The Finland Diaries - episode III

Sometimes it may happen that you begin to feel a little nostalgic about some place and times now so far.
That's why, once in a while, I come back here to continue writing down my Finland Diaries.
(You can find the previous episodes in the label at the right -->)



September 1st 2012, Saturday

Our last moments in Tampere started at 6 a.m., when we woke up, had breakfast as the first weak morning light entered from the big window, packed the last things and went out in an unusually empty Hämeenkatu. We arrived at the station just in time to know that...we couldn't take the train to Kuopio we had chosen. 'Cause there's no train to Kuopio on Saturdays and Sundays. But no fear, 'cause there's always a train to Helsinki. And from Helsinki, there must be a train to anywhere.So we got on the 8.07 train to Helsinki, where we arrived at about ten minutes to 10. Having nearly an hour to wait until the next train to Kuopio, we took the chance to have a coffee and to do a fast pilgrimage to...


 

...Tavastia club! :D

At 11.12 our train started engines and we were on our way to Kuopio!

The journey was long enough to let us enjoy Finnish landscapes as in a “land-sighting” tour. And I just could not avoid sheding some tears in front of all that Beauty. 
When we arrived it was 3.37 pm of a sunny Saturday afternoon. Kuopio looked like a tranquil, vintage scented town of wooden buildings, placed somewhere undefined in the past. Few people were in the silent streets, even if the weather was so good and it was the weekend. And we spent more time than it was necessary to find our hostel, watching the space around us change from residential quarters to a sort of industrial area dominated by the big chimney of the powerhouse. Yeah, we got lost.
But luckily, the hostel was right round the corner, in a really pleasant and quiet neighborhood...and it was just super-nice *-* so home-like, so cozy, so tender! Ah!
After settling down, time to go on an exploration. It was near twilight and the town looked like a ghost town. Again few people around and when we reached the city center, we discovered it was covered with scaffolding and the whole central square was a construction site, only populated by sinister kids speaking loud in front of a café. But we kept calm and went to RKioski for a coffee, instead. Another short exploration, then time to have dinner. And even in such a situation, Harald never leaves you alone! :)

We had a viking-size appetite and our viking dinner was just super: as a starter offered by them, flat crispy wholemeal bread with a strange sauce made with eggs and probably butter; then elk  and reindeer stew with soy sprouts, mashed potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, cranberries; to that, we drank the house beer (the waitress looked just sooo happy when we asked for it :D) and coffee. And God, they're just so nice ♥ don't forget to go and pay a visit to Harald Viikiinkiravintola, if you go to Kuopio! ;)
After dinner, we went took a short walk to the sea shore right behind our hostel then returned to it to shower, to organize the trips for the following days and then, to sleep :)



September 2nd 2012, Sunday

We woke up and went out in a even more desert city than it was the previous evening, under a gray sky heavy with clouds.
We had to wait a bit for our breakfast, since all RKioski were still closed, but we could finally have caffelatte plus muffins (blackberries for me, chocolate for the bearded fellow)in the warm indoor, looking at the gray cold square outside. Our bellies satisfied, we went out to explore the town. The weather was not the best, with its endless thin snow-like rain and its cool wind, but we were in Kuopio and we wanted to see as much as possible, so we took a long walk in the city centre.
When we found a photographic exhibition, we thought it could have been interesting, so we entered and paid our entree. Never made a bigger mistake. Expecting old pictures of Kuopio or something similar, we found an exhibition about Mexico. Yeah, Mexico. All right, nothing wrong, we could have stood it if only it was at least...decent. But it was ugly as hell. That kind of photography made with the only purpose of disturbing those who look at it, without any journalistic or social motivation. For the sake of disgust, you know. Portraying the rotten fruits of extreme poverty and ignorance just for the sake of what they dare to call "art". Awful. Simply awful. 
Well, at least we got soon “revenged” by the really nice Museum of Kuopio, comprehensive of an exhibition about bears :3, a natural science museum where we could see several reproductions of various animals (wolves, bears, foxes, birds and even… a huge mammoth! :D) and an historical-cultural museum…really really really nice, indeed! :3

Out again under the rain, we stopped at Subway in order to have some luncheon. If the weather wasn’t so nice, the girl who welcomed us was even less. She seemed annoyed by every client’s presence and request :/ but we had our meal and also our beloved cookies so it’s okay :°D

In the afternoon, a wonderful tour of the lakeshore… everything looked just so inspiring, with the flat dark water under the big cloudy sky, and the grass still so amazingly green, and the tender and relaxing atmosphere of a rainy Sunday afternoon. We took a lot of pics and enjoyed the sight and magic of the place very much and just had fun :) ♥

After that, another walk in the city centre and then…time to do the shopping at the KMarket Kalakukko.
We had dinner at our hostel: meatballs with mashed potatoes, peas and cranberries and apples were served ;) We actually had some problems with the coffee machine…such a strange thing it was! O.o but finally I came to understand how to make it work and let us have some delicious coffee :3
We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing on the sofa, enjoying the coziness of our place, reading Finnish magazines and… yes, I have to admit it: trying to discover where to find Mr Marco Hietala! :°D Of course we didn’t succed. After a restoring shower…time to sleep!

