i keep a diary

July 08, 2017

Visiting Helsinki

After Doug and Anni's Wedding I hung around Helsinki for a week

Saturday, July 8th

Slept in on Saturday and then from my hotel down to the waterfront for a croissant and a coffee.
boat ˆ coffee ˆ croissant ˆ ocean
After I'd woken up a bit, I walked around and found an excellent Thai massage place and got a killer massage.
massage
Then I set off to wander around and explore Helsinki a bit.
walking
Had dinner on a rooftop restaurant...
burger ˆ food
...that had a very cool vegetable storage rack.
food
There's something about wandering around an European city on my own that always makes me feel a bit...
buildings ˆ walking
...ba dum cha!
emo ˆ sign
Back at my hotel that evening, I took the elevator down to the basement to visit...
elevator ˆ hotel
...the hotel's private sauna!
hotel ˆ sauna
Got my sweaty steam on in private!
hotel ˆ sauna
me
Got back to my room around midnight...
hotel ˆ me
...and decided to set up my laptop on the desk and work on some IKAD entries!
beer ˆ ikad ˆ laptop ˆ meta
Bedtime!
bed ˆ hotel

Sunday, July 9th

Another day of exploring on Sunday.
walking
My hotel was one block from the Esplandi park.
park ˆ statue
Lots of little carved owls on the old buildings.
owl ˆ statue
From the park I walked over to...
...the Helsinki Cathedral.
church ˆ stairs
Explored inside...
church
...then hung out on the stairs for a bit enjoying the sun and figuring out where to head next.
church ˆ stairs
From the cathedral I walked over to the Botanical Gardens.
garden ˆ park
Love me some plants I've never seen before!
garden ˆ park
As well as a slightly different stylized skull and crossbones!
sign ˆ skull
Up on a nearby hill, I noticed a beekeeper tending to the apiary...
bee ˆ garden
...I decided to walk up to the terrace...
garden
...and watch him do his bee-sy work. lol.
bee ˆ garden
Walked around a bit afterwards...
bee ˆ flower
...and watched the bees visit different flowers.
bee ˆ flower
Another sneaky owl hiding out along a roofline.
masonic ˆ owl
Afterwards, I walked the waterfront loop around the city.
walking
Cool bridge...
bridge ˆ lock
...where lovers have locked locks.
bridge ˆ lock
Gotta keep the keys in case you break up!
bridge ˆ lock
Kept strolling on the water...
walking
...until I found an Italian restaurant that looked tasty.
food ˆ pizza ˆ salad
After lunch, I walked over to the Helsinki Art Museum.
art ˆ museum ˆ painting
Lots of paintings I liked by painters I'd never seen!
art ˆ museum ˆ painting
matt j
I took this picture because I thought he looked like Amy Albano's husband Matt!
art ˆ doppleganger ˆ museum ˆ statue ˆ matt j
Love the light in this one.
art ˆ museum ˆ painting
This was one of my favorites. (Vilho Lampi - Nocturne 1930)
art ˆ museum ˆ painting
There was also an exhibit about...
art ˆ furniture ˆ museum
...the furniture of Finland's very own Alvar Aalto!
art ˆ furniture ˆ museum
me
Sat in the park and called some friends back at home while I waited to...
park ˆ me
doug, matt john
...meet up with Doug and Matthew...
walking ˆ doug ˆ matt john
...who reveled in pointing out Finnish store signs that sound funny in English.
sign
matt john
Matt took us over to visit his music studio...he is one of the most prolific writers of Finnish music for kids!
studio ˆ matt john
doug, matt john
We left the studio at 11pm at night - so confusing for it to still be daylight outside!
walking ˆ doug ˆ matt john
me
Post hotel work out late night selfie!
mirror ˆ me

Monday, July 10th

On Monday afternoon I took the train out to...
...Flamingo Spa...a hotel outside of Helsinki that had a giant pool and spas.
anni
Spent the whole day there with Doug, Anni and some of their friends.
mall ˆ anni
doug
Weird 9pm! We decided to walk from the hotel through the wooded path to the subway.
walking ˆ doug
Stopped to admire the giant bumblebees in the flowers...
bee ˆ flower
...the bees in Finland have white butts!
bee ˆ flower
anni, me
Got a chance to hang out and walk with Anni...
walking ˆ anni ˆ me
...as we walked through the thin-treed forest!
trees
Finally made it to the subway after a 40 minute walk.
Enjoyed the late night twilight in the park...
...picked up a Finnish candy bar called DAIM!
me
And then tried to angle my camera just right...
mirror ˆ me
me
...so you could see my blonde facial hair that had been coming in after a week of not shaving!
comedy facial hair ˆ me
Caught up on some emails and then headed to bed!
desk ˆ hotel ˆ laptop

