Helsinki - Day 4

On our final day in Helsinki we took a stroll to the Hakaniemi Market hall (right) to see if there were any goods we could bring back to London with us.  Well the answer is 'not really' as it was mostly fresh food and other perishables.  I'm not going to write a detailed blog but you can go here if you want to read about it.  Again we were given Helsinki's best weather :D

Some of the goods on offer.  Market fruit and vegetables.  Various smoked fish.  Spices to add a bit of heat to Finnish food in the cold winter. 

Yes, this tram was in Helsinki and not Melbourne.

We returned to the airport on the trusty bus that carted us in.  Always one to look at the dutyfree on offer we found some Lapland specialities, bear soup and roast bear in a can.  Umm... yum?  We considered buying some to try back home but thought better as canned food is never as good as the real thing.  Maybe next time in restaurant....

And on that note, we bid Helsinki adieu! 

Day 3 - A detour to Tallinn

Smee had such a good idea whilst researching for our trip to Helsinki. Tallinn, the capital of Estonia was only a 85km ferry ride away! Yippee! I'm a sucker for turrets and in the photos I saw, Tallinn sure did have turrets. It was a beautiful day and dare I say warm for such a latitude. Nice, nice.

Just tip to all the illegal immigrants in Helsinki. If you commit a crime and need to go on the run - get on the ferry to Tallinn. Vice versa for crims in Tallinn. There are no passport checks! Even if you look terribly foreign like me, you can still waltz through without any hassles.

Our ferry to Tallinn.

The Helsinki Linda Line terminal was a modern affair. The Tallinn terminal was a case of ... 'where the hell is it? Oh is it that grey shed? Nah it can't be...... No, wait, it is the grey shed!'  Once docked, we disembarked onto a port which looked more like an afterthought on a spare bit of land.  Hrrrrrm.

My top tip for being a tourist in an unfamiliar place is 'follow the crowd'.  This tip doesn't really work if the crowd disperses by which you can blame your own stupidity for not having some form of map.  The crowd might take you past......

....a park of concrete piling and ......

... a dodgy building purporting to be the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (it looked more like an ex-KGB building) but the crowd gets you there in the end.  Aaah the relief upon seeing the turrets of the old city walls!

As with most 'Old Towns' in Europe, it's full of charming cobbled streets and the centre is where the main action is.  Before heading there Smee and I tried to find the ex-KGB headquarters (for those interested it's at 61 Pikk and is now the Ministry of the Interior) but we couldn't locate number 61 :-S  Interrogations and torture were said to have been conducted there but we couldn't identify the building which is said to have bricked up windows. 

Smee knocking on the door and at the centre of the Old Town. 

Good weather really shows off a city and Tallinn was on her best behaviour. 

Medieval carts and Estonians in Medieval garb fulfilled our cheesy tourist desires.

Another turretted entrance.  Spot the sign of globalisation! (you might need to click on the pic)

Street vendors (left) selling their wares along the walls, namely the various goods produced by Estonian folk knitting to which my untrained eye looked a lot like Fair Isle knitting.  I thought it was a bit inappropriate to be selling such stuff in this kind of weather but I supposed they have limb-freezing winters here.  Ready for the tourist onslaught were the typical scarves, knitted hats, baby clothes.  What really caught my eye were the beanies with a crown which tapered off after a ridiculous 1.4 metre length.  You had the choice of a 'one legged' hat or a 'two legged' hat.  It was there and then I decided I loved daggy hats with ridiculous crowns.  In the warm Estonian sun, I tried on a blue/grey two legged hat and then asked the vendor 'What do I do with these legs?'.  She then wrapped each leg around my neck and knotted the pom-pom embellished legs together to form a scarf.  Ingenious!  A scarf-hat!  How useful!  Now I wouldn't have to carry a separate hat and scarf!

What stopped us from sealing the deal was that Estonia uses it's own currency and not the Euro.  We were short on the cost of the hat and the vendor wouldn't budge on the price and there was no way Smee and I could be bothered going to ATM to withdraw more local currency as we were leaving in about 2 hours.  We later calculated our shortfall was only 50 Euro cents!  She wouldn't budge on 50 cents dammit!  In that case, I settled on my second choice - a pink/grey single legged hat which I am camwhoring on the right there. 

