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| So, yes, I'm in Finland. Taking in the Nordic joys of Helsinki. Since it's a long weekend at work, I decided to hop on a flight up here and just have a long wander 'round. (I've never been to Finland - or any of the northern Nordic countries - before, so it seemed like a good chance before they get snowed in for the year.)
After I arrived, I was channel-surfing in my hotel for a moment and came across some girls playing a.....uh....a Finnish sport. Called Pesäpallo. I watched for about 30 minutes, and I have no idea what they were doing. After the winning team was presented their trophy and had finished jumping up and down with excitement, I shook my head, said, "Oooooooook," and headed out.
I wandered through a bit of the city centre, and eventually found a small, out-of-the-way restaurant for dinner. The place was advertising a buffet, so I asked the owner what was on tap.
"This one's reindeer," he said, pointing to a large black pot.
"Mmmm-hmmm," said I.
"And this one is salmon," he said, pointing to another pot.
"OK," I said.
"This is also reindeer. Stewed."
"Ahh, two kinds of reindeer. Good, good," I said.
"Potatoes," he said pointing a three dishes. Of course. "And herring. Three kinds: Whole salted. Pickled. Chunks."
"Errrrrm, mmmmm. Right." I nodded.
"Herring soup, too. And you must have this: it's like potato bread. Very good with the egg-butter here."
"Egg butter?" I said.
"Egg butter. Very tasty."
So I tucked in to my two kinds of reindeer, salmon, whole salted herring, three kinds of potatoes and potato bread with egg butter. Actually, the egg butter was pretty tasty. And the reindeer was really quite good, too.
After dinner and some further wandering, I stumbled into a...film festival. The Helsinki International Film Festival? Something. Anyway. I saw a Norwegian film called "Nord" (North). It was a very amusing film. A bit off-colour in places, but very amusing nonetheless. The scenery and music were both great.
Mmmm....reindeer.
******
Go Dodgers!
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| Haven't blogged in awhile, but now that I'm on holiday, I may find a few minutes here and there...
As my loyal readers may recall, I was supposed to be doing the Vierdaagse, or Four Days Marches, with Lea (Rock Star IT Guru) this week. Unfortunately, some achilles tendonitis that I ignored until last month has left me hobbled and unable to walk 160 km in four days. (I know what you're thinking, but I actually was kind of looking forward to it....)
I road-tripped here with Lea anyway, and have thus far quite enjoyed having a couple of days to sleep, read, and take photos....also trying to provide some moral support to Lea in the form of notes stuck in her bag and text messages saying, "Where are you? Walk faster!". May try to upload photos at some point, depending on the internet connection, but it's moving slowly at the moment.
So off to read some more and listen to the rain coming down...
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I'm sorry, but the white and gold bag is just so....over the top. What does he keep in there, anyway? Fed, go play tennis and stop being a fashionista.
Bleh.
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| Dobry vecher, Moscow! Ali's flat thanks you for a wonderful show! Our votes go to:
8 points toooooooo.....Lithuania!
10 points to.....Armenia and Bosnia!!
And our 12 points go toooooooooo....Portugal!
Thank you and good night!
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| ....and so this is what I'm wearing:
Yep. Ajde Bosnia. They'd better bring it.
And Yana, supporting Germany:
Off to make food.
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