Day 2 - Lappi Dappi Doo

Today was the main day for doing stuff but as Katerina arrived at 4am, we both found a need to sleep until 10am (and as the breakfast buffet closes at 11, we had to get a move on). At the buffet, we had 30 minutes to stuff our faces so wescavenged like vultures on crack. I ate a lot of bread with ham and reindeer prosciutto, some sausage (or bratwurst) and bacon (or jerky) with mushrooms while Katerina put healthy me to shame by eating yogurt and lots of vegetables. This was all sloshed down with some coffee and we went out to experience Helsinki.

First though as I had lost my iPhone cable, I needed to drop by the Apple store to get a new one (which unfortunately I was somewhat fleeced on - a by-product of monopoly I guess). We then took off around the old town walk. Passing by lots of statues and churches it reminded me of Kiev with the gold topped towers (which I learnt from an advertisement that they are professionally goldleafed - the work involved!). We decided to go inside and take a few pictures.

The whole church was similar to ones I had experienced in Kiev, with icons and opulent surroundings but one disappointing difference - no people praying :(. I feel now after seeing the observant nature of the Ukrainians in their churches, I kinda think it builds an atmosphere that makes the churches more an experience (if you believe or not). I attempted to read a tablet on the wall but Katerina corrected my mistakes but its nice to have these mini-lessons.

We continued our circular route talking business and opportunities while passing by a stuffed reindeer outside the Finnish souvenir shop. We both stopped to give it a nice stroke (as Reindeer skin is a tactile experience in itself) and decided to take a break and have a coffee

in Waynes Coffee (a chain here). We sat with our Cappuccinos and talked about where to go in the evening and about the funny kid sitting on the table next to us with a chocolate pudding face (memories). We glanced at some of the clothes shops on our way back to the hotel.

As the Raddison was a good quality hotel and Finnish, they had free sauna for the guests and as saunas are a given in Finland, we spend 30 minutes sweating out our troubles (ok bad expression) in the mens and womens saunas. Fortunately, there were no other guys in my sauna so I had the chance to add LOTS of steam and totally steam myself like a lobster. Suffice to say when we both came out of our separate saunas, we looked like a special in a seafood restaurant. We went to the room and got changed for our evening out.

Before the trip, I discovered a nice looking restaurant serving Lapland food called (creatively) Lappi. Sadly the waiter informed they were booked until 8pm so we

had to find a place to hang out or eat at instead for 90 minutes. We walked into the centre andfound a couple of interesting places (like a bar dedicated to VitaminWater) and Mexican and Italian foods but Katerina said I must eat Finnish. We stopped in a super stylish bar populated with suits and furred up Russian women that reminded me of Ivana Humpalot from Austin Powers (but then again I was furrier than them in my super warm jumper). As the beers were €7 a pop, we were well happywith just the one and we walked back to Lappi for dinner.

We were seated and looked through the menu. In my infinite curiousity, I punted for the reindeer fillet with rosti, celeriac creme and rich wine sauce. Katerina tried the fish of the day (perch) with bulgar wheat salad (which was mighty tasty too). One thing we noticed while we were both enjoying our meals was actually how small our portions were compared to EVERYONE else in the restaurant. This was further enhanced by our Lappish cheeseboard dessert (which shocked even her). I guess its not much of a saturated fat hit though.

We walked back home, watched 'America's Sweethearts' on the TV (with subtitles) and got a relatively (to yesterday) early night.