Helsinki

Helsinki

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Such a surprise... :)

Hei,


Just a quick note :) Yesterday ‎I  received a parcel from Finland! :) From Visit Finland - Finnish Tourist Board.

One of my pictures taken in Finland in Tampere at Pyhäjärvi Lake (see below) has been chosen as a picture of a month on their Face Book group I Wish I Was In Finland and I won a T-shirt...


But they sent me much more :) Yay! :) I can go fishing now:) and run in a rain... and I have got a wooden USB pen :) and mooooooooooooore :) Oh! and I love these sleepers:) with Finnish flag and word SUOMI :) 




Kiitoksia paljon! :)

Saturday, May 28, 2011

In Tampere...



After my arrival to Tampere I headed to my hotel – Omena Hotel at Hämeenkatu 28 (really great idea of cheap accomodation and the great value for a price). I had a shower, changed and then went to the train station to pick up my friend – Agata. She came from south part of Poland, from Upper Silesia (where I am originaly from) to Turku and then took a train to Tampere so we could meet up and next day she needed to go to Lappeenranta in south-east Finland.

Agata and me at Tampere Railway Station
It was great to meet up with Agata… she is a huge finnophile, like myself so we had planty things to talk about, disscuse Finnish life and experiences gathered in Finland… while having beers:) We ended up in the bar opposite to Tampere Railway Station called Ale Pupi with karaoke and dancesJ lol That was fun! And I was even encouraged by some guy to go and dance as well :) lol Aactually we were the last customers… I guess we left it around 2.30 AM or so...

Next day we explored a bit of Tampere. As my friends suggested we needed to go to Pyynikki to have the best doughnuts in town and some coffee in Cafeteria of the Pyynikki observation tower





It was lovely… in the forrest, on the hill… yummy doughnuts and fresh air. The day was bright and sunny… I was so lucky as the weather for whole my stay was just amazing.



After our coffee we went down to the bank of the lake Pyhäjärvi… that was such a nice view… ice still on the surface… quiet and peaceful… we climbed the rocks and enjoyed the view… It was one of these many amazing and relaxing places in Finland
















And in Tampere, being in a city centre, we needed to walk around 20 min and we were reunited with the nature… it is incredible how close it is over there! I wish to have such a quiet spot in London for moments of stress…



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

11 days in Finland... April/May 2011

Moikka!


The day has come... I need to share my thoughts and experience with you after my trip to Finland. Amazing experiences, fantastic people, great time and beautiful nature all around me - that's in a nutshell how it was in the Land of Thousand Lakes.


My flight from London-Heathrow to Helsinki-Vantaa was on 22nd April at 12:05. British Airways had no delays and everything was on schedule.


While being airborne in some point I was able to see Finnish Land. At last!!! :) I was so excited! Frozen lakes... forest... and frozen sea... I have never seen frozen sea in my life :) so that was an amazing moment:) And when the plane started to descent I was in seventh heaven as in a moment I was going to walk on Finnish soil... 


We have landed... :)


As I have been to Vantaa Airport before it was easy to get to the car park and get the bus. This time I went to Tikkurila train station (bus no. 61). I have found this really nice guide on YouTube how to get out of Vantaa Airport, it may be of some use to you:



At the train station I needed to buy a ticket for a train to Tampere. I have found the ticket machines, happy me :) and wanted to purchase the ticket. How surprised I was... the information on screen was only in Finnish and Swedish... :) well, I tried both... I thought I would have more luck with Swedish as I know some German. hahahaha :) no way:) So I asked a girl who was buying a ticket next to me and she (she was very straight to the point :) ) explained me quickly what, how and when... and I was a happy owner of InterCity train ticket to Tampere. Thanks to this ticket I have learnt new Finnish words :)


junalippu - railway ticket
vaunu - carriage
ikkunapaikka - window seat


Riihimäki station
On the way I tried to read some book... but I was too excited :) and needed to take some pictures... the weather was beautiful, blue sky and sunny... I left Tikkurila at 18:22 and the train stopped in Riihimäki, Hämeenlinna, Toijala and arrived to Tampere at 19:52. My final destination :) Yupeeee! :)




Source: Google map











Monday, May 16, 2011

Ihanaa Leijonat, ihanaa! :)

Hei! :D


Oh what a match that was! Just amazing moments packed with emotions and tension! :) 


Yesterday evening the Ice Hockey World Cup final match between Finland and Sweden. I have watched it on-line. For a whole day I was panicking as I wanted to watch it live but all internet sites I have found wanted me to pay for a monthly subscription. At the end Jari send me the link to the official International Ice Hockey Federation site and then I was able to pay-per-view for the match. 


