Finlandia

July 16, 2010

On this day, we took a day trip to Porvoo, a medieval town, with some Swedish history behind (that I have not now bothered to put here). Again, a walk down to the harbor area, and a quick coffee and boarded a ferry to the town (Porvoo is about 50 km by road, but the boat ride takes one along the forested coastline, is very pretty and relaxing). In line for tickets we met a long, grey haired Australian named Rob that had semi moved to Helsinki for a Finnish woman he met in a bar in Sydney 10 years ago after going through a messy divorce. The guy seemed to be saying that he was studying law, but it was unclear to me whether he was a lawyer. His Finnish wife and two small Finnish children were with him on the boat, and he was by far the most friendly of the 4.

Upon arrival, we overcame the urge for ice cream, and had lunch at Johans, a summer restaurant, run by some of A's friends. I had the sausage, with vegetables, and she had the salmon, both with some white wine. I was again amazed at how hot is southern Finland in the summertime. The sausage was remarkably good, slightly spicy.

We got black licorice candy, macaroons (NOT THE SAME AS MACAROONS IN US!!!) to eat, and coffee to drink, sat by the river and watched the little fish, and visited the church (I'm digging the Protestant churches in Northern Europe, btw). There was a practice for confirmation taking place. There were many tourists in town, but virtually all Finnish.

We took the bus back to Helsinki, half sleeping the whole way.

For Friday night, we went out again to sushi at Rakuya, again meeting or exceeding my tough L.A. sushi standards. Delicious broccoli salad (with sesame oil), California Roll and Helsinki Roll (for contrast), lucky salmon sushi, some wine. Nice atmosphere, good music (Bat for Lashes at one point!), good service. Highly recommended!

Then drinks at A21, ranked at one time as the best drinks bar in Europe. Without exaggeration, it had some of the best mixed drinks I've ever had, with also some terrific service. The bartenders put on a good show of a shaking and mixing and carefully measuring the ingredients, the waiters offering suggestions beyond "well, what are you in the mood for?" and comfortable seating.

**Indigo Girls -- Finlandia