Monday, 8 October, 2018 – Weather – see headline Loyal followers of this Blog. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot see the photos and / or the captions or alignments are messed up, please go to http://www.beauperi.com directly and all those problems should go away.
Guys, the headline says it all. As a result, this is going to be an abbreviated Post as I did not venture outside at all.
Left over Chook, Rice and Beans for breakfastJulie went prancing in the rain -hence CatsThe latest fashionsI can hardly wait – NOT!
Tanika had sent me some photos of a pizza visit that they liked, so here are some photos.
The MenuThe PlacePizza Dough Salad as a starterThe Pizza, they really liked it
The rain continued all day and I did not budge from the spot. I looked out at the dog track and noticed that there were still owners and dogs using it without much water protection. Apparently the people and the animals just ignore the rain over here.
Late in the afternoon Ryan and I had a beer tasting – American IPA
Julie made a Thai green curry for dinner with cut up chicken and a relatively small bottle of green curry sauce. It turned out to be too hot for the three of them who did not finish their meals, it was about right for me.
Sunday, 7 October, 2018 – Weather – not too bad Loyal followers of this Blog. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot see the photos and / or the captions or alignments are messed up, please go to http://www.beauperi.com directly and all those problems should go away.
Today we are up earlier today. Julie had donated the good bed, which was much better. She put extra pillows to improve the legacy bed but it didn’t help a lot in the end.
We catch the tram again down to the market. A big, burly ticket inspector boards, Sunday morning?. Fortunately, our tickets are in order and he advises us that we have until 11:15.
Outdoor market – Julie tried a Herring, not for meThere were many boats lined up on the shore, all theoretically selling Herring
I follow Julie over to the indoor market but then decide to go back for some more game.
The Game ShopI wanted a Moose Burger, but they did not have one so settled for a Reindeer Burger and Fries, OK
In the mean time, Julie was going around the indoor market looking for her Salmon Soup.
Making new pots of soupNicely sliced SalmonThe more expensive soup was no better than the lesser one from yesterday. Broth was watery
We take the tram back to the apartment. Our stop is at the Museum of Natural History.
Guarded by this Magnificent MooseDon’t forget the GiraffesAt the apartment Tanika has bought me a traditional chees and rice pieJulie has Salmon for dinnerJulie cooks chicken with a packet rice and bean combo for me
Saturday, 6 October, 2018 – Weather – not too bad Loyal followers of this Blog. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot see the photos and / or the captions or alignments are messed up, please go to http://www.beauperi.com directly and all those problems should go away.
After a poor night’s sleep on the retro bed, I am moving a bit slowly this morning. Eventually, we get moving. We are going to markets down by the harbour. We board a tram and discover that (1) it is going the wrong way and (2) you can no longer buy tram tickets on a tram. So we walk back a ways and find a place where we can buy tickets. It is an automated machine with instructions all in Finnish but eventually we work it out.
We walk by this museum with the giant “protector”Our Tram, note that there are doors only on one sideBoarding the Tram behind an old lady
We arrive at the shore and get off one stop earlier than Julie had planned. There is an outdoor market.
A lady selling fish, mostly salmon, from her boatOther market goodies – note the succotash on the rightVegiesLots of variety of gameWe went across the way to an old church which is now an indoor food hallJulie perusing the food stallsA variety of food stuffsand moreSweet StuffA variety of (expensive) Reindeer productsI wonder what a Reindeer Moose pie would have been like?I got s reindeer sausage with salad, very gamey, very niceJulie’s Salmon Soup, not nice “I should have bought the more expensive one”Canned gameReindeer Chips at 9 euro very expensive
We jump on the tram to return toward the apartment. There is a Michelin rated Asian restaurant very close to the house. Julie tries to get a booking but it is Saturday night and booked out plus they are closed Sunday and Monday and we leave on Tuesday so we miss out.
Shortly after we arrive in the apartment Julie goes out again to do more exploring.
It is one tram stop away and it was next to the one with the long queues this morning. Address is: Mannerheimintie 22-24, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Julie outside the restaurant which turned out to be a bit upmarketWaiting for a table, service was quite slow throughout the nightFinally, at the tableIt is a long restaurant and eventually fills upDrinks, Tanika has a special Gin and TonicLightly salted salmon with creamed chanterelles and dill potatoes for JulieCream of crayfish with crayfish and fennel salsa for meRyan’s Choice Beef tartare with anchovy mayonnaise and parmesanMarinated feta cheese with tapenade and sourdough bread croutons for TanikaFillet of reindeer served with cherry and cepp bake and dark onion broth for my main courseThe Girls and Ryan had fillet of pike perch with creamed button mushrooms and butter braised horseradish and thought it was great
As I mentioned at the start, it was quite a posh place which meant probably the most expensive meal of the trip so far. However, I think it was worth it given the exotic foods that we had. After that, we returned home and crashed.