It was worthy every penny spent :) Watching the match and commenting on Skype as I watched it with Jari from Espoo - that was great fun... I was shouting in English, Polish and occasionally in Finnish :) I can bet my neighbours think I am crazy now :)




The first period passed without any scores but flying puck gave us all a huge amount of excitement. In the second period Sweden scored 1 and that was just so disappointing... but then Leijonat showed what they can do... and the third period was just an amazing time... all Finnish scores were like one after another... The boys were great!!! And fast! The game finished with the result 6 : 1 for Finland and a huge happiness in Finland and in my room :) I needed to celebrate it together with my Finnish friends, so the bottle of sparkling wine needed to assist me! :) 




The game was amazing and after 16 years Finland won the World Cup!!! Celebrations on the streets after the match... I am wondering how many people actually went to work today :)


Ihanaa Leijonat, ihanaa! :) ja kiitos!


Sunday, February 20, 2011

Hyvää elokuvat! Good films!

SUNNUNTAINA 20. HELMIKUUTA 2011 / Heli, heljä, helinä

Hei!

Another week has passed:) Quickly, isn't it?:)

Well I managed to watch two Finnish films during this time. And I like both of them and the actor Petteri Summanen.

First film Blackout is a serious stuff about a surgeon from Helsinki hospital who has been attacked with a nail-gun and stayed in coma for a along time... he woke up and tried to find the one who did it to him. Really good film and it kept me thinking about a lot of things after watching it.

The second one: Nousukausi a black comedy... about young rich couple... they need some holidays... :) Nowadays anything can happen:) so beware! :) It was fun but as well there were moments when I felt said... life, isn't it:)

This week I will order another couple of DVDs so should let you know what to watch... if you like Finnish films... or maybe you will like it:)

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Hulluna humpasta taas... minä olen hulluna humpasta taas! :)

sunnunTAINA 13. HELMIKUUTA 2011 / sulo

Hyvää iltaa!
Miten menee?

Oh, yesterday was a great day:) I went to the Finnish Institute for an intensive Finnish course. The plan of the day was as follows:

10.30 - 11.00 Welcome Coffee, introductions
11.00 - 13.00 Hectic studies in small groups
13.00 - 13.30 Picnic lunch with a Finnish twist
13.30 - 15.30 Studies continue
15.30 Coffee and Finnish sweets
16.00 Last lesson, feedback and finishing at 17.00

We started with a breakfast: a nice coffee and a karjalanpiirakka with egg on top. That was really nice:) I have seen them before on pictures but have never tried them :) so that was my first time:)

We had a lovely lunch too... with herrings, meatballs, black bread and more... and then later we had really, really, really yummy korvapuusti. It was delicious:) And we had a chance to listen to Finnish music too... there was Sibelius and humppa too :) 

Talking about humppa, I have found a great band... they do mostly parodies of well known songs but in humppa style:) the guys are crazy!!! I want to see them life!!! :) Check this song... just first few bits and I want to dance:) Eläkeläiset "Hulluna humpasta". I am adding these guys to my list of the Finnish bands I like:) 

And then we have a lot of Finnish studies but the atmosphere was really great and I would like to thank our teacher - Riikka. She was really nice and funny hence it was a great pleasure to learn the language. And I need to say that I would stay even longer because it was really interesting. Not only to learn Finnish but to talk about Finns and their own approach to certain things :) I really liked it. :)

So if anyone wants to do the Finnish course? try with Finn-Guild! :)