Final Finland update (part 1 - May 12)
May. 15th, 2006 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velessaI didn't have access to a computer for the last few days, so this is going to get looooong. I'll split it up by day.
This day started off slowly. I stayed at the apartment all morning while Jennie went to have her nails done and Jani went with his mother to Helsinki. When Jennie came back she had very nice French tips with a butterfly on the ring finger nail, and we ate gigantic Finnish cinnamon buns for breakfast/lunch.
Around noon Jani came back and we drove over to pick up the flowers for the wedding. There seemed to be some confusion about it as the flower lady didn't have the bridesmaid bouquets or the corsages done, so all we got was Jennie's bouquet and the flowers for her hair. Jani would have to go pick up the rest of them the next day.
Next came the wedding rehearsal. The flowers were dropped off and stored in the hotel fridge, then we walked down the road to the church by the lake. The church is very old but quite pretty inside, especially the chandaliers. Margaret ran the rehearsal, and then after that there was some free time before we needed to start shuttling people to the train station to go to Helsinki for dinner. Cindra, Erin, and I watched some Finnish tv in their room for a while (strange stuff; a cooking show on MTV?), then Jani drove our group to the train station.
When we got there I realized I still hadn't tried the pear ice cream yet (Jani's favorite), and I wanted to before I left. There are little ice cream stands all over the place, and I knew one of them was next to the train station, and since we had a bit of time before the train came...well I guess I got everyone in the mood for ice cream, because Jennie's whole family followed along and tried a bunch of different flavors. I can see why Jani likes the pear one so much, it is delicious! I wish we had it here.
The train came not too much later and everyone went to Helsinki; I think we got there around 6pm and dinner was at 7:30. People who needed to exchange money did so in the train station, which was pretty much everyone except us girls. We arranged to meet them back there at 6:40, then went off on our own to pick up the dry cleaning from the department store across the street. That done, we snooped around the bakery and got ourselves a pre-dinner snack before going back and joining the others.
A lot of the group decided to walk to the restaurant (I guess so they could see more of the city on the way there), but the girls and Jani chose to take the subway there (easier and made use of the transit card Jennie had just loaded up with money because she had expected everyone to take the subway). When we got to the restaurant there was some confusion about where people would be sitting. Jennie had reserved two private rooms, one seating ten and the other seating twenty, but the rooms weren't really near each other. Jennie's mom didn't like that and wanted us to sit in some tables next to the big room. The staff hadn't set them but said they could do it...however, that was in the main section of the restaurant, where smoking is allowed. Smoke really agitates Jennie and Cindra (and me somewhat), and Jennie finally convinced her mom to let us go take the other room (diplomatically leaving out the fact that additionally she also just wanted to get away from her for a while). So the small room ended up belonging to Jennie, Jani, me, Cindra, Erin, and Jani's parents, aunt, and uncle.
I should mention what this restaurant looked like. Um...14th century hunting lodge? Brick building, old fashioned looking, right on the waterfront. The waiters are dressed like pages or something, they look like they should be at a Renaissance fair. The entire place is covered in dead, stuffed animals. Bears, birds, rabbits, deer, etc. Any typical forest creature you can think of either had its skin, head, or whole body there in the restaurant. Kind of freaky actually; I had an owl staring at me the entire time during dinner.
Dinner was very good - soup, entree, and dessert. The soup turned out to be my favorite part; it was cream of asparagus with bell pepper froth on top. That may not sound very appetizing, but it was sooooooo yummy! For the main course I tried the reindeer because really, when would I get another chance for that? Poor Rudolph. And Dasher, and Dancer, and Donner, and Blitzen...reindeer was a popular choice that night. ;) It was decent, although I'm not really much of a meat eater. The outside was too peppery for me, and it was a bit more charred on top than I would have liked, but the inside was good, if a little underdone in some places. It tasted kind of like beef but not. Dessert was chocolate cheesecake, but it didn't really look or taste like any chocolate cheesecake I'd ever had. It was okay, not great.
I don't think we got out of the restaurant until 10:30 or 11. It's hard to tell it's getting late since in Finland right now it doesn't really get dark until 11:30pm or so. This time everyone took the subway back to the train station, and then it was back to the hotel for some rest before the big day.
