A very Helsinki summer
So um, wow, I have a LiveJournal account. So much has happened I don't even know where to start. What's worth mentioning?
Oh yes. Over a decade later, but I managed to get there: Finland! I saw Helsinki (and Turku. And Tallin, Estonia) and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. I didn't go there with many plans; I just had 8 days to explore. And I did. I even got to see a Mapelthorpe exhibit at the Kiasma Museum which I loved so much! I now have a picture of me admiring a Tom of Finland print, and another one with me and a huge derpy smile in front of a wall of penises. And the museum was beautiful in itself. Wow.
The town was so beautiful! I never lived near water, so a port-town is so exotic to me. So many big boats (big, BIG boats. Ships rather? The correct vernacular escapes me.) So many seagulls. So many islands! And the saunas; oh my the saunas. I love me some scaldingly-hot showers, and I have no trouble handling hot surfaces - enough that my 1/2 has dubbed me Khaleesi - but I did not expect to not like saunas. But I do, I surprisingly do not enjoy saunas as much as I enjoy the thought of saunas. I think this stems from my love of *breathing*, because saunas make me feel like drowning. I mean, it was still a fun experience and all, but not one that I'll voluntarily repeat. Too soon. Or too often.
But the town - I now know downtown Helsinki by heart! We walked everywhere. I saw Tavastia but felt a tad too embarassed to take a picture there, but 14 year-old me would have died in excitement to know I'd one day get to see Tavastia Club. I saw the Philharmonic, and the parks, and I took the subway and canal ferries and there were so many small things that I had known or encountered in different points of my life. When we were driving to Turku, the road signs mentioned the air temperature - "ilma" and yeah, that's how far my interest in Finland goes. I've had this username since i was ~14, so that makes over half my life.
I'm not sure how coherent this was, but everytime I go back thinking of this trip I become a giant, excited mess. I'm definitely going back. And if it wasn't so damn cold, I'd even think of perhaps moving there.
And never have I been more aware of how Eastern European we were than when we came back to Bucharest. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you - but it's real. And I'm not only saying that because right now, outside my appartment, there are 'carolers' - guys with their masks who loudly bang their drums and dance the goat/bear (honestly can't tell what that masked thing is) to dispel the ill spirits. But wow, we are so damn Eastern European. :/
Oh yes. Over a decade later, but I managed to get there: Finland! I saw Helsinki (and Turku. And Tallin, Estonia) and it was everything I wanted it to be and more. I didn't go there with many plans; I just had 8 days to explore. And I did. I even got to see a Mapelthorpe exhibit at the Kiasma Museum which I loved so much! I now have a picture of me admiring a Tom of Finland print, and another one with me and a huge derpy smile in front of a wall of penises. And the museum was beautiful in itself. Wow.
The town was so beautiful! I never lived near water, so a port-town is so exotic to me. So many big boats (big, BIG boats. Ships rather? The correct vernacular escapes me.) So many seagulls. So many islands! And the saunas; oh my the saunas. I love me some scaldingly-hot showers, and I have no trouble handling hot surfaces - enough that my 1/2 has dubbed me Khaleesi - but I did not expect to not like saunas. But I do, I surprisingly do not enjoy saunas as much as I enjoy the thought of saunas. I think this stems from my love of *breathing*, because saunas make me feel like drowning. I mean, it was still a fun experience and all, but not one that I'll voluntarily repeat. Too soon. Or too often.
But the town - I now know downtown Helsinki by heart! We walked everywhere. I saw Tavastia but felt a tad too embarassed to take a picture there, but 14 year-old me would have died in excitement to know I'd one day get to see Tavastia Club. I saw the Philharmonic, and the parks, and I took the subway and canal ferries and there were so many small things that I had known or encountered in different points of my life. When we were driving to Turku, the road signs mentioned the air temperature - "ilma" and yeah, that's how far my interest in Finland goes. I've had this username since i was ~14, so that makes over half my life.
I'm not sure how coherent this was, but everytime I go back thinking of this trip I become a giant, excited mess. I'm definitely going back. And if it wasn't so damn cold, I'd even think of perhaps moving there.
And never have I been more aware of how Eastern European we were than when we came back to Bucharest. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you - but it's real. And I'm not only saying that because right now, outside my appartment, there are 'carolers' - guys with their masks who loudly bang their drums and dance the goat/bear (honestly can't tell what that masked thing is) to dispel the ill spirits. But wow, we are so damn Eastern European. :/