Day #172 - Helsinki, Finland

Late night in Helsinki

Hotel Kamp

Sunset over Helsinki

My dinner of Creme Salmon Soup

Overlooking the central train station while waiting for my bus

Thursday, September 2nd

Well, the draft was good - ended at 5:30am my time. There were 16 rounds and it's a 14 team league. The last couple rounds took forever. I was nearly passed out. People were taking a couple minutes to choose their backup defense or kicker. I wanted to scream out on the microphone - "Just pick anybody - it does not matter".

I went to bed with the sun coming up shining through my windows. I put the "Do not disturb sign" on the door and was out - until 2pm that is. Solid - by any measure. I think my last 7 years in Minnesota helped me prepare for this trip. Often times, I would have very late nights and very early mornings. Therefore, I've learned to sleep whenever I could - no matter what time of day this may be.

I headed into downtown Helsinki again today. I wanted to check out a couple places in my book. Hotel Kamp is an exclusive hotel that sits in the very heart of the city. This hotel opened in 1887 and it serves as Helsinki's central meeting place for aristocrats, politicians, journalists, artists, and celebrities. The hotel was once marked for demolition but then went through a full-fledge restoration.

I went a street over to one of the fanciest restaurants in town - The Savoy. This restaurant began in 1937 and was a favoritie eating spot of one of Finlands national heroes - Carl Gustav Mannerheim ("Marski"). He is considered the architect of Finland's independence and the president of the first republic.

It was about 4pm and I hadn't eaten yet. I went into this cafe that was obviously pretty popular by the number of people there and the line to get served. I ordered a creme-based salmon soup (served with some bread), a cup of green tea, and topped it off with a blueberry danish. I took a picture of this beauty - the soup was outstanding with big chunks of fresh salmon. I had brought my book along. I had about 100 pages left - so I sat in the cafe and finished reading. I'm just thinking today how special this time is for me right now. I would NEVER have had a day like today in my former life. Sitting in a cafe for hours reading a book - really? It's about learning to appreciate the smaller things. I even bought a new book in the train station before coming home - 'the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo'. A tip of the cap to the Marklund family in Sweden that I stayed with. This was their recommendation. They had told me this was the big hit currently read all over Sweden (I've been searching for an English copy - today I found it).

I feel like I'm not accomplishing very much in Finland. I would really like to go north to see the sites (as I would have in Sweden and Norway), but it takes alot of time and the cruises or site-seeing tours are crazy expensive. A 13-day excursion to the North Pole - $15,000. I think of the Nordic countries like I think of Canada, going north will yield many incredible natural sites - but the bulk of the population and the actvity is right next to the border (in Canada) or central Europe (when referring to Nordic countries).

The temperature right now in Helsinki is 11 degrees Celsius (about 50 F). Helsinki is just about the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. Looking at some websites, their temperatures appear to be fairly consistent throughout the year. I just looked at the average temperatures in Anchorage and compared it to Minneapolis. Minneapolis gets colder in the winter but hotter in the summer. Anchorage, as well as the other major Nordic cities, don't get overly cold or overly hot.

I find this stuff really interesting. I remember talking to a nurse when I first moved to Minnesota (she had recently moved from Anchorage). I said: "It must be really cold in Anchorage". She stated: "Not nearly as cold as it gets here". I always thought Alaska was a frozen land, just like I thought about the Nordic countries. Truth is, Minneapolis gets colder than Reykjavik, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen or Anchorage on average. When I was walking around today and seeing everyone bundled up (and I had shorts on) - I was a little surprised. I'm not so sure these people could hang in northern MN on a brisk, January morning. My blood is still thickened - it's amazing how your body adapts to meet the conditions.

I just happened onto this website - worldatlas.com. Hit "The Lists" in the middle of the page -- this is unbelievable information. It's a quick summary of everything. One thing this trip has taught me is that the world is a big place. It's helped me open my eyes to other areas and other people. There are over 6 billion people on this planet - only 300-350 million are in the US.

Here's to seeing more of this world tomorrow.