Helsinki

You're so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
You're so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.

Finland has it all.

That's "Erikinkatu" (which means "Erik's Street", "katu" is "street" in Finnish). To me, Erikinkatu isn't what it used to be, sadly. My favourite bar which was there is now closed, and Spinefarm Records, the first record shop to sell techno in Helsinki has dropped it's range of electronic music in favour of metal! But Aki Kaurismäki's bar (that two bars, actually: Corona and MOCKBA, though the latter is quite hard to spot) is still there, as well as the Finnish Film Archive's cinema, so Erikinkatu is still worth a visit.

what does the *Mockva* look like, Tuomas?!

OY is Finnish for Ltd.

That's a fuckin' good advice. If you didn't know, middle-aged Finns take cruises to Tallinn to buy cheap booze and cigarettes, and to act stupid. In the process, they end up ruining the reputation of the rest of us in the eyes of the Tallinners.

Sorry Tiit, I've never heard of Pastacas. The Finnish electronic scene has grown so big, it's hard to keep up with the pace.

the number of saunas there is truly remarkable

Well, sauna is the Finnish national hobby.

what about the ferry to tallin?

what about the one to stockholm?

A cruise ship to Stockholm leaves in the afternoon and arrives to Stockholm next morning. A non-cruise ship is probably faster. Be warned that Helsinki-Stockholm and Helsinki-Tallinn cruise ships are likely to be full of drunken Finns, since cruises are a popular pastime amongst middle-aged folks back here.

How should I spend my evenings. Where can I eat nice cheap food and drink?

out of touch.

Hel-Looks

http://static.flickr.com/38/90554382_107077e847.jpg

There's quite a wind chill this morning. I hope this doesn't make walking around later unpleasant or undooable.

Haha, be glad you didn't come here last week, we had minus 20 degrees Celsius then. This is mild.

(x-post)

(google proofed)

Definately up for tomorrow evening. The more the merrier I say.

Now if only I had clicked on the comment maker's linka at the bottom of the profile, everything would have become clear.

http://www.tapettitalo.fi/

You still haven't given me mine peppermint crisps!

Particularly good were AES-F's huge digital painting called 'The Last Riot'. Hyper sexualised teens fighting each other with samurai swords and big pink Missiles; Charles Sandision's big text projections, letters and words coalesing into images etc.; Kalleinen and Kochta-Kalleinen's 'Complaints Choir of Birmingham'; Martin and Munoz's Snow Domes; Mariele Neudecker's wierd mountains in fish tanks; The crazy moving floor room by I forget whom. Loads of other great stuff as well. Looking forward to going back.

Tuomas! Do you still live in Helsinki? I hope so, because I will be there around Christmastime and want to drink beers with you!

so i have two fairly long layovers in helsinki (one's 8 hours, one's like 15 or 16), both overnight. is the airport reasonably convenient to fun stuff to do? any ideas for late night hijinks?

so I am staying in Töölö next week; any tips on that neighborhood, where to eat, etc.? also I have never been to Helsinki generally so I dunno what else to do there. I'm there to work obv but there will be some time to look around. in particular I'd like to see puzzling Finnish visual art, I want to feel like I'm in an alien place where people eat beaver sausage or vegan beaver sausage or whatever, rather than another European mall (unless the mall has puzzling visual art and sells beaver sausage)

Well, in Töölö you have this place, which is a combined restaurant/pub/gallery/music and theatre venue, it's well worth a visit:
http://www.korjaamo.fi/en

Also in Töölö is one of the famoust art galleries in the town:
http://taidehalli.fi/en

If you want to eat some "authentic" Finnish food, you should visit one of the street grills, they're very popular after the pubs close. This one is probably the most famous, and it's also in Töölö, near the Parliament House:
https://fi-fi.facebook.com/pages/Jaskan-Grilli/111680452244862

Oh, and if you're here on April 30th/May 1st, there'll be loads of people on the streets. May 1st is a national holiday, and traditionally both students and left-wing parties celebrate the day, so there'll be some street rallies (probably not in Töölö though, it's a fairly bourgeoise area) and people having picnics while wearing their "student hats". (The hat is something you get once you graduate from the gymnasium, and a lot of older people wear it on May 1st too.) On both days there'll also be a lot of students on the streets drinking booze and wearing all sorts of coloured overalls. (Different schools each have their own type of overalls with their own colour.) It's basically the closest thing Finland has to a carneval.

Cool thanks! I'm leaving fairly late on the 30th.

coming back again today! anything fun going on this weekend?

There's the "Wonderlust" conscious/feminist/queer sex festival, don't know about anything else.

http://www.wonderlust.fi

Seems like on Sunday they have an afternoon techno/house music party at Ääniwalli, which is the hippest electronic music club in here at the moment:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1791026327794166

Here's another club that's hip at the moment, they have some house parties on the weekend too

https://www.facebook.com/clubkaiku

Thanks!

in this cold and dark place again

going to Lapland tomorrow, in January. brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hey, it's pretty warm in here for mid-January! Won't disagree with you on Lapland, tho.

It's as cold in Paris today as Helsinki, so yes. tomorrow up to Kilpisjärvi. a guy in Helsinki just told me that Kilpisjärvi is exotic, but in a very different way than how we normally think of exotic. I've never seen the auroras and I am happy to do so.

I am here and it is delightful.

What are you up to in Helsinki, are you staying here for long?

Hi Tuomas!! I just got here last night and am here until Saturday morning. My wife and I went to Estonia for the national Song Festival and traveled around there for about a week, and now we are in Helsinki for a few days before we go back to Chicago. Today we went to Suomelinna and then wandered around the Design District for a bit. Before we leave, we're planning to go to a couple of museums and maybe a sauna. What are you up to? Wanna hang out? We're staying in Kallio.