It has been nearly five years since I've been in Helsinki and the old place is growing up. Starbuck's has not figured out that a country who experiences the dark for long periods of time might be perfect candidates for their products, so finding a cup of coffee to get over the jet lag has been difficult.
We left San Francisco Wednesday afternoon and after an 11 hour flight to Frankfurt followed by a four-hour layover we picked up our luggage and rode in Jakke's Volvo - boxy but safe! Anttii and Jakke have a cute two-bedroom apartment which is within five minutes from my old Metro station.
Our first day was spent wandering a bit around Helsinki. We visited Sokos and then wandered the esplanade and explored the farmer's market. Mr. Bunny has been featured in many pictures and will probably break up our relationship. Mr. Bunny is a nasty little finger puppet that Frank won at the Renaissance Faire. I amused by the fact that I can stick him on my finger and put him the frame for many of the "postcard" shots. Frank claims I'm taking more pictures of the bunny than I am of him. Apparently the bunny is more cooperative.
We have now booked a ferry trip to Stockholm which will depart the Saturday after we return from Russia. I'm praying that I don't get any food reactions ... that could be a deadly combination although if it let my buy pants from a regular store. I realize this is a digression but I was thoroughly traumatized at Old Navy when I discovered that A) I could not fit into a size 38 and B) the size 40's they carried did not have an inseam of 34 - translated, they had fat pants but only fat pants for short people.
In short, we are having a fabulous time and the weather is a balmy 65 degrees.
