In Finland

So, tonight I took a wild hare and thought I'd try the red curry chicken with pineapple. Oh, my gosh! Find me a restaurant in Phoenix that serves this stuff!

Speaking of wild hares--and this will take a bit, so hang on. As I was in the midst of getting a ride to the hotel with a total stranger, she mentioned the other gentleman talking to me on the bus, and said that he was "Hungary". "Hungry?" I replied, being a bit mystified, thinking he seemed reasonably well dressed and shouldn't have to go without a meal. "He is Hungary", she repeated, and then I got it--"Hungarian!" Of course.

As I roam the city, I have spotted a number of Hungarian restaurants, all a bit pricey, and they often serve game meat, including wild boar and--wild hare.

Helsinki reminds me, oddly enough, of Melbourne--lots going on, diverse population, well tended, but no big landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, the pyramids of Giza, or Tallinn's old town. That said, the roads and tramways skirt inlets and lakes, and once on the highway, the region takes on a kind of "Legoland" tidyness. I took in the National Museum yesterday, just up the street from my hotel. Across the street is the Opera House, which I may try to tour before I leave. Whle at once unremarkable, it is a pleasant place in September.

Television is interesting for a while, but CNN needs to tell Richard Quest to turn it down a notch. Picked up a Finnish version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", sans Regis Filbin, and also what was maybe a German game show called "Doppleganger" (I don't want to know what that means). It was a cross between Candid Camera and a celebrity look-a-like contest. One scene had a man imitating Pavarotti in a hotel room, demanding services from the hotel staff--not a pretty sight.

I took a bus out of the city today to visit the town of Porvoo, the oldest town in Finland, I think. On a small river, it was very scenic--old wooden houses and buildings, bridges crossing the water, small boats and a few large ones docked at water's edge. A large brick and stone church at the top of the hill in town dominated the older town below. Being Sunday, much of the town was closed, which was ok--I'm not much of a souvenir shopper, and don't want to haul any extra weight around if I can help it.

Going and coming, I spied Moose Crossing signs in several places on the highway, but failed to see any. Forests of birch dominated the undeveloped areas, interspersed with the occasional pine and a few maples already showing fall color. Outcroppings of red and grey granite poke up through the surface every so often, both along the highway and here in Helsinki.

I'll get a few pictures up tonight, and plan to create a "Boats" page off of the "Planes & Trains" page, for Jonathan and Joshua.

I finished supper with some ice cream--without asking, they had topped it with what I finally identified as maple syrup! A nice end to a good day.

More in a few days.

JP