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Finland update #3
May. 12th, 2006 09:01 amThursday morning Jennie and Jani had to go pick up the car they're renting to haul people around in for the next few days. The rental place described it as a "bus," but it's barely bigger than a minivan and only seats 9, including the driver.
Anyway after they came back with the car we headed out to Helsinki (by train) for some bowling action. There's a new bowling alley Jani wanted to go to on the 5th floor of a mall, so we went to try it out. I like that you rent the lane by the hour, not pay per game per person, so you can bowl as many games as you want to within an hour if you're fast enough. There were just the three of us, so we managed to get in two games. Obviously I didn't bring my bowling stuff with me to Finland, so I had to make do with a house ball and shoes. I hate house balls because if the span fits, then the finger holes are waaaay to big and I can barely hold on to the ball. Such was the case with the 13 pound ball I chose, but by the second I did sort of figure out how to bowl somewhat normally even though I had to hang on for dear life.
The first game was terrible. I got an 84, Jani had 96, and I think Jennie had 65 or something like that. There was one funny moment where Jennie slipped or skidded or something during her approach and she swung around hopping doing a little dance; it's a good thing she didn't let go of the ball! The next game was better, although the machine screwed up a couple of times; we didn't bother with wasting time to fix scores, though. It gave Jennie a spare when she hit 9 and Jani a strike when he only hit 7. It never gave me anything! =P But I did a lot better that time around and even had a double! My final score was 139, which is not bad at all for me considering my average is 120. I think Jani and Jennie had something like 100 and 81.
Next was lunch. On our way down to the food court I wanted to swing by the pet store and see if they had any intersting Finnish animals, but there wasn't much there. They had the usual assortment of aquarium fish and some lizards/snakes/frogs/turtles. I want an aquarium again. What is nice about pet stores here is because so many people ride horses, they all have riding clothes and equipment in them; you don't have to find a specialty store or make a trip to a really big PetSmart to find horse stuff like you would at home.
Anyway for lunch we ate Turkish fast food at a place called Chilli where they serve kebab. What kind of meat is kebab? We think it's lamb. It's sliced meat served with lettuce and tomato and ranch dressing and hot sauce (that isn't hot) and chili peppers (I left those out!). It's pretty good, although I thought it was kind of unusual tasting.
By this time it was time to head back to Järvenpää to get the car and head off to the airport to pick up Jennie'sherd family and Cindra (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cinderfox) and Erin (mommyofbuddy). There were loooots of people, but thankfully most of them were shuttled to the hotel by their tour bus (a lot of Jennie's family is doing a tour of Europe after the wedding), so the only people who went to the hotel with us in our "bus" were Cindra, Erin, and one aunt and uncle.
At the hotel it took some time to get Jennie's family settled in. She had to check all the tuxedos to see if anything needed pressing. Most of them looked fine, there were just a few things that had gotten wrinkled, so we set off for Helsinki again to take them to the dry cleaner there. Cindra and Erin came with us to see a bit of the city, and after dropping off the clothes the five of us had dinner there at Rosso, the restaurant I first had lunch at when I got here (although it had been a different one back in Järvenpää). The food was yummy, although the bread at this Helsinki one wasn't as good as the bread I'd had at the first one.
By then it was pretty late (around 10pm) and we headed back from Helsinki to the hotel in Järvenpää. Cindra and Erin went to their room to get some sleep, while Jennie and Jani (and me, since I have to go where they go!) met with Jennie's cousin Margaret, the wedding coordinator, to go over the details of the next two days. Now, I don't know anything about weddings, and I think I learned more about planning them last night than I ever really cared to know. Reviewing the schedules for two days took something like two hours! It was 12:30am before they were done and we could go back home; all I can say is YIKES. And I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Anyway after they came back with the car we headed out to Helsinki (by train) for some bowling action. There's a new bowling alley Jani wanted to go to on the 5th floor of a mall, so we went to try it out. I like that you rent the lane by the hour, not pay per game per person, so you can bowl as many games as you want to within an hour if you're fast enough. There were just the three of us, so we managed to get in two games. Obviously I didn't bring my bowling stuff with me to Finland, so I had to make do with a house ball and shoes. I hate house balls because if the span fits, then the finger holes are waaaay to big and I can barely hold on to the ball. Such was the case with the 13 pound ball I chose, but by the second I did sort of figure out how to bowl somewhat normally even though I had to hang on for dear life.
The first game was terrible. I got an 84, Jani had 96, and I think Jennie had 65 or something like that. There was one funny moment where Jennie slipped or skidded or something during her approach and she swung around hopping doing a little dance; it's a good thing she didn't let go of the ball! The next game was better, although the machine screwed up a couple of times; we didn't bother with wasting time to fix scores, though. It gave Jennie a spare when she hit 9 and Jani a strike when he only hit 7. It never gave me anything! =P But I did a lot better that time around and even had a double! My final score was 139, which is not bad at all for me considering my average is 120. I think Jani and Jennie had something like 100 and 81.
Next was lunch. On our way down to the food court I wanted to swing by the pet store and see if they had any intersting Finnish animals, but there wasn't much there. They had the usual assortment of aquarium fish and some lizards/snakes/frogs/turtles. I want an aquarium again. What is nice about pet stores here is because so many people ride horses, they all have riding clothes and equipment in them; you don't have to find a specialty store or make a trip to a really big PetSmart to find horse stuff like you would at home.
Anyway for lunch we ate Turkish fast food at a place called Chilli where they serve kebab. What kind of meat is kebab? We think it's lamb. It's sliced meat served with lettuce and tomato and ranch dressing and hot sauce (that isn't hot) and chili peppers (I left those out!). It's pretty good, although I thought it was kind of unusual tasting.
By this time it was time to head back to Järvenpää to get the car and head off to the airport to pick up Jennie's
cinderfox) and Erin (mommyofbuddy). There were loooots of people, but thankfully most of them were shuttled to the hotel by their tour bus (a lot of Jennie's family is doing a tour of Europe after the wedding), so the only people who went to the hotel with us in our "bus" were Cindra, Erin, and one aunt and uncle.At the hotel it took some time to get Jennie's family settled in. She had to check all the tuxedos to see if anything needed pressing. Most of them looked fine, there were just a few things that had gotten wrinkled, so we set off for Helsinki again to take them to the dry cleaner there. Cindra and Erin came with us to see a bit of the city, and after dropping off the clothes the five of us had dinner there at Rosso, the restaurant I first had lunch at when I got here (although it had been a different one back in Järvenpää). The food was yummy, although the bread at this Helsinki one wasn't as good as the bread I'd had at the first one.
By then it was pretty late (around 10pm) and we headed back from Helsinki to the hotel in Järvenpää. Cindra and Erin went to their room to get some sleep, while Jennie and Jani (and me, since I have to go where they go!) met with Jennie's cousin Margaret, the wedding coordinator, to go over the details of the next two days. Now, I don't know anything about weddings, and I think I learned more about planning them last night than I ever really cared to know. Reviewing the schedules for two days took something like two hours! It was 12:30am before they were done and we could go back home; all I can say is YIKES. And I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg.