This day started off slowly. I stayed at the apartment all morning while Jennie went to have her nails done and Jani went with his mother to Helsinki. When Jennie came back she had very nice French tips with a butterfly on the ring finger nail, and we ate gigantic Finnish cinnamon buns for breakfast/lunch.
Around noon Jani came back and we drove over to pick up the flowers for the wedding. There seemed to be some confusion about it as the flower lady didn't have the bridesmaid bouquets or the corsages done, so all we got was Jennie's bouquet and the flowers for her hair. Jani would have to go pick up the rest of them the next day.
Next came the wedding rehearsal. The flowers were dropped off and stored in the hotel fridge, then we walked down the road to the church by the lake. The church is very old but quite pretty inside, especially the chandaliers. Margaret ran the rehearsal, and then after that there was some free time before we needed to start shuttling people to the train station to go to Helsinki for dinner. Cindra, Erin, and I watched some Finnish tv in their room for a while (strange stuff; a cooking show on MTV?), then Jani drove our group to the train station.
When we got there I realized I still hadn't tried the pear ice cream yet (Jani's favorite), and I wanted to before I left. There are little ice cream stands all over the place, and I knew one of them was next to the train station, and since we had a bit of time before the train came...well I guess I got everyone in the mood for ice cream, because Jennie's whole family followed along and tried a bunch of different flavors. I can see why Jani likes the pear one so much, it is delicious! I wish we had it here.
The train came not too much later and everyone went to Helsinki; I think we got there around 6pm and dinner was at 7:30. People who needed to exchange money did so in the train station, which was pretty much everyone except us girls. We arranged to meet them back there at 6:40, then went off on our own to pick up the dry cleaning from the department store across the street. That done, we snooped around the bakery and got ourselves a pre-dinner snack before going back and joining the others.
A lot of the group decided to walk to the restaurant (I guess so they could see more of the city on the way there), but the girls and Jani chose to take the subway there (easier and made use of the transit card Jennie had just loaded up with money because she had expected everyone to take the subway). When we got to the restaurant there was some confusion about where people would be sitting. Jennie had reserved two private rooms, one seating ten and the other seating twenty, but the rooms weren't really near each other. Jennie's mom didn't like that and wanted us to sit in some tables next to the big room. The staff hadn't set them but said they could do it...however, that was in the main section of the restaurant, where smoking is allowed. Smoke really agitates Jennie and Cindra (and me somewhat), and Jennie finally convinced her mom to let us go take the other room (diplomatically leaving out the fact that additionally she also just wanted to get away from her for a while). So the small room ended up belonging to Jennie, Jani, me, Cindra, Erin, and Jani's parents, aunt, and uncle.
I should mention what this restaurant looked like. Um...14th century hunting lodge? Brick building, old fashioned looking, right on the waterfront. The waiters are dressed like pages or something, they look like they should be at a Renaissance fair. The entire place is covered in dead, stuffed animals. Bears, birds, rabbits, deer, etc. Any typical forest creature you can think of either had its skin, head, or whole body there in the restaurant. Kind of freaky actually; I had an owl staring at me the entire time during dinner.
Dinner was very good - soup, entree, and dessert. The soup turned out to be my favorite part; it was cream of asparagus with bell pepper froth on top. That may not sound very appetizing, but it was sooooooo yummy! For the main course I tried the reindeer because really, when would I get another chance for that? Poor Rudolph. And Dasher, and Dancer, and Donner, and Blitzen...reindeer was a popular choice that night. ;) It was decent, although I'm not really much of a meat eater. The outside was too peppery for me, and it was a bit more charred on top than I would have liked, but the inside was good, if a little underdone in some places. It tasted kind of like beef but not. Dessert was chocolate cheesecake, but it didn't really look or taste like any chocolate cheesecake I'd ever had. It was okay, not great.
I don't think we got out of the restaurant until 10:30 or 11. It's hard to tell it's getting late since in Finland right now it doesn't really get dark until 11:30pm or so. This time everyone took the subway back to the train station, and then it was back to the hotel for some rest before the big day.
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Date: 2006-05-15 06:59 pm (UTC)OMG
Date: 2006-05-16 04:56 pm (UTC)