Ah, Finnlandia

It's April.  I guess I have had little time to finish the last five days of my travel blog, although thinking about it immediately prior to getting the old laptop set up, I think there have been a couple of psychological factors.  Firstly, the longer I leave something, the more difficult I find it to return to it.  I just need to look at the large stack of half-read books by my bed to get that.  Secondly, I didn't really enjoy my last few days. But, I'll write more on that when I get to Japan. And why would I really want to document stuff I didn't really enjoy (especially when it is likely to sound quite good.  Ah, the human mind!)? But the biggest thing is that when I've written it down, it is really over.  Having said that, I just had a bit of a look through all of my receipts and stuff to get a few maps to remember place names and stuff, and I'll get to do some reliving come tax time!

So, I'm at Beach Rd, sitting on the couch, I have the wireless keyboard on my lap, Bop with his Elizabethan collar on (having had a small fatty lump removed from his elbow, plus two dew claws removed from his back legs) laying alongside me, and I am going to attempt to finish this blog.  Although, given how long it takes, it may need to be finished tomorrow... I'll have it done by the end of Easter, I swear!

So, last entry was the Estonia entry  -what a beautiful trip!  Of course, it had left me with chilblains or frostbite or something all over my legs, so I was not the most comfortable of people - if I had my lovely thermal underwear on, I was ok, but just the baggy jeans tended to rub against the sore skin and made me miserable. My legs had patches of sandpaper roughness for absolutely weeks - it was not very pleasant.

I just went back and quickly read my other entries from Finland - I am hoping to not be too repetitive.  Just had to check that I hadn't complained about the room yet.  The room was fine.  If I ever get around the adding photos to this post, I will put the photo on.  Small room, clean, basic.  Own sink and tea making facilities.  Little cupboard.  Single bed.  Oh so hot.  Had I realised how hot it was going to be in the hotel room in Tokyo, I would have ditched my lovely thermal pyjamas then and there. I have a real issue with accommodation in centrally heated locations that don't allow you to turn off the heat in your room or have  a decent window to open - having said that, I didn't actually ask if I could turn off the heat.  I opened the window, and tried to keep it open during the day, but the latch was broken and it would slam shut.  Sometimes in the middle of the night - good sleeping!

My last day in Finland - I had a pretty decent sleep and got up about 9 or so for breakfast.  Then, packed up all of my stuff into my trusty massive backpack and the lovely little bag I bought at a craft shop (the tourist info makes much of the craft shops, which I thought would be a bit, well, crafty, but actually they were very cool  - often a series of artists who shared shop space.  I bought a few gifts for others and for myself.  Very nice.) and headed into town.  I was meeting Anna at a specific time (and almost three months later, I cannot actually remember what time it was).  I dumped my bag into a locker at the station and wandered over to Kiasma to meet Anna.  Locker security - in London and Edinburgh, they have a guy who takes your bag, pops it through an ex-ray machine, and it is very safe and secure.  In Finland and Japan, it's the old school coin operated locker system.  Interesting.  Well, probably not, actually.

Anna and I had a coffee, the headed in to look at the exhibits.  As I think I mentioned when I went to the exhibit with Dukes in London, I'm not really great at going to stuff with people. I tend to wander off a bit, and I don't expect them to wait for me if I like something, or to be offended with me if I walk off.  It was easy with Anna, possibly partly because I had seen half of the stuff  and didn't mind racing through some stuff.  Also because she was marvellously critical of a lot of it - not rude, just "I don't get it".  I found one of the museum booklets for an exhibit called Full House which was "The Kouri collection of American Minimalist Adventures" and recalled "Untitled (Public Opinion)" by Felix Gonzalez-Torres which was essentially a large pile of licorice candies (wrapped) piled into the corner or a room.  The sign said you should take one, so we did, and were very happy about it - art that really gives back!

After the Kiasma, Anna and I headed to a Nepalese restaurant near the Theatre building next to the station.  Beautiful meal, then we said our goodbyes and I jumped on a train to the airport.  Fairly uneventful wait for the plane... I think it may have been delayed, but I can't quite remember... no. actually, it wasn't.  I'd been vaguely hoping for a delay, as I was checked in to a hotel in Tokyo which I couldn't go in until 4 and knew I would be tired and wanting a shower.  I was due to arrive in Tokyo about 10am, wasn't wanting to carrying my huge backpack around for hours.  Anyhow, uneventful flight.  I couldn't sleep, so I watched some crappy movies (and some good ones... but lots of crappy ones) and that takes me to arriving in Tokyo.