Day one in Helsinki (continued)

So, typing this in a fancy hotel foyer in Estonia, keyboard only marginally better than the one at the hostel. So, this may have better spelling, but may not.
It just seems so long ago, my first day in Helsinki! It's Saturday, and I arrived Weds, but I am counting Thurs as the first day, so it's really not that long ago. After booking my trip and figuring out where a few things were, I wandered around looking for lunch. I found a nice cafe, here they are very into the whole grab a tray and cafeteria type thing. So, I got a wrap with some kind of ham and coleslaw filling and a coffee and sat at the window watching it, trying to harshly judge everyone who walked past. It was fun. Teenagers here, on the whole, not so cool, but I reckon that's because they have 18 layers on.

I then walked up to the Helsinki National History Museum, which is a short walk from where I had lunch but took me ages because I was taking so many photos - it was fantastic! I past the Parliament House, which is very cool and columned, and then took a whole heap of photos around the Museum before I went in. It is divided into different eras, going through Stone Age right up to relatively recently. I started reading everything, but there was a lot there, and my interest in the small details waned as I went along - but I reckon I got a good overview, and saw a lot of very cool history type stuff.

I had a quick coffee here, and then headed on. I really didn't want to spend any more time at the hostel than I had to, because it is pretty depressing - not just the very basic simplicity, but also the flouro lights and the fact that the shared area between rooms on each floor is the smoking area, and so there is the faint smell of smoke in my room, and it's all lino and stuff. Not lovely. Looking at This Week in Helsinki (the monthly tourist magazine) I had decided that rather than entertaining myself with a movie, I would go to the Opera, Tosca was playing, but I was less excited when I realised it was not going to be sung in Finnish... At the information place, I got some info on other performances, there was the Helsinki (or Finnish) Symphony Orchestra, a musical type thing with local celebrities singing traditional Finnish songs and a play based on a book about the 20th Century history of Helsinki. I went for the latter for 2 reasons: #1 it was a play, and #2, it was quite close to my residence. So, after the museum, I went for a long walk around a lake - it was getting quite dark at this point, so many of my photos did not work well - and I freaked out some ducks with my flash. The lake is quite frozen, but the ducks and swans still swim in it - that's crazy! Haven't they heard of migrating? So, it was getting quite dark at about 3:30 or 4. The 24 hour darkness thing I was looking forward to is not really that exciting - it's actually not that much darker than London, but at least I have been very lucky during the days, because whilst it has been very cold, it is clear and sunny. Most of today there was snow swirling about in the air, but not enough to even hit the ground.

I wandered up to the theatre, it was almost 5 at this point, and chatted to the coat check woman. Further note - they are very, very good at checking coats and stuff here. Ultra organised, and most places don't charge. Love it. There was a series of historical photos about Helsinki and Finland, and a talk was about to happen about it, but given that it would have not been in English, I decided to grab some food before the play started at 7. I went to another Italian place (not sure what I was thinking - but it was much better!) and had Reindeer Tortolini - I was worried I might not get to try reindeer, and certainly wasn't expecting it in that form, and it was delicious! It was a pasta bake kind of thing, and it was lovely. Then, experience the supermarket where I bought various toiletries (including a toothbrush - yay for the toothbrush! - and chocolate and vanilla scented shampoo and conditioner. I've used them several times since - I don't think they smell so much of chocolate and vanilla. Disappointing.) and then headed back up to the theatre. I bought a ticket and a program (all Finnish - no help!) and waiting for 40 mins until the doors opened. It was a very large theatre, and I got a ticket in the balcony, first row, which was awesome - excellent view, and there were only about 20 people in the balcony, so it was spread out. Comfy seats - can you tell I don't want to write too much about the performance because I didn't follow the story - well, I followed the general story of oppression and violence and guns, bit of Russian nasties and Hitler nasties, and relationship break ups, although sometimes when I'd thought it was a mother and son, I realised it was actually a husband and wife. The actors were great - I got a great sense of their status and interrelationships from their performances, and I even had a little cry, though why I may never know! At interval, I was so embarrassed to show that I didn't speak Finnish that I didn't get a drink or anything... I mean, why on earth would you go to see something you couldn't understand! I must be insane...

I walked home from there, didn't get lost, and came across a beautiful church which is just around the corner from the hostel. As I took a couple of photos, a local man (not drunk - although at that time of night, there are a lot of very drunk men about in this area) asked if I was taking a photo of the church or the owl - and when I looked confused, he explained that there is an owl living in the church tower, quite famously, apparently!

I got home (I shall call it that) and headed to bed after a brief while on the Internet. Then, sleep. Wow, this was a long and adventure packed day - or perhaps I am just rambling!