My flight from Helsinki was supposed to leave at 7:15am, so I booked a taxi for 5:15am.  Even though it was snowing, I was still at the airport by 5:40am, and completely checked in and through security by 5:50am.  I guess I could have slept later.

Most of the shops were already open, and Stockmann opened at 6:15, so I did some last minute candy-buying (I thought about bringing smoked salmon or smoked trout home, but I was worried about not being able to keep it cold), and still had 20 minutes to kill in the SAS/Star Alliance lounge. 

European airline lounges are different from the Admirals Club.  They always have a variety of things to eat and drink, all for free (and yes, there was wine, beer, and hard liquor available at 6:30am!), as well as an assortment of newspapers and magazines.  My Admirals Club membership is going to expire next month, and I’m not sure I’m going to bother to renew it — I don’t fly American as much as I used to, and the benefits of the club seem to be diminishing every year.

The plane had to be de-iced before we could leave, and then the captain announced that we were going to be flying without water (and so no coffee!), but he thought that was better than waiting around for an hour or two until they could fix it.  I thought so, too, since my connection in Frankfurt was only an hour.

Well, it was supposed to be an hour.  But we had to be de-iced in Helsinki and were in a holding pattern in Frankfurt, so, even though I was the first person off the plane, I had only 30 minutes before my flight home was due to take off.  And, of course, it was at the other end of the concours.  And I had to go through passport control and security.  I wasn’t optimistic, especially considering they’d made an announcement on the plan urging US-bound passengers to go directly thru security as “the procedures are time-consuming”.

There was a line at passport control, but there was also a pointer to “additional passport control” a few meters away, so I went there.  At first, I thought that had been a mistake, as I only saw lines for EU passport holders and for crew, but they were taking everyone, and I had no trouble.  Elapsed time: 3 minutes.

Security had a longer line — there was a separate line for First/Business passengers, which helped a bit.  What helped more was my asking several people ahead of me when their flight was — and everyone whose flight was after mine offered to let me go ahead of them.  I was impressed.  Screening was thorough — they use a hand wand for everyone, rather than having you walk through a magnetometer as happens in the US.  And, although I had to remove the computer from its case, I didn’t have to remove my shoes.  Total time in security: 10 minutes.

From there, it was a quick dash to another barrier whose purpose I didn’t take the time to understand, but which had a very short line, and then a hike to the end of the terminal.  I was on the plane by 9:40, 15 minutes after getting off the incoming flight.

I think they held the plane for some late arrivals, because they didn’t close the doors until 10:05 or so.  By that time, I was settled in and ready to go home.

I thought the food in this direction was better than my outbound trip — it was inspired by Chef Tam Kok Kong of the China Club Berlin.   The wine list was the same, but this time I remembered to ask about the Wine of the Month, which was a 2000 Pierre/Rodet Beaune Premier Cru (I should have been more careful in copying down the label!).  It was very pleasant, but I preferred the 2003 Dornfelder Classic.

We arrived on time; my luggage was one of the last bags to be unloaded (I guess it had a hard time making the connection in Frankfurt, too), but I was still home by 2pm — just in time to go out with Diane and Jeff for lunch at Willow Street Pizza in Los Gatos.

And even though it was raining a little bit at home, it was much easier to deal with than the weather in Helsinki today: snowing most of the day, with highs near zero Fahrenheit.  It’s good to be home!

Most of this trip has basically been a business trip like so many others — I knew I was in Finland, but it wasn’t terribly important.  That started to change last night when I went out in the cold and had dinner at a Viking restaurant (ok, a Viking-themed restaurant).  And today, the business of the trip took a back seat to being in Finland (though for anyone at IBM who’s interested, I am checking and dealing with email!).

I started the day with breakfast, as usual; but since I didn’t have to rush out of the meeting, I followed it with a trip to the hotel sauna.  It was an indoor sauna (of course), and there wasn’t the option of going into the snow or diving into icy water, but I enjoyed it anyway and left feeling quite clean and nicely warm.

The warm part didn’t last long.  I wanted to visit the Lenin Museum.  It was only a mile or so from the hotel, so I decided to walk — the sun was out, and I was wearing my long underwear, so how bad could it be?

That bad. In Fahrenheit, it’d be -11. That’s cold. And there was a breeze, too.

Soon, I crossed the river, which was flowing briskly along, steaming merrily along the way.

A few minutes later, I found myself at the entrance of the Lenin Museum, which occupied the third floor of the Tampere Worker’s Hall.

I went in, paid my four Euros, and spent an hour or so looking around. All of the items were in Russian, and all of the explanatory material was in Finnish. Fortunately, there was an English translation available which I carried around the museum. I’m not sure I know that much more about Lenin now than I did when I went in, but it was an experience only available in Tampere.

I left the museum and hiked back to the hotel. This time, I didn’t stop to take any pictures.

