Finland Trip Recap, Part II

On the second day of the trip, I had to go buy clothes that were not the ones I'd been wearing for the last 48 hours. I stopped into a small euro-boutique known as H&M to purchase some clothing. It was better than anything I'd brought anyway, since all my clothes have stains and holes.

We met for lunch at Memphis restaurant, where the veggie burger was an odd combination of pepper and mushroom stew with a chunk of mozzarella cheese on top. Then demure, Philadelphia-area Carol and I set out for a walk about town. We stopped into a charming euro-bakery where I purchased some mustard. The bakery lady then gave us a map and told us how to walk to the waterfront era where some fancy houses were.

With me leading the tour, we were almost immediately lost but did not figure it out until the waterfront we encountered was populated only with smokestacks and warehouses. We made our way back eventually with the assistance of four or five helpful Finnish people. But it was determined by Carol that my Finnish reading and speaking skills were impeccable.

That night we went on a harbor dinner cruise with beautiful views, terrible food without reindeer alternatives, and a great deal of liquor. From there, The Horde descended upon RockBar where there were live bands playing.

I think I forgot to mention how The Horde operates. As everyone has an expense account, at each venue one of The Horde is chosen to throw down his or her credit card at the bar. An initial round of shots plus an additional beverage is ordered. Often each of The Horde will consume a few more drinks over the next hour or so, then a final round of shots will be ordered unless we're planning to stay longer.

After the RockBar, it was fairly early still- probably 11PM or midnight, but it's very hard to tell since it stays light out so late- we tried several venues we'd been in the previous night but they were not open yet. We finally found a bar near the hotel but I decided it would be best to escort mild-mannered Colleen back to the hotel instead. I learned the next day that much of The Horde had stayed at the bar, then had an after-hours party in one of the hotel rooms until the early morning.














I awoke early, not on purpose, and went downstairs to borrow one of the hotel's bicycles. It was there I found demure Carol doing the same thing, so we set off together with my map from the previous day. We found the section of town we'd missed the previous day (about three blocks from the hotel) and visited one of the large churches you could see from nearly everywhere, which was thus easy to find. Shortly thereafter, we got lost and discovered new and interesting parts of town, and also where they park the cruise ships and the railroad tracks. Two or three helpful Finnish people helped us find our way back to the hotel.