1 post tagged “reindeer”
Here's a wrap-up of my time in Helsinki, with some pictures.
Just walking around downtown Helsinki was the main draw for me. It's a pretty stylish, design-conscious city, and that design-consciousness has gone back many years.
There were great cafes, including one (stylish, expensive) internet cafe with a 100Mbps internet pipe, and great bookstores and libraries.
After a month in the developing world and a week in the overdeveloped world, it was really nice to be someplace sane but comfortable. And while it was fascinating to be clearly marked as an outsider and an ethnic minority in the parts of the developing world I visited, it was really nice to be asked for directions (constantly) in Helsinki. (Responding, "I'm a stranger here myself," in English put the kibosh on those requests pretty quickly.)
The culinary highlight was the Reindeer Menu at Restaurant Lasipalatsi, in the very cool 1930s "Glass Palace" building near the railway station.