After packing and checking out, I walked across the street to go back to Helsinki. I found a ticket office immediately and bought my ticket, discovering that the trains to Helsinki were running about 90 minutes late. Luckily, one ran every hour, so they sold me a ticket for a train which should have already been in Helsinki but which was due in about 30 minutes, and I went to find lunch.

I was lucky (or maybe smart) and got my chicken kebab to go, because the train made up some time and was in the station when I left the shop. So I ran to the train and jumped into the closest car. I had seat 42, and it was free, but I was in the wrong car — car 5. I should have been in car 2. I wasn’t sure how long the train was going to stay in Tampere, so I dragged my suitcase through the crowds, up and down stairs, and through the dining car, finally arriving in car 2 a few seconds after the train had started moving.

The rest of the trip to Helsinki was uneventful, except that it started to snow about 20 minutes out of the city. And it kept snowing. But it was easy to get a taxi, and I was once more ensconced at the Scandic Grand Marina by 3:30.

I didn’t want to stay in the room, so I braved the snow and wandered downtown, where I had some gelato at Stockmann (quite good!). By the time I left the store, it was fully dark; I walked over to Senate Square to see how the Lutheran Cathedral looked in the snow.

Not too good, but when I tried again without flash, it looked far less leprous.

I had had several restaurants suggested to me before I left, but none of them were very close to the hotel, and I thought I’d had enough winter for the day anyway. So I had dinner in the hotel restaurant. But unlike the Scandic City Centre in Tempere, this restaurant had some Finnish dishes. In particular, it offered a smoked reindeer appetizer, so I ordered it (along with the nearly inevitable Lapin Kulta). It was tasty — a bit stronger tasting than beef, but not overpowering. I thought about having the reindeer steak for my main course, but decided it was likely to be more than I wanted and ordered the vegetarian pasta instead. The portion was huge, and I only finished half of it.

Then it was time for one more sauna before calling it a night — this time, I didn’t feel rushed, and I made two cycles through the process. I could get used to saunas.

But I’d rather go home. Morning will come early, but it’ll be worth it!

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was tired enough that I didn’t want to go out for dinner.  Instead, I went back to the hotel restaurant — Piazza Foodfactory — where I had what I guess must be a typical Finnish meal: tapas as an appetizer, and “salmon wok” for the main course.  The food in the restaurant is good, but there’s definitely no sense of place — the decor is that of an upscale food court, and the menu features curries, wok dishes, pastas, pizzas, and burgers.  There doesn’t appear to be any reindeer or bear available, either — plenty of turkey, beef, chicken, pork, tuna, and salmon, though.

At least they do feature Finnish beers; I’d had Lapin Kulta on draft the first night (as well as in Helsinki), which was pretty good.  But I wanted to try a different beer this time, so I had a bottle of Karjala.  It was nondescript.  As it happens, both beers are brewed by the same company, Hartwall, which is now owned by Scottish & Newcastle of the UK.  I’ll have to check out the beer menu at the restaurant to see if they feature other S&N beers (perhaps Newcastle Brown Ale), but I’ll probably go back to the Lapin Kulta. 

The house wines, by the way, are from Ernest and Julio Gallo, speaking of a lack of place.

To be fair, I should mention that the breakfasts at the hotel are more localized; they have Finnish porridge and rice cakes, as well as smoked salmon, smoked trout, tasty breads, and much more.  Breakfast is definitely worth the time!

I’m in Helsinki tonight, at the Scandic Grand Marina.  While I guess I could have booked an onward flight to Tampere, my actual destination for this trip, I didn’t think it was a good idea; instead, I’m spending the night here, and will take the train to Tampere tomorrow.

The flight from Frankfurt was fine — in some ways, nicer than the transAtlantic trip, since I didn’t have anyone directly in front of me leaning his seat almost into my knees.  And I wasn’t frustrated by the lack of Internet connectivity because I knew there wasn’t going to be any.  I was impressed that Lufthansa fed me a full meal on a two-hour flight — I almost regretted having had a snack at Frankfurt Airport (which doesn’t seem to be overly endowed with good places to eat, at least not behind security in Terminal A).  They also had wine — I was surprised that it was a California wine, 2002 Blackstone Cabernet Sauvignon, which I’m pretty sure I’ve seen in Trader Joe’s.  I guess it’s more exotic on a flight from Frankfurt to Helsinki than it is at home!

I was in the hotel by 7, and was able to use the WiFi to call home.  Then I went out for a little walk — the temperature is about 1 degree Celsius, which I guess is quite warm for Finland in January.  I didn’t know where I was going to go, other than “downtown”, but I took my GPS (well, Diane’s) with me, and eventually found myself at a cache.  Unlike the one at Frankfurt Airport, this was a real cache, so I had to find the hidden object and log my find — this was tricky while wearing gloves, and I eventually had to take them off to deal with the pen. 

Then it was back to the hotel for a snack (I guess that’s my sixth meal of the day!).  I’m trying to decide if I should take a sauna or just call it a night — or go back out and take some pictures of Helsinki by night.  My mind would like to go do something active, but I think I’ll listen to my body’s call for sleep instead!