Getting There

What a long day.

Some of you might recall that my ticket to Europe didn't cost me a penny, because I was able to cash in my ScotiaBank Rewards points. This was back in January. In February, ScotiaBank called to let me know they had changed the time of my first flight from Ottawa to Toronto, which was all fine and dandy... except they changed the flight and did not issue a new ticket for me. So when I got to the airport, I discovered that I would not be able to board until I got in touch with ScotiaBank Rewards for them to issue a new ticket for me. It was more than a little stressful, because I was on hold for the longest time, seeing the minutes tick by, and my eventual departure getting closer. Finally, it was all sorted out, and I could get on my way. But the woman who checked me in at the airport was just like a character out of a Carol Burnett sketch: she had a bad cold and kept coughing and sniffling, as she tried to help me. Then, she turned into a character from "Little Britain": "computer says no".

I had a nice julienne salad with olive oil vinaigrette at the Ottawa airport. What I remember from doing Atkins while travelling to Europe is that the absence of carbs in my diet really helped keep the jet lag in check.

The flight to Toronto was fairly uneventful, and I just read stories from the Archie comic book collection I bought myself at the airport. I then boarded my flight from Toronto to Amsterdam, which left at 11:00 p.m. my time (but really 5:00 a.m. Amsterdam time). As we were getting ready for take-off, I realized I was sitting in an aisle seat, while the window seat remained empty. I asked a steward if I could switch seats. He told me to wait until the captain had turned off the seat belt sign to change my seat. As soon as he did, a strapping young fellow came up to me and said that he could claim his window seat just then. So much for that idea.

I had a very restless sleep because I just could not get comfortable. Finally, at 3:00 a.m. my time (9:00 a.m. Amsterdam time), I gave up trying to sleep and read Archie comics. Breakfast consisted of orange juice, a blueberry muffin and strawberry yogurt. I guess my diet is officially off now.

We had a very smooth flight, no turbulence at all, and we got into Amsterdam at 11:59 a.m., as per schedule. As my luggage was being checked through, straight to Helsinki, I did not have to worry about it while I made my way to the gate for my next flight. We left Amsterdam at 1:55 p.m. and arrived without a hitch in Helsinki at 5:30 p.m. local time. (I did not realize this before-hand, but I lost another hour from Amsterdam time, so I am 7 hours ahead of Ottawa time.) During the flight, the whole crew was happy to point out that on this day, the Netherlands have a new king, in the person of Willem Alexander. I was in the middle of my reading when we arrived in Finland, and I thought "But I'm not Finnish" (haha).

Having arrived in Helsinki, I luckily decided against taking the 48 euro cab ride from the airport, and discovered that the airport shuttle was just 6 euros. (Huge savings). My hotel room is quaint, small, but very functional. It is in a converted castle in the downtown core on Lönnrotinkatu street (in Finnish) and Lönnrotsgatan (in Swedish). All signage in Helsinki is bilingual Finnish/Swedish, without a word of English. The receptionist at the hotel was so accommodating. She insisted that my Swedish was very good and responded just slowly enough for me to understand everything she said. I guess I'm not as rusty as I thought.

Today is Väppu, the traditional May Day festivities celebrating workers. People in the streets are wearing sailors' hats and loose-fitting orange pants covered in decals. They are also carrying various balloon animals, and drinking heavily. Quite a few tipsy people on the streets, and I also saw a young man so inebriated he was peeing openly in the street. That's a side of Helsinki you don't see on postcards.

I made my way to a small corner store, where I was told I could find two traditional Finnish delicacies I really wanted to try: lihapiirakka (sausage and meatball pastry) and karjalanpiirakka (boiled rice on filo pastry). Now I know why Finnish cuisine is known as one of the blandest in the world. Imagine plain, unsalted rice on a filo pastry.

So that's mostly it. It is now 9:15, so I think I can head off to bed. Tomorrow night, I'm off to see the Benny and Björn musical, "Kristina från Duvemåla", in the original Swedish. Can't wait!! Good night everyone. God natt alla.