September 3rd 2012, Monday

When we woke up, it was still rainy in Kuopio, but at least it was Monday and we would certainly have had more places (…and people!) to see and things to do. 

After a nice breakfast on muffins, black-and-red berries and chocolate biscuits, coffee and apple juice, we went out to spend another day in the city.

First of all, we went to visit the Market Hall; it looked kinda like Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley, but with cafés and bakery stands instead of wands and bookshops :) of course magic didn’t lack. 

Once out of the Market Hall we found ourselves on the Market Place, that’s to say the market square, with stands selling Kuopio’s typical product, kalakukko, which we decided to have for dinner. We visited some shops and then adventured ourselves in the northern area of the city where we found ourselves in a very pleasant neighbourhood, full of lovely wooden houses and cottages with flowers on the windows and green gardens and peaceful atmosphere and the forest so near and… OH. *-*

And when it comes to viking-size appetite again…what could be better than good old Harald? :D 

This time the viking Chief prepared us: cheese soup with root vegetables and bread; wild boar with mashed potatoes and cranberries and, to end, strawberry and some-kind-of-strange-but-delicious-orangecoloured-taste ice cream and coffee. The waitress, who had already come and placed a little candle on our table while we were drinking coffee, simply saying “A candle, for you! ^^”, also gifted us with two chocolates :3 <3 I was about to cry when she waved at us and said: “Welcome back again!” 

Our schedule for the afternoon said: "visit Puijontorni" (Puijo Tower), so we took that direction. We had only 1 km left when we realized that...we had taken the wrong way! So back on our steps and after a long, tiring uphill that made us sweaty and painting, we were on top, right under the high tower.

                                               

The weather was still cloudy, rainy and a bit foggy but we thought we might have seen something once on top of the tower. Mistake! We got on the lift, we arrived on top and from the window all we saw was… WHITE! White white white everywhere! We tried the same to go on the sighting platform but we were submerged in the great white and all we saw was...yes, white. Such a disappointment! Descending the tower, we stopped at the window and… wait! Is that a lake? Are those little islands? The fog was slowly moving. We waited a bit but the fog returned, so we went back down. We decided to take a look at the area surrounding the tower and at the ramps from where skiers launch themselves (fools!). Just a turn around the tower and…the Lakeland, right before us! Such a wonder! *_* The fog was slowly melting away, letting us enjoy the beautiful sight. It was even poetic, under such a gray sky and with a little fog J I’ll never forget the emotion I experienced that moment, being on top of the world, the land I always dreamed of before my wondering eyes, the man I love by my side <3 and the laughs caused by taking a wonderful picture using…the selfshot!!!!! :°D 

To go back to the city centre, we took a path passing through the forest…the smell of trees and musks, the amazing green, the sound of silence… once again, I felt blessed to be admitted to all the magic of Finnish wilderness. And so we went on, only us two in the Nature, holding hands and eating berries :) ♥

   

When we returned to the “civility”, our Kalakukko-haunting began! Our plane was to buy it from Hanna Partanen’s original bakery and to bring it to the hostel. The cart outside the shop said it would have closed at 8.30 pm and it was 6.30 pm when we arrived there. But the door was closed. Closed. After a short desperation during which we attempted to buy it at the Market Place but all stands were already gone or closed, we went back to Hanna Partanen’s. Here I saw a woman with a uniform and a cap outside the bakery, smoking a cigarette. I asked if the bakery was opened and she let us in by the kitchen’s door…yeppppp!!! :D We had our 1kg Kalakukko (it’s kinda funny the uneasy sensation of using Finnish words whose pronounce you’re not sure of in front of the Finns… :P) and went happily back. On our way, we stopped at the KMarket to buy some fruit and apple juice. 

We had dinner at our place and the atmosphere of that evening, oh, I will never forget. Everything was so just perfect, so cuddly, so comfortable, so homelike! I had a feeling I was living in a big family together with the other guests of the hostel and I can't find the words to describe it. The door next to the table where we were eating we found to be inhabited by a happy group of big Finnish men in orange uniforms… don’t know what they were actually doing, but they looked and behaved just so nice :D D I crossed one of them on my way back to the dining room from our bedroom, he was a big very very very blonde guy with happy features and he smiled at me letting me pass in such a cheerful way that it struck me particularly. Nice people the Finns, indeed. 

Kalakukko is served! :D

It is meat and fish pasty baked inside black bread and it tastes…just YUMMYYY! :D

The rest of the evening was spent at the hostel, washing the dishes (I love the way my man comes over and kisses me while I’m doing it :3), having showers and packing for the next day’s transfer to Helsinki.