To tick off the rest of the list we made our way to the the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the salmon coloured entrance to the Toompea Castle.  Then we made our way up Toompea hill to enjoy the views of the city.  I also maximised my opportunity of running through the tiled arches and walking through doors not tall enough even for the likes of me.

Our Estonian day drew to close and we made our way back to the Tallinn shed.

For anyone considering a trip to Helsinki, a day trip to Tallinn should be on your itinerary.  There isn't that much to do Helsinki anyway! I'm so glad to have enjoyed the charm of the Tallinn old town. *thumbs up*

Helsinki - Day 2

We had only just prepared for bed last night at 2am. Out of curiosity I looked out the hotel window to see that the sun was rising again. :-O Man, this place totally screws with your circadian rhythm.

In contrast to yesterday, today was a lovely day. Sunny enough for sunglasses! We tottered down the street alongside Esplanade Park to reach the Kauppatori Market Square. Fresh fruit and vegetables were on offer along with Finnish food and souvenirs. I'm not sure how often it runs but it seems to be everyday. It was while inspecting cheesy souvenirs (hello toy elks!) that we found out that the Finnish word for Finland is 'Suomi'. How cute! Hello, my Suomi friend.

Wooden posts and pans. Finnish food all ready for consumption. Turtles near the dock.

It was pretty much a laze-about day with us wandering from one ferry terminal to another to find out the most efficient ferry for our day trip to Tallinn tomorrow *excited face*. We opted for Linda Line rather than Viking as the former would only take 1.5 hours in comparison to the 2.5 hour cruise. A little more expensive but not terribly more so and worth it to ensure we had enough time for a day trip to Tallinn.

We paused for a photo of the Uspenski Cathedral.

We returned to Senate Square to see what the cathedral looked liked during the day. It looked the same.

We did a spot of shopping at Stockmann (kinda like David Jones) and came back with some goodies.

Marshmallow clouds..... squishy! Hamburger sauce, the best there is! With gherkins too!

And errr.... horse meat. Really. I do like my cured meats so we thought 'why not?' It was .... weird. It was gamey and some more. The only way I can describe the taste is akin to having a 'smell in your mouth'. Smee didn't mind it and happily ate the share I no longer wanted.

Tomorrow, we're going to Estonia! Tallinn time! Yippee!

Helsinki - Day 1

For the second May Bank Holiday we decided to hit Scandinavia, Helsinki-style. I'm not one for the cold so this was the ideal time to go. We touched down at lunch time and clouds looked like they were going to crack. We boarded the Finnair Bus to take us to the city centre and by the time we reached our destination it was pissing down. Our hotel wasn't too far according to the map but trying to get your bearings in an unfamiliar city in the pouring rain - not a good start.

Smee and I ran through the puddles and over some tram tracks to reach Hotel Glo. Our room was a little small (I think we got stiffed!) but otherwise I'd recommend it. How can you not recommend a hotel who arranges a little white tiger on your bed?  Too bad he wasn't free.  I would have taken him home in an instant!  Also, the hotel is opposite the Fazer Cafe, the Finnish equivalent to Lindt. 

Our early morning flight and lack of previous night's sleep meant that we napped as soon as we checked in.  Hehehe.  Hey, it was raining and we weren't exactly keen on battling the un-winnable war with the puddles.  Upon waking it was dinner time!  Of all places we chose to eat at the nearby Belgian restaurant, Belge.  Smee had a mussels craving you see.

From the exterior, Belge looked like any other modern pub.  The dining area was upstairs (away from the general noise) and also next to a really cool Library Bar section.  Oooh the epitome of Geek Chic. The menus were presented in a Tin-Tin book!  The food was more expensive than London (wtf) and passable to say the least.  Our bill was presented to us a in a book.  Cute.

In order to aid our digestion, we decided to take a walk around the town.  It was a bit bizarre to be walking around at 11pm and for daylight to still be visible.  It was like I was on another planet, where day is night and night is day!

