Travel & Ikea

One other observation on our journey was the amount of ABC rest stops, which include a supermarket, a Hesburger and a large selection of hot or cold food. There were also some shops, like a tourist trash one, a book store and an Arabia factory shop. There are about two or three of these an hour as you travel throughout Finland, it seems a little ridiculous to me.


Now, I should have included more about Ikea. Yes, Ikea products feature heavily in Finnish homes. Alone I could count about 5 or 6 things in my room, like the rug and the curtains. At home, we rarely visit this home furnishing superstore because my parents detest the idea of a visit as much as one to Argos, and our nearest one is rather far away. But in Finland it could be a like a morning or afternoon visit, since we arrived at the right time for the kids to have lunch in the restaurant before we commenced shopping. There was a delightful array of cheap cakes and interesting meals, like meatballs with mashed potato, lingonberry sauce and some other beige sauce that might have been like a gravy. My personal favourite is the bright orange orange drink. 
I love the way you have to follow a trail through a labyrinth of 'rooms' set out like your dream home with some of the products dotted here and there, but then a mass of them all in another maze in the basement of this huge raised building. I was continually but gently mocked for my excitement over children's things, like a castle style window set in the wall that opens to be a mirror. 
I did in true Sophie style manage to make an utter fool of myself at least twice though, once by knocking over six glasses in a box and then by not realising how to print a ticket in the self-service fabric cutting section. I like how the Finns are big on self-service (and also being a very cashless society) but if you can't read the signs, how can you possibly cope? Like the other day I went to buy some pick n mix sweets - these are EVERYWHERE - and because the machine didn't work printing a price sticker I had to shamefacedly abandon them. Whilst it's fun to weigh and sticker up your loose produce here, I much prefer supermarkets at home where they weigh them on the till for you. You're wasting a lot of paper in stickers here!

Helsinki

So last weekend we took a marathon journey of 3 hours to Helsinki, to spend the weekend with host mum's non-identical twin brother and his family, with a party for his youngest daughter's second birthday on the Sunday. Never had I considered how awful a car journey could be, squashed between two child seats in the back. Not only that but there was the delightful background of Peppa Pig playing on either side of me to keep the kids quiet. I really don't want to experience that again any time soon! Though worse was to come on the Sunday morning. We popped out to Ikea and because the elder daughter and cousin was coming along, guess who was in the boot of the car? Yes, twas poor me. The return journey to the house was worse because I was literally packed in with our purchases, effectively trapped, so much so that I joked if the car crashed I would definitely survive. 

Anyway, Helsinki. I'd been there before with the previous family who did not want me.  We did a very quick drive by of some of the sights and then I spent the evening shopping there with the mum, but it was much nicer this time by myself. I took the bus from the brother's house, about 30 minutes from the city centre. The bus stop is in a central square by the train station and from there it's pretty easy to find the landmarks, like Stockmann and the three blacksmiths statue beside it, a famous meeting place. I also returned to beautiful Senate Square with the magnificent white church overlooking the square, atop a good 50 steps. It was marvellous to stand in the light rain and look out over the city towards the sea from those steps. 

Helsinki could definitely be added to my favourite cities list. It has fewer people, wider streets for ease of walking and a light, beige sort of colour unlike the perpetual grey of London. And let's not forget that wonderful harbour. You can watch the ferries come and go between Stockholm, explore the huge market for food, furs and handicrafts and look up at the Russian Orthodox church set against the sky in the distance. There's also the parliament buildings and the president's 'palace' or 'castle' - a small square building at the end of the block. Not exactly inspiring. 

I enjoyed walking through some of the endless streets on my quest to find the Natural History museum - it had been closed an hour by the time I got there, but there were some great giraffes drinking tea on the roof - and sitting by the harbour watching the people around me for a time. 

I was somewhat loaded with purchases coming back on the bus, including a fantastic reindeer skin from Roveniemi for my floor, in its own special drawstring bag. But altogether it was a great day despite the frequent downpours, which had people sheltering in shop or mall entrances for ages. 

Wildlife

Just a little something to mention. Today we went to the little park next door to us and as I approached the box, which once must have been a sand box, a hare darted out! It's the first real wildlife I've seen beyond birds. I'd really like to see a wild moose but I guess this is as close as I am gonna get in the neighbourhood. 
Quite often there are dragonflies around this box too and today one actually landed on the front of my youngest charge's coat! It was simply beautiful. 

Post (Office)

So for my language class at the city's library every Tuesday night I have to have a small, not even 200 page textbook. Why are these points so relevant? Because in a bookshop I would have had to pay nearly €40 for this book! Luckily we found it online for just under €30 but still, I expected it to be the equivalent of about £15 not double that! It's insane how expensive this country is. 
Anyway, I am getting off topic. This evening I had to walk to the local post office to pick up my new textbook, just in time for my second class tomorrow night. Finnish post is very interesting.
You need to include a 'Priority' or 'Economy' sticker on everything. 
Everyone has a tiny post box but you have a note or letter telling you where to collect your parcel, unlike in the UK where you have to be home to hear sometimes a non-existent knock of the postman with your package. 
You can buy boxes and packing envelopes with the iconic blue Marimekko poppy pattern or various images of the Moomins. This I found amazingly cool and wondered if it would be truly sad to buy one of such boxes for storage at home. Perhaps not. 
Also, I like the easily spotted blue or bright orange 1st and 2nd class post boxes. Not as awesome as the Royal Mail red ones but hard to miss. The postal vans are white with blue and orange spots to match, though you don't see many. The post always seems to arrive very early. Oh and last week I had to collect a parcel from a shop! Our nearest shop, for all your minor conveniences and more, also acts as a collection point for packages not sent through Posti, the blue and orange service generally recognised. 
Pretty cool right?!