Tuesday, July 11th

On Tuesday morning I rented a (manual!) car.
I picked up Doug & Anni and we drove about 1h 40m out of Helsinki....
....to a town called Jokioinen.
anni, doug, tulku dakpa
Doug teaches English in Finland and one of his students is Tulku Dakpa Rinpoche, a lineage holder in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
anni ˆ doug ˆ tulku dakpa
doug, tulku dakpa
He was supposed to attend Doug & Anni's wedding, but was in the middle of leading a 40-day retreat for a group of his students. He was sad he couldn't attend, so he invited us to come visit him...
doug ˆ tulku dakpa
...and received us in his private quarters for a dinner of Tibetan dumplings!
dumpling ˆ food
After eating and chatting, Tulku Dakpa took us on a tour of the grounds of the monastery.
Cool little Hobbit house!
doug, tulku dakpa
He walked us to our cars and said farewell!
umbrella ˆ doug ˆ tulku dakpa
anni, doug, tulku dakpa
Thanks for having us and showing us around!
umbrella ˆ anni ˆ doug ˆ tulku dakpa
me, tulku dakpa
Great to meet you, Tulku Dakpa!
umbrella ˆ me ˆ tulku dakpa
Picked up some late night beers and snacks for the hotel on the way home.
Posted pics and made a new Instagram friend!
Spent the evening reading Norse Mythology.
book

Wednesday, July 12th

On Wednesday morning, I grabbed my rental car...
...and decided to drive east of Helsinki towards the Russian border.
After an hour of driving, I stopped in a town called Poorvo for lunch.
After eating, I walked around the waterfront...
...checking out the old boats and buildings.
boat
Love the Finnish flowers.
These big flowers...
flower
...were a favorite of the white-butt bees!
bee ˆ flower
On the drive home I passed field after field...
...of these beautiful flowers. Turns out they are rapeseed and are grown to make rapeseed oil.
me
Pulled over to take a flowery photo!
best ˆ field ˆ flowers ˆ sunglasses ˆ me
Later that night I took myself out for a fancy meal by myself back in Helsinki. Truffle risotto. Mmmmm.
food ˆ italian food

Thursday, July 13th

Rainy Thursday! I took the train out to...
doug
...meet Doug at his apartment.
doug
me
We put on our rain gear...
me
...and decided to take a rainy hike in a nearby forest.
hiking
Love me a rainy hike in the summer.
hiking ˆ rain
doug
We stopped deep in the woods and communed with some trees.
hiking ˆ hug ˆ rain ˆ tree ˆ doug
doug, me
Tree hugging buds.
hiking ˆ hug ˆ rain ˆ tree ˆ doug ˆ me
doug
Doug found some wild berries for us to eat.
berry picking ˆ hiking ˆ rain ˆ doug
After our hike, we stopped for a coffee and then walked back to...
anni, me
...Doug & Anni's apartment for dinner!
food ˆ pizza ˆ anni ˆ me
11pm sunset / sunrise.
sunset
me
Cake and ice cream for dessert!
dessert ˆ me
Doug showed me some rare blessed Juniper incense and took me a tour of his office and music studio.
incense
Made it back to my hotel for sunny midnight! So confusing!
hotel

Friday, July 14th

My last day in Helsinki! I checked out of my hotel...
...stopped by the Thai Massage place I'd visited earlier in the week. I was going to give Tuomo and his wife a reiki session and the massage owner said I could borrow one of her massage tables. Thanks!
massage ˆ sign
tuomo
Took the train out to Tuomo's. After our reiki session we had whiskeys out on the back porch...
tuomo
...before he took me deeper into his backyard so we could...
...check out his...
...ice-filled cold-plunge pool!
plunge pool
After, we got a little fire going...
fire
...and roasted some sausages.
fire ˆ hot dog
Had ourselves a super-cosy Finnish dinner of sausages and bread with cheese and butter. Mmmmmmm.
cheese ˆ food ˆ hot dog ˆ lantern
After dinner, Tuomo and I stayed up super late talking about life stuff!
desk
He showed me his extensive fountain pen collection!
pen
doug
We listened to Golden Darkness, Doug's solo music project from a few years back in 2012. (Still sounds great!)
band ˆ doug
tuomo
Thanks for having me, Tuomo! I had so much fun!
tuomo

Saturday, July 15th

Tuomo & Aava's cozy Scandinavian kitchen. <3
kitchen ˆ table
Fruit, cheese and buttered bread breakfast.
breakfast ˆ food
me, tuomo
Tuomo drove me to the airport and we said farewell!
airport ˆ sunglasses ˆ me ˆ tuomo
Jungly airport lounge.
airport
tuomo
Tuomo gave me a rad gift of an original poem, written in fountain pen and sealed was signet-embossed wax!
gift ˆ wax ˆ tuomo
And we're headed back home!
flying
Finland is green and pretty.
flying
Weird fish salad for the plane meal, but you can't win them all.
airplane ˆ food
Flying out over the same coastal town of Suðurnesjabær after a brief layover in Iceland.
flying ˆ iceland
Back in baby's arms!
nyc ˆ skyline