The Helsinki Cathedral of Senate Square.... at 11pm at night.  Ker-razy!

Ok, now off to bed... in the daylight.  *looks side to side*

The Yummiest Biscuits

I came across these Fortnum & Mason Rose biscuits on my recent hemispherical hike. Final destination - Meme's home. When I saw the packaging and read the biscuit description, my mouth already began to water. How delighted I was when Meme offered me a few after I presented her the goodies! How happy I was to be given my very own tube from Meme's sis as a thank you for successfully fulfilling pack-mule duties.

Mmmmm buttery goodness with crystallised rose petals. Mmmmm buttery-rosy smell.... mmmmmmmm

The little rhyme on the front is super-cute: Violets are blue, Roses are red, These little biscuits just go to one's head!

If you don't like rose water, turkish delight and other rosy stuff, probably best you don't eat them. Otherwise for me it's gorging time! Don't worry Moo, I'll bring a tube home next time.

Race for Life

That time of the year has come around again when I commit myself to some charity runs. It is really the only way I can get out of the house and exercise. I can't believe this is the third time I've done the Regents Park Race for Life 5km run. Wow, time flies when you're getting old! Also joining was a sick Lil Miss J, J and K. Of course, all the men came along to support us and more importantly, carry our bags.

Lil Miss J and I participating in the group aerobics warm-up (right). The best bit was when we broke out in a Mel & Kim style dance. There is video evidence but it wont be posted (unless by popular demand!)

Like previous years, it ended up being quite sunny even though the morning had threatened rain. My training had only been so-so and yeah I could feel it while jogging. The good thing about having done the course previously, you know what was coming and it was easy to tell when the finish line was near. I couldn't foster up enough energy to sprint over the line so don't be fooled by the photo. Smee was shouting for me to pose for the camera but while I was looking for him I couldn't see or hear him above the other cheering

Despite the mediocre training I was pretty chuffed with the time I clocked in - 30 minutes flat. Yay!

Greeting me at the finish line was my little midget looking less midgety and even a little bored to have waited for me to run my course. Lil Miss J didn't care; she just wanted to snatch him from me! My next run - 10k in July!

*Edit: Due to popular demand! (ok, it was only SuBoo and J, of which J has seen it) I've posted up the video of Lil Miss J and I doing aerobics. You can clearly hear Kahoons saying "Pooey, this is not Loop" and then I re-create my proton gun move. The best compliment about this clip was from Kt who asked "Where did you guys learn to dance like that?" We didn't! We just broke out in dance!

Tim Tams

For the record, I was never one who crave Tim Tams. They're certainly a nice biscuit but I wasn't one of those fiends who would eat whole packets in a single sitting. Since living in London, it's a case of 'you don't know what you got til it's gone'. Sure, the Penguin biscuits are very similar (my not so discerning tastebuds can't really tell the difference) but sometimes you just want the biscuit to come out of a Tim Tam wrapper.

Whilst back for the wedding, of course this was an opportunity to stock up on such treats. While filling up my basket with Twisties, BBQ shapes, Burger Rings I saw that the Tim Tam range had some seasonal flavours. Well I'm not one to resist so I bought a packet of each along with a jumbo sized original Tim Tam pack.
Incidentally, I bought $50 worth of snacks.

Mmm Black forest Tim Tam.

Mmmmmm Choc Hazelnut Tim Tam.

Mmmmm Creme Caramel Tim Tam.

For anyone who's wondering, yes, they've been devoured.

The Wedding!

The lead up to The Wedding was about as anti-Bridezilla as you could get.

Wedding shoes? Err.. only purchased 7 days before the wedding.
Quartet? The original musicians never confirmed their commitment so a replacement quartet headed by Kt's sister T were confirmed 5 days before.
Music? Quartet, please play what you guys think sounds nice.
Singer? Please liaise with quartet and sing a hymn which you guys think is nice. Groom and Bride are not musically inclined.
Dance lessons? None - male Lymbo is fairly adept on the floor and decided he'll lead the female Lymbo. Any dance rehearsals together in the privacy of their own home? Of course not! Let's just wing it on the night.
Cheongsam for the tea ceromony? Bought 3 days before from a very rude woman.
Rehearsal? Priest couldn't make it. My partnered groomsman wasn't there.

