“Good night, baby.”

whew

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So, I’m back.

And Chris is still kinda sick, but I am NOT. I am full of energy and health.

I have so many impressions of my trip. It’s hard to know where to begin. Maybe I should begin at the beginning.

Okay, so we flew out of LAX. And we flew Business/First class. I have the ‘/’ in there because it was business inside the US, but First class from New York to Finland.

Higher class flying is extraordinarily comfortable. AND I didn’t know that if you are flying high class, you get to hang out in this VIP place that feeds you snacks and free booze.

Sometimes they even let you take a shower. Let me tell you, that is a nice thing, to have a shower after a long flight. NO ONE smells nice after a couple hours in a plane.

I had no idea that these sorts of luxuries came along with the high class travelers.

Interestingly, the lounges are also stratified. Each airline has a couple of them in their airports. And there are some that are more accessible than others. Levels of exclusivity exist everwhere.

Okay, so we checked out the American Airlines Admirals Club in LA, and in JFK. LA was better, because their snacks were more substantial than pretzel nuggets and baby carrots with dip (which is what JFK has). LA had some open sandwiches. They also seemed to have a better view, of the planes.

But I enjoyed the JFK site very much, because after our 5 hour flight, we took a shower and then jumped the subway to Central park. Chris wanted to see the dinosaurs.

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The dinosaurs live in a place called the American Museum of Natural History.

I never saw anything so unnatural in my entire life. This is how they show you animals:

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That is an extreme example. Most of the dead, stuffed creatures where arranged in a life-like taxidermy pose in front of a painting of their natural surroundings. They were very old, I think. The zebra has faded to a medium brown and white striped critter.

“Well, Chris,” I said. “Did you notice how everything in the surrounding, oh MILLION mile-area is completely paved over? This is as close to nature as these east coast jokers get? Makes you appreciate California for actual wildlife.”

The east coast is very densely populated. Chris found this sign in a hallway:

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That’s a lot of people for a hallway.

But the East Coasters tend to think that they are advanced for this:
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I don’ t know. It was a really different way of looking at life, that museum. maybe it’s a museum of natural history because all of nature in Manhattan is history.

wanna make a million bucks…?

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here is my million dollar idea.

Someone needs to take advantage of this particular moment in history and make a sturdy and decorative quart-size see through bag.

There was much rejoicing at Zip-lock the day that those stupid terrorists used liquids to make mischief. Don’t you think their sales went up a bit after all that?

My gallon-bag for toiletries is worn out. I would appreciate a more permanent solution for my travel needs. And it’s not fair that ziplock gets all the profit.

There you go. Someone–go forth and get rich. I ask nothing more than that it be available for me to purchase.

The last watering stop before OK Corral

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…or at least the last stop before we get home.

JFK and customs are behind us. I am typing this on a keyboard which has all the keys were I am used to finding them.

Chris is not dead yet, although the slowness has increased.

In slightly less than three hours our final flight takes off.

On the way here, while we were taking off our shos and displaying our little baggies of toiletries (Nothing more than 2.5 oz.!), a white dog of poodle heritage was in line in front of us. He (she?) was a good doggie. Very patient. But then he was placed in a big box and he objected. Barks and whinings commenced.

Poor doggie. He didn’t know why he could not go on with the rest of his family. I’m sure PETA would demand he get equal treatment on flights.

But it reminded me of our doggie. She would bark in the same situation.

Tomorrow, we will see her. I’m sure she has grown.

Two and half hours till take off. It’s 11:30 PM Germany time.

My pillow will feel good.

the long day’s jouney into LAX

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It began yesterday, that little SAS flight we tacked on at the last minute since we thought the train would take too long.

So, YESTERDAY, we flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Copenhagen, Denmark. We spent the night in the airport hotel and flew from Copenhagen to Helsinki this morning.

Here is the breakdown for today: Copenhagen to Helsinki. Helsinki to JFK New York. We will endure the customs degradation procedure in New York, then fly to Los Angeles. Los Angeles airport holds Chris’s car, so I will drive the car to our home.

We are crossing a lot of time zones, and landing in LAX just the left side of midnight. We begin the flight and end the flights the same day. But the day will be longer than 24 hours.

