It really was the Time of My Life

I don't quite know how to write what I want to say. So I shall explain with a video instead. This is a video of a live performance by Green Day when they performed at Milton Keynes in June 2005. Green Day had been a favourite band of mine for a while, and I still believe that American Idiot is one of the best albums of the 21st Century.

This concert was the second time that I had seen Green Day live. It was simply amazing. As sad as it sounds this really was the best day of my life. I had had a couple of bad years, and the summer of 2005 is when I made a fresh start, and this concert was a real help to me. It was just a perfect day, and I always look back on it with fond memories.

This is Jesus of Suburbia, taken from the live DVD/CD release Bullet In A Bible. Should you want to buy it, it is available cheap in amazon. Its really worth checking out, Green Day have an amazing stage presence and they really went all out for this concert;

Oeoeoeoeo Ahh

Theres a video I've wanted to post for a while but keep forgetting, so without any reason, I'll post it today. This is a performance by Rhianna and The Klaxons at the Brit Awards a while ago. I didn't watch them on telly, but I found this on youtube recently, and think its rather cool. Goldon Skans (still my alarm in the mornings) is a wiked tune, and the mix with Umbrella doesn't make it any better as such, but its definitely an iteresting alternative;

News Flash

Finnish kids are as annoying as British ones.

On my return from the supermarket, I walked into my building and then the lighst went out (they're those ones that stay on for 3minutes or so at a time). Deciding not to go back to the switch by the door, I continue to the lift where I know there is another one.

Suddenly there is a strange growling noise. Now I'm not that scared of dogs normally, but in the pitch black, I have to say this scared me for a split second. That was until i heard the giggles that followed. Got to the lift and turned on the light to see 3 Finnish chav children sitting in the corner of the ground floor. Very funny. Actually, I'm glad it was dark so they didnt have the satisfaction of seeing my scared face.

I wish they locked the main door here like they did in Helsinki. Although in Helsinki I think it was to keep the hobo's out, not the kids. I once had a hobo follow me in the building and then sat himself in the lift for the night. He kept mumbling to me in Finnish. Was pretty scary actually, but just took the stairs for the rest of the week. Luckily the lift here has a window, so can check for Hobo's before opening the door.

I Put My Headphones On in the Waterfront Dance Club

Going to see The Rasmus the other week has reawakened the gigging girl in me. I've also had the iPod on shuffle lately so been digging up so old songs from my angsty teen years. Has been good.

So a week today Disco Ensemble are playing at a club in Turku. Should I go? No idea. They had a song called We Might Fall Apart that they released in the UK 3 or so years ago and then did nothing else there again. But I really liked that song, and really liked the new single from them that I heard on the radio on the way to Salo. Its called Headphones;



Also, in two weeks time, Funeral For A Friend are playing in Helsinki. I've been meaning to see them for years now, ever since they released Streetcar really, but then the thrid album was kinda sucky so went off them a bit. However, they released a new album earlier this month, and although I havent bought it (yet) the single is sounding like a return to form. So I would love to go and see them. But the gig is on a sunday night, and in a city 2 hours from here. So not sure if I can go, but will keep it in mind, and we'll see I guess. Anyway, the new single is called Waterfront Dance Club, check it;

Day Trip to Salo

Today I decided to make a trip to Salo. Its not in my guidebook, so didnt expect it to be anything special, but its 30mins on the intercity train (the one I've gotten to Helsinki so many times now) and only €5's so thought I'd go check it out. I was right, it isnt really anything special. But the river is beautiful...

And there is the election tomorrow, so there was some sort of market, with election candidates giving out balloons...

They were also gearing up for Halloween in the shopping centre, where each shop seemed to have people in dress, smoke machines, face painting, or dry ice. Spoooooky! (unfortunately no picture).

This sign made me laugh; walk/cycle to museum, station ect.
Or even to Turku - only 60km!

And although the shopping centre had mostly the same shops as in Turku, they were a lot more concentrated, and I managed to get around a lot of shops in a short space of time. There were also a lot of shoe shops, which is good because I have been wearing the same pair of shoes since I got here (I didnt pack any spares!).