But you know what? Without my such blogging, no one would have known! Everything worked out oh-so-fine!

Hai Moo, Hai Spu.

The wedding of the male and female Lymbo began for the female bridal party at 8am. I'm pretty sure the boys were still snuggled up in bed. By Asian Wedding standards, an 8am start is not bad. For my previous stint as a bridesmaid we were woken at the ungodly hour of 4am for a 9am tea ceremony.

There was a small kerfuffle when I arrived at Lymbo's house and realised I forgot the all-important strapless bra. I contemplated calling my Papa to bring it over but then instead borrowed Lymbo's car and drove myself home. Lucky we live only five minutes apart.

Beautifying had already begun with hair in rollers and make up on it's way. Our transformation from fugly to *rawr* was courtesy of Lil Miss J's make-up team. I do have to say, I was pretty happy that I 1. didn't look skanky, 2. I didn't turn out skank and 3. the make up wasn't skanky :D

We were all done and fairy-dusted by 12-ish in time for some lunch. At 1pm the photographer arrived for 'dressing the bride' shots. There wasn't much posing (which is a good thing), we just got on with dress Lymbo and the photographers snapped away. We were ready to leave with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately the freeway wasn't on our side (there was an accident) and we had to detour.

It just so happened that the groomsmen caught up to our car close to the church. Unaware of that fact but needing a thirst quencher, our driver detoured to the closest petrol station. Of course, this was in the opposite direction of the church. A panicky mobile phone call from the groomsmen followed - "Where are you guys going!?!?"

Already running late, we moseyed on up to the church only to be asked to do another block because the groom wasn't there! The ceremony was meant to be at 3pm but I later heard that the groomsmen didn't leave home until 2.50pm! What the...

We opted not to do the one step-feet together walk because it took too long and we felt it would lessen our chances of pokkai-ing if we just walked normally. So of course I ran up the the aisle like a nutter. I got excited walking up because there were people in the pews I hadn't seen in ages! I nearly stopped on the way up the aisle to say HAI!

The krazy bridesmaid... oh wait, that's me. The not-krazy maid of honour. The bride and Daddy.

The vows had to be restarted after female Lymbo faltered with a 'err.... we do?' SO FARNIE! I met my partnered groomsman for the first time as we exited the church. 'Hello Groomsman, I'm Pooey!'. After the ceremony we tottered around the uni campus for the professional photos. We bumped into another wedding party with the UGLIEST bridesmaids dresses - they were army green. Bleah!

Posing with the peeps.

Time flew by and we had to make our way to the reception. People were already enjoying themselves, one even quoting 'Sorry I haven't been taking many photos, I've been having too much fun.'

The table setting.

Cakey.Wedding crashers enjoying the cakey. A photo of our bridemaidsy hair!

Speeches were given by all the relevant parties including yours truly and maid of honour. We opted to give our speech ahead of the groomsmen just so we could 'get it over and done with'. All I can say is, YAY for lame jokes and cheap laughs! I had prepared some audience members to 'laugh even if it's not funny' and 'fist pump even if you aren't enjoying our speech'.

Undoubtedly, the best bit of the night were the wedding games. Yes I was the instigator of such treachery. The pictures pretty much explain themselves.

Guess when the bride is kissing me? Or another male.

Guess who's bum is the belongs to the groom. Too many volunteers for that.

Move a golf ball through the grooms' pants. Yes.... savoury. We opted not to use a raw egg just in case there was an accident.

We partied long and hard until the ushering began. A few others moved the party on into a bar but I had a flight to catch in 14 hours. The reliable Spu carted me home.

To male and female Lymbo - a big fat congrats to you from your weeny bridesmaid and more so, I am honored to have been included as part of your wedding party and not just a mere sideliner who comes and eats your food! Yay to your marriage and enjoy the honeymoon!