Friday, 5 October, 2018 – Weather – All over the place as we travel Loyal followers of this Blog. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot see the photos and / or the captions or alignments are messed up, please go to http://www.beauperi.com directly and all those problems should go away.
At this point I would like to say a bit about the Food in Finland. The food has been rubbished by Jacques Chirac and Silvio Berlusconi when they said that Finnish Food and British food are the most boring in the world. A funny thing happened when a Finn company Kotipizza won an international prize for its Pizza Berlusconi, defeating Italian pizzas in the contest.
Pizza Berlusconi is Kotipizza’s product name for a pizza of smoked reindeer, with tomato, cheese, chanterelle mushrooms and red onion.
Kotipizza named the pizza after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in their summer 2008 ad campaign and menu. Berlusconi had caused a minor diplomatic incident in 2005, when he said that he had had to “endure” Finnish cuisine, and joked disparagingly about Finns eating “marinated reindeer”. Although marinated reindeer is a common dish in Lapland, in the rest of Finland the meat is traditionally stewed or dried.
Any way, we are up relatively early and leaving for Helsinki around 11:00. Julie goes out to the food court to get her breakfast.
Blurred vision of her Pancake with SalmonMore sweet stuff suitable for TanikaI have the mushroom soup with bacon pieces that Julie had bought for me yesterday. It was very rich and filling.
By the usual 3-1 vote, we start the walk to the train station very early, before Noon. We sit around in uncomfortable, crowded seats in the train station.
The train does not leave until nearly 1:30 PMWe are able to board the train early and wait thereOne other person in the train carriage
The trip takes 2 1/2 hours. The weather changes dramatically at least 8 time along the way. When we arrive in Helsinki, the ground is wet but it is not raining much.
Our train with Ryan humping suitcases
Our host had indicated that we should catch a taxi from the station to the apartment. We picked a medium sized cab and the driver did a remarkable job of cubic close packing to fit everything in. When we get to the apartment, we receive a message that our Host was travelling and we would be met by a delightful young girl, Riika. The door was chocked open when we arrive and Riika arrives shortly after and we go up to the apartment.
She shows us around and after she departs, I take a couple of photos.
We take the kids room. The antique bed on the right is a disaster for grown-ups as even with the pillow top, you are sleeping on cold, hard steelThe large lounge room
We had not had much to eat today so send Julie out to scout around. In the mean time, I throw Ryan out of a spot at the kitchen table to do my work. Outside is a dog park. There are a lot of dogs within and of course a little yapper was chasing them all around.
Gusti is right next to the apartment
When we go in, the owner says that they are very busy but eventually we will have food and wine. His Son the cook comes in from outside – he was smoking.
Waiting. The couple next to us has a favourite TV show. You will never guess – The Block
They were quite interesting and gave us some good pieces of advice.
We ordered an Italian Zinfandel for wineSoup for Tanika – fancy presentationBruschetta for JulieScampi for RyanThe Back RoomCollection of SpiritsSmoked Salmon and Salad for JulieCreamy chicken for TanikaSteak with gravy for Ryan and meIt came with a nice creamy RisottoThe owner with large spirit bottle, probably for Irish Coffee for the girlsShaking hands with the owner
Thursday, 4 October, 2018 – Weather – Good, unseasonably warm Loyal followers of this Blog. If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot see the photos and / or the captions or alignments are messed up, please go to http://www.beauperi.com directly and all those problems should go away.
Turku is the original Finland Capitol. It is a quaint old village, nice. We get a good sleep and go out to tour around the town. After several blocks of walking we end up at an outdoor market. Some snaps from there.
SalmonFruitMore salmonLingon Berries – famous in FinlandOyster Varieties
I had a long chat with this guy and told him about the Blog. He said that he would be famous world wide, and I agreed. Sorry, I did not get his face in the photo. But please visit his cart next time you are in Turku.
Julie perusingSnags galoreJust perfect for TanikaSandwich making materialMore sweet stuffJulie left the market and went into the Tourist BureauThis old brewery had become a food court
We walked around the place for ages. Eventually, at Julie’s suggestion, I had:
Finnish Meatballs, made from ground beef, not very specialJulie had seafood soup, coffee and most of my vegiesFront entrance to the food hallThe shop from where the doner kebab came last night
Back to the apartment.
They had cut a secret passage to get through to the kitchenRyan and I had an IPA tasting, different but pretty goodJulie went back and got food for us. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what the cuisine was.Vietnamese curry for me, nice and spicySalad and Whiskey for Julie