Which leaves me a lot of time to figure out exactly how long it is. I will not do so now, since that would leave me without entertainment for later.

I am right now in the airport in Helsinki. I love Helsinki.

I just love it.

Oh but I forgot to mention. Chris is sick. Right after the ship show in Kassel, he came down with a slow bug. It is slowly making all the parts of him ill. And it makes him slow.

Which means that in Copenhagen, the land of the 6 dollar coke, was too much for him yesterday. He finally felt well enough to eat after we landed there, but not well enough to endure the infamy of the food prices in Denmark. After walking (slowly) all around, I had to put him in the hotel room and bring him back something just so he didn’t have to know how much it cost.

Which is also why I will be driving home when the end of the day reaches us at the Pacific ocean. He is sick, poor thing. I think it would be a minor sick, one that would only require a nap if only we were at home. But since we are not at home, and are forced to travel all over and be kind of uncomfortable, he is extra unhappy.

But this trip has been really really full of ships. So many ships. I think I know a little more about ships than I did. All the collectors are so very excited about the ships. We had a good time. But it’ll be really nice to get home.

tourism

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Well, I learned a lot about Hamlet yesterday on my visit to Helsingførs.

I might have thought that Shakespeare made it up, but it turns out that whole story has a long history. Some Danish king felt inadequate and had a scribe write up a history of his ancestors, mostly to prove he had some, and that they had claim to kingships.

It was the Danish Chronicle.

A NEW CHRONICLE TO READ!

it turns out there was this character Amledgh who did just about all the things that Hamlet did.

very good stuff.

But my feet hurt.

Those amazing cheekbones

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Copenhagen is a more uban city than Helsinki. Translation: tons more graphitti

Helsinki had a little graphitti, but in the neighborhood near my hotel, the graphitti is really all over. Even on the big statues. You would think that they would have more respect.

Then again, there are statues and carvings EVERYWHERE. All the buildings seem to have carved windows and swoops and faces and greek gods and what-not. I guess the graphitti artists have to use what material is available.

I listened in on part of a tour in English. We heard the guide from a distance. I said to Chris, “Hurry! We will hear.”

“He´s not speaking english.” Chris wouldn´t run to hear.

But he was speaking english, just with a huge accent that made it sound like a different language. He said “The direct translation for Copnehagen is the bay of merchants.”

This explained why this city felt a bit like Brussels to me. Merchants, huh? So it was all about the salesman’s flash and social mobility. Maybe that´s why they ornamented everything they could reach.

And also the incredible amount of chain stores.

We counted McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and 7Eleven all on one block. With another 7Eleven at the end of the block.

Unfortunately, jetlag is a contant companion. We haven’t been too unpleasant to each other, though. Just a bit snippy when we’ve been walking too long. We are taking turns being completely brain dead, so that one of us is always available to steer the other towards whatever we need to do next. That is usually eat or sleep.

We have three things to do during our stay in COpenhagen. One, we want to visit Tivoli. Two, we want to see Malmø. And three, we want to go see Helsingførs, known to english-speakers as ELSINORE! Yes, Hamlet’s palace.

We have three days to do those three things. I think it will work out.

more to come

Goodbye, Helsinki!

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It’s a very beautiful city, a small town kind of capital. Only a hundred people there.

It never got above 70 degrees, but still I managed to get sunburned.

Now we are about to go to Copenhagen.

I think Denmark will be warmer, and more populated.

more later

29 hours

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At least that’s what we figured out on the subway back.

We left LAX, and we will not land at our final destination in Helsinki until 29 hours later.

So today we enjoyed the museum of Natural History in Central Park. Since it’s humid and about 90, my plan to hang out in the foliage of the park was jettisoned.

We wandered around, amazed at what east coast city folk think of as ‘nature’. No wonder this country’s environmental efforts are so screwed up.

But we also just tried to stay awake. We are tired. We told ourselves that this will help with the jetlag once we get to Finland. It IS a 10 hour time difference after all.

Now we are back at JFK, and the plane to Finland boards in 5 minutes. It’s 8 hours, and maybe we will sleep the whole way.

Wish us comfort and quiet neighbors.

more to come