September 17, 2015

 

 

 

Surfing the Baltic

Breakfast is a monster at our hotel in Tallinn this morning.  Hot and cold, savory and sweet, meats, eggs pastries, lots of coffee and the killer “cake of the day.”  You have to love these Radisson types.

We have a 10:30 ferry back to Helsinki this morning and walk through the continuing drizzle of our lives.  Pat has a rain poncho that makes her look like an isolated soldier from the Korean War.  Stylish and yet functional.  We are now ferry experts and find the perfect table in the perfect lounge for crossing.  It’s good to be us.  We’re also happy we took the time to include Tallinn on this trip.  It is very different from Helskinki and we think a better experience than a good seat at a Twins game.

We walk back to our little imitation hotel in Helsinki and our rooms are already ready at 1:00.  We drop our stuff and take advantage of a break in the rain to begin our Helsinki walking tour. There is a challenge with street names since bi-lingual Finland has all the street names in both Finnish and Swedish.  Out anchor is Mannerheiminitie which we have renamed the Steamroller.

There is a cool monument right across from Stockmans with three naked guys swinging sledges on an anvil (be careful) that is pockmarked with bullet holes from WWII.  We detour to revisit the train station, a local architectural treasure and return to the Steamroller to continue our walk to the north.  This is culture row with museums, galleries, music venues finally passing the under-renovation Parliament building.

Our furthest point is the Temppeliaukio, also known as the Church in the Rock. This non-denominational house of worship was literally blown out of solid granite and sits neatly underground on top of a rocky hill.  There is recorded new-age music playing in the church and if we could listen to music in this environment all the time, we would listen to music all the time.  You feel like you’re inside the speaker.

We get our bearings and begin to walk back towards the hotel.  We nose around in some neighborhoods and shops along the way veering off a block or two if we see something interesting.  Like our Aussie friends Don and Jan, we might think this is “just another big city,” but it is starting to grow on us.  Especially if we’re not wet.

We take a break for a couple hours before squeezing into our room for a cocktail before dinner.  We have a couple sips left from our nightcap last night and surprisingly our front desk guy has ice cubes.

Our mission tonight is to find “Zetor” a Finnish Traktor restaurant that either celebrates or insults rural Finland lifestyles.  It has disappeared (we later learn it is in an alley across the street) so we go with what we know and head back to “9” where we ate last night.  It’s packed.  The other recommendation we got last night was for “Rafla” which is next to “9.”  It is a touch more upscale but still comfortable.  Pat and Mary both have the cheeseburger with Tallegio cheese and John has the lamb meatballs with mashed.  Mary has been talking about a burger she had in the north of Wales since 2006.  She now says that this burger is perhaps as good as and maybe better than that one.  That makes it all worthwhile.

We stop at a place on the way back called “pJAZZa” which is an Italian/jazz joint that has some sort of jam session going on.  Pretty fun but one drink and we’re toast for the day.  There’s a break in the rain which will slow down the growth of moss on the north sides of our bodies.

What did we learn today?  Levis makes an ultra-taper jean--largest waist size - 33.  Must be for Europeans.