After a day of swimming and getting to know the people of the Sotainvaliidi Siirtolapuutarha on Lauttasaari, we enjoyed a film evening. Luckily my companion is a Klavierspielerin and can provide an accurate interpretation of the film.
A film evening. Plenty of Laphroiag on the rocks. Sorry, it is warm and humid.
What is tango?
But really?
Who?
Who?
Yes, but who?
You want to know who? The film Mittsommernachtstango explores the cultures and reveals the name also. It is a film about agreeing to disagree.
A tango.
In German: FA Birkenstock. Wir vermissen ein zeitgemäßes Design. Bitte setzen Sie sich erneut mit Jandolf in Verbindung, wenn Sie so wollen.
In Finnish: It is berry season. Mustikka is preferred over mustaherukka by many people who like to pick berries. It is the sweet taste.
This is a how to guide for smoking a cigarette in FinnLand.
The appropriate clothing depends on the weather.
In order to prepare the cigarette lighter, a method of transport must be chosen. A rowing boat, a motor boat, a ship or plane. A canoe is also good. A #TOSIMIES would probably swim.
Just watch out for the whales.
Arrival at Pihlajasaari. Just forgot the Zunder, a present from the Klavierspielerin explained to her by the Reggae connection of a Förster. The Zunder is from German woods and will probably be used next Juhannus for lighting a kokko or bonfire in English.
Looks like prehistoric Amsterdam with Roman trees.
Island inhabitants confirmed that the ships do not stop at the island. The one in the picture goes from Helsinki to Tallinn direct.
The cigarette lighter.
It works.
The correct way to put out the cigarette is water due to safety reasons (fire hazard). Then placing the cigarette stump in a trash bin. No littering.
While on the island it is important to follow the signs.
Nudists turn right and sauna visitors turn left. The sauna is also enjoyed naked, but reservations must be made in advance. Aalto means wave. Then there is Alvar Aalto.
No driving. Only walking and swimming.
BBQs, camping, restaurant eating etc. all there. Just not cable TV, although the sign says so.
A nice lady offered her plate as we both didn’t have any.
I didn’t ask whether the mustard was Dijon, but she did say she had a French Connection. And that she spends time where the Germans go on holiday. Cheaper and cleaner.
The English word gentleman is translated best into Finnish with tosimies.
Tosi: real
Mies: man
Presenting the #TOSIMIES summer drink. Enjoyed best in the winter.
The LEIJONA (lion in English) is the cheapest bottle Alko sells. Alko is the alcohol business of the Finnish State. A customer at Alko recommended it to me. He said it is a bit milder with 32%. The price also happened to be the cheapest at 8,62 EUR. So I went for the same.
Basically one only needs some berries and a bottle of LEIJONA. Adding frozen berries to the glass or bottle and placing the bottle in the freezer for an hour is perfect in summer. In this case I bought frozen mustikka and puolukka.
But a TOSIMIES picks the berries himself in the summer and freezes them for the winter to enjoy his summer drink. The drink is properly cooled this way. The left hand can be used to hold the bottle.
After cooling the drink, a TOSIMIES enjoys the sauna.
A walk from Ruoholahti along Eerikinkatu, Yrjönkatu, Kalevankatu and Aleksanterinkatu as well as Mannerheimintie on July 25, 2018. Things to do and places to go shopping, eating etc. I had to choose the Swedish name Georgsgatan because the Finnish name Yrjönkatu has a double meaning. The second meaning referring to barfing, i.e. throwing up. Anyway, the swimming pool at Yrjönkatu is a nice place to go in the winter.
SF normally refers to Suomi FinnLand or Suomi Filmi. Super Fiilis is a modern translation and refers to a good feeling.
I should have worn my Palladium shoes for this walk. I have a pair with a white sole and blue canvas. From Wikipedia: “Palladium is a chemical element with symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas.”
But Palladium shoes have their own history. Interestingly I once read somewhere that the shoes were designed for the Vietnam war. This is not true. Their origin is in Lyon in 1920. From Fashionista: “Palladium was founded in 1920 in Lyon, France and made aircraft tires. Tires were made by layering canvas bands underneath rubber. After World War II, the demand for tires dried up, and so Palladium decided to put its canvas and rubber expertise to use by making boots. The first contract was in 1947 from the French government to supply the legendary French Foreign Legion.”
Long story, but to make it short, Saigon House Cafe is a nice place to have traditional Vietnamese food in Helsinki.
The weather is still warm and sunny in Helsinki. A little unusual for FinnLand. Often we have three to four seasons in a day in summer time. Time for a vodka. Or maybe a Koskenkorva. Ice cold.
Or maybe a beer.
This bar was closed during day time.
So was the swimming hall. They open in September again.
Some music events for August while waiting for the swimming hall to open.
Or maybe an exhibition or two.
Shopping. A Garage Sale open only this summer on Aleksanterinkatu (about half-way on the right). Ladies, to the right you will find something that makes both men and women happy.
Or if you want to keep it hush-hush. Close to the Kiasma museum. Salakauppa. The not so secret store.
“SALA means secret and KAUPPA means shop
All of the products in SALAKAUPPA are designed by Aamu Song & Johan Olin of COMPANY and are the result of excursions to very exiting, yet old fashioned, factories around Finland and sometimes to our neighbors around the world. COMPANY’s design is purely based on each factory’s story and function. That’s our secret.
Three is a crowd but two is indeed a company. COMPANY is Aamu Song & Johan Olin’s design practice based in Helsinki. We work as artists, designers, and producers, running our own shop Salakauppa in Helsinki.”
A hotel with a bar that has a view.
I had the delivery version of the Kymco in Frankfurt at the market. 50kg capacity in the front and 50kg in the back. I never got around to setting up my delivery business in Frankfurt, but I gave the Roller to a young man in Steinfurth so he can make deliveries. He kept asking me for money for food and cigarettes. I gave him the Roller as I left and said he could place an ad in a local newspaper and every time he needs something, he could make a grocery delivery for the elderly people in town.
At Alku ry we have beds from the Hotelli Torni above. Very good quality. If they could spare a minibar, I would not say no. 10 would be nice though.
Not so random pictures above. Between the Posti HQ and the Kiasma Museum.
finlandcalling.com 