Road trip Part 3: Countryside in the capital

I was back in Helsinki after all, and already longing to get out again, to explore some new places never found before. It was time for another trip! I met up with my girl Piritta, who is a funky surfer chick I met 3 years ago when I just started working in Motivi, a little Italian shop and she was just about to go backpacking in Australia. Luckily we didn't really need much time to get to know eachother. She was the only one to immediately agree to go with me on this immensly boring sounding quest to find the lamest town in Finland.

Our plan had gradually refined so, that we would hop into the train towards the nearby cities of Helsinki that are really not that special. We'd heard some great examples of what NOT to do there from our friends that live there. Anyways, the last bus to our goal had already gone (at 10.30 in the morning!), so we decided to postpone the departure with one day and just spend the remaining day in our home city doing something we wouldn't have the chance to do otherwise. :)

We went for a breakfast in the Töölö Square, then to Lammassaari (Sheep Island) close to Arabia and Old town, and travelled through the city to see some old school market halls and squares. That was an unpredictable tour, and we found some really cool neighborhoods that we'd never go to if we hadn't had some bad luck with our bus time tables and our original plans.

Töölöntori

We started out eating breakfast in Töölöntori in one of those cute old-fashioned tent-cafés. Delicious and nostalgic! She aint lookin' too impressed though...

Munareissari ja kahvi. (Ryebread with egg and a coffee.)

Trip-mehu.

Lammassaari

The photographer.


This long path coated with boards leads to the island. Laundry of today: tee-shirt-dress from Carlings, and well, you can hardly see anything else :)

Call the police or Jukka Pirttilä, if you see any strange activities in the island. Sounds like the slogan for a low budget-horror movie.


Some views from the watching tower. So this is the capital of Finland! :D

Aren't cows all female..? Gay pride for cows!

Vanhakaupunki (Old Town)

We found a terrace by the rapids, where we had some dry cider and ate "monks" as my friend Tuomas likes to call them ('munkki' in Finnish). They're something like donuts, but (of course) better. They're made with the bun-dough I use for the cinnamon rolls, deep fried, filled with rasberry jam and dipped in sugar. AAAAWWW!!!

The deal was not to lick your lips at all before finishing eating. Done!

Then we found a show of some oldie-cars inside when going to the toilets... weird.

Market halls and places

Travelling back down town we stopped in the market hall in Hakaniemi. It's got some really authentic delies and shops from the 50's. The stuff in the pic is candy.


Huuuge granny undies!! And 48 is not the size, but the price!

Then we went to Hietsun kirppis, the flea market in the Hietsu square.

A tribute to MJ in the second hand shop-window on Freda.

Not another sushi-picture!? Yeees! Gorgeous salmon inside-outs in Sähkötalo (Electricity house) in Kamppi.

Piritta can even eat soy-sauce with chopsticks.

They say the portions are expensive in Finland, but they're also big. That roll was impossible to eat in one piece.

Sauna

Although I tend to say Helsinki is quite urban and cold, we were able to find pretty beautiful new landscapes there. The day was full of good surprises, maybe just because we had no expectations. In the evening we nicked my mom's key to the local Töölö canoe-club sauna by the sea shore and blended in with the bathing and swimming grannies. (Even without the granny-pants.)