I worked out that I spent nearly €70 - but there were some bargins. Here's a list of what I purchased (I'm liking lists today);

Desperate Housewives Season 2 - I bought season one a while ago in a sale here, but recently finished it, so was glad to find the next series in the sale.
3 Finnish Films; Espoon Viimeinen Neitsyt (apprently the Finnish '13') Helmä ja Sikoja (Pigs and Pearls, a comedy of sorts), & Pitka Kuuma Kesä (Long Hot Summer, another comedy about a punk kid moving from Helsinki to the countryside). I didnt know what any of these films were about when I bought them, as the descriptions were in Finnish, but they were all only about €3 each and say they have English subtitles. I think it will be interesting to explore some Finnish cinema.
Antti Tuisku Greatest Hits Volume 1 - I love the fact its volume 1, implying there will be more... Anyway, its got some of the older songs which dont seem to be available anywhere else (apart from the early albums, which I cant find anywhere). It was also in the sale, and on the first listen, I'm pretty happy with it. There's a DVD too, which should be interesting, when I have time to watch it!
Shoes - finally found a pair that were a) under €20 b) flat c) not trainers and d) fit! Hurrah!

I've also started on my xmas shopping! Shocking, but I saw the perfect present for someone so had to buy it :) The christmas season is definitely starting up. I think without Bombfire Night, it will really pick up after halloween.

As for the town, it is actually very attractive in areas. I think if I were Finnish I would really like to live there. As it happens though, I'm not Finnish and dont speak Finnish. As I discovered, although they say people in Scandinavia speak English well (which they do) I gather that in some of the smaller, less touristy towns, its not so true. I had lunch at Hessburger, and for only the second time since I've been in Finland, I had to swap cashiers (even though I could have ordered in Finnish... maybe... just). Unfortunately she still got my order a little bit wrong, but decided not to cause any bother. Better for my health to give the fries a miss anyway...

But sitting on the platform waiting for the train home, I looked out at all the beautiful nature that was so nearby to the town. All around were hills covered with trees. In the shady light we've been getting lately it looked truely beautiful. Along with the church atop the hill. I've grown to quite like the train journeys too. The first one was such a shock to see nothing but trees, trees, and more trees, but now I'm used to it, and love it. I remember thinking 'why would anyone live in that house in the middle of nowhere?' and now I find myself thinking 'Wouldnt it be lovely to live in one of those houses' Think the return to the south of England might be a bit of a shock come Christmas!

What a Week

So this has been a rather long week. But its been great. I've discovered the more you put into life, the more you get back. Last night was my first night in, in over a week, so was going to blog, but ended up having an early night instead!

Here's a run down of each day/night;

Thursday; Went to an ice hockey match, as you may have read below

Friday; As you may also have read below, I went back to Helsinki for a birthday party. It was great to see so many old faces. Its strange to think how close I was to some of the people in Helsinki when I was only there a few weeks, and I've been in Turku for months, but wouldnt say I'm all that close to anyone here (yet). Was a crazy party, and that went on to the small hours, so definitely worth the trip back. And the cake was great :p


Saturday; The birthday boy (who kindly put me up for the night) took me to look around his university buildings (we couldn’t think of anything else to do, and it was a nice day so a pleasant walk). Its the Design faculty, so was an interesting building with lots of sketches and models that they have to make in the metal/wood-shops. After that we walked along the coast for a while then headed back to the city centre where we bumped into some more of our course-mates and all went for a coffee. Felt so natural to be back in Helsinki, but have since decided that although I miss the people and crazy partys of Helsinki, I actually prefer Turku as a town. Being a country girl, I've never seen the appeal of living in London, so maybe its the same for Finland.

Sunday; Slept a lot, hehe. Then we had a BBQ. It was raining but we did it anyway. It was with the language circle. There were about 6 of us, so not bad a turn-out considering the rain. We have a little bbq ‘hut’ of sorts beside our building, so that was fine. Was interesting talking to the Americans here actually. They are surprisingly nice, hehe. I've also found the language cirlce is a great oppurtunity to mix with Finnish students and get to know more about Finland. For example, the often joke about how we have 'snow days' in England - 'imagine having the day off school just because it snows!' I miss snow days, they were the best, hehe.

Monday; Bumped in a Hungarian I know on the bus home from work. (as you do, hehe). He invited me out to this pub that does a student price on Mondays. Called Bar Kuka. Its quite a cool place, with funky interior. And there was a huge group of Erasmus students along with a band playing. Good chilled out night.


Tuesday; Went out with the language circle again. Just to a little café in town where you can play board games. We decided to give scrabble a go, but its quite hard to play English scrabble with a Finnish set, because there are so many letters that they don’t have. Try using K’s when you don’t have any C’s. Harder than it sounds, but we managed to complete the board and use all the letters with (almost) no cheating. See the evidence (for those looking that hard, the vowels with 'umlauts' or whatever they're called, we used as blank letters so could be anything).


Wednesday; Two guys that I knew from Helsinki were visiting Turku for the day before heading onto Tampere. So I took them to Koulu. I really like that place and they seemed pretty happy with it. One guy is from Bavaria, and Koulu brew there own beer, so its stronger than most of the regular Finnish stuff which I’m told isn’t that good, so he was happy with the ‘real’ beer there I think. Although obviously still not as good as Bavaria. Personally I cant stand beer, but they do a great blueberry cider which I recommend.

Thursday; It still doesn’t end. My tutors ex-housemate’s boyfriend (if you can follow that) wanted to start a regular club night in town and it was the debut so my tutor had a pre-party to try and get a good group together. Its been an age since I'd seen her, and I like all her housemates, so was a good night. The actual club night was good too, with good music from the DJs and a live band (The Oders) which were trying so hard to be a British Indie band. Don't tell anyone I said this, but they were actually pretty good. Sounded like Placebo would have done were they part of the 80's electro era. Quite funky. Check them out here.

And that was my mammoth week. Dont think I'll have another like that in a while. It seriously messed with work on thursday - I made so many mistakes. It wasnt any better on friday, but because I knew I was tired, I took my time doing everything so didnt leave work till late (but didnt mess anything up!). Next week there will apparently be students in the labs with my supervisor running a class for them. Will be nice to see some new faces, and have a bit of life in the lab. Theres been a terrible flu going around, so lots of people have been away. However, I went to a seminar and got chatting with some of the people in the other labs. Seems there are some friendly faces around, and people are starting to speak to me in English, which is nice.

Oops

I was planning on writing a little post on my sift throught some of the Turku second-hand shops, including a list of my fabulous purchases. One of which was a lovely little coffee-pot, but I've already managed to blow it up, I can smell it burning now...

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am somewhat of a negligent cook, often getting distracted and forgetting that I left food cooking, returning to find the kitchen on fire 30mins later (not an exaggeration, this has happened). So is it really any surprise that while in Finland I've already ruined a good saucepan (rented from the university, so will need to be replaced), and now this little tea-pot kettle thing. Terrible shame. Although the impressive thing is I was right there when it blew up this time. Was just my stupidity not lack of attention that did caused it.

Anyway, as for my shopping trip, I decided to investigate some of the Indian import shops that I was told about on the north east side of town. People were right, there are a lot of things in here you can get cheaper than the supermarket (once you work out what they are of course). What I liked though, was some of the familiar products - I found PG Tips, Birds Eye Custard powder (custard is very much a foreign concept abroad I have learnt), corned beef, beef burgers (which had to be purchased in 1kg bags) and condensed milk! First bacon, now custard - whatever next!

Why is everything available in liquorish flavour?!

Liquorish-toffee flavoured yoghurt, its not actually as bad as it sounds.

Today I browsed the yoghurt section in the supermarket and thought I found a toffee yoghurt. I didnt know what the word before 'toffee' was so decided to ignore it. I got home and tasted it before I translated it. Turns out lakritsi means liquorish (an insanely popular flavour here). Perhaps the black pot should have been a hint... Was pretty good actually :)

TPS - Ice Hockey!

Tonight I headed to Turkuhalli to watch an ice hockey match between the Turku team TPS and a team from Lahti. Was good fun, and I've decided I actually quite like Ice Hockey. Its pretty fast moving, so more interesting than football, but the goal is really small so it still takes a lot to score (I like to play Basketball, but watching it is pointless because they just score so often really). Anyway, I really had no idea about the rules and fouls and things, but its easy viewing and you get the point - get the puck in the goal. Simple.

Anyway, we as the uni group took up a whole stand (which was quite a big deal considering the hall wasnt all that packed). We even got a shout out over the speakers - over 100 international students of the university of Turku! Well they did us a good deal - only €5 a ticket!

The match is broken up into 3 half-hour sections, and we scored in the first session, but then Lahti's team equalised in the second third. Luckily though, TPS managed to score 2 goals in the third third giving us a 3-1 victory - Hurrah!


I seem to remember that we have a pretty good ice hocket team back in Guildford actually. I think I'll definitely go again while I'm in Finland and you never know I might carry it on back home!

Take a flight back to Helsinki...

Would you look at that - I went and passed my 100 post mark without even realising. Oops. I'll do some sort of monumental post for the 150 mark instead :)

Anyway, I want to share a track I kept hearing around when I first moved to Turku. But I listened to it again tonight because its mildly appropriate. Its by a band called C.S.S and the song is called Left Behind. The lyrics are about 'taking a flight back to Helsinki' and just drinking and dancing to forget about what she left behind. So I havent 'left anything behind' as such, and I'll be getting the train, not flying, but this weekend I return to Helsinki - wooooo! Its a friends birthday, and he's having a party, so kinda invited myself along :) Just need to find somewhere to stay for the night... bit cold for sleeping on a park bench me thinks.

Next Plane Home

I still cant decide whether or not I like this song. Its another one I hear everyday at work, and to start with I liked it enough to google it. Found out it was by Daniel Powter and then went off it a bit for some reason. So why am I posting it? Well this weekend I booked my flights home for christmas. Just 10 weeks, and I'll be back on home soil, ah...

So anyway, each time this song comes on it makes me think ahead to when I can get the 'Next Plane Home'

Rasmus Gig Review

I was running a tad late for the gig on saturday after having woken up late and getting sucked into the sales at the department store in town. Anyway, I finally made it, and it was just great. Finnish crowds are pretty different to those back home at London gigs. For starters, despite turning up over 30mins late, I still got a spot right down the front. And not only was I down the front, but I has plenty of room to move around/dance, and it wasnt ridiculously hot. In a lot of ways it didnt feel like a proper gig, particularly when everyone sat down between the support act and the band.

Talking of the support act, they were actually really good. I quite enjoyed their set. They played for nearly an hour, and I think there was only one song that I didnt like. They are called Von Hertzen Bothers, and its sort of synth rock I guess. You can check out their myspace page here. After the gig I managed to get the singer, Mikko, to sign my ticket :) It seems everyone knows Keira Knightly here too, so glad she spells her name the same way.


Anyway, after they finished the Rasmus came on. They started with Living In A World Without You, which was really good live. After that they went straight into FFF-Falling. So was glad to hear they were going to be playing some of their older songs too. And that they did, as well as playing tracks from the new album, they played, Guilty, No Fear, First Day of My Life, Chill and Sail Away (which was done as a duet with Mikko Von Hertzen coming back on stage).


Some of the new tracks that I has heard and werent overly impressed by have gone up in my estimation since hearing them live. For example, I didnt like the title track 10 Black Roses much, but its very good live. However, my favourite of the new songs is called Justify. Despite the intro reminding me of The Cure's 'Lullaby', the lyrics are what appeal to me most about it. Ghost of Love is also worth a listen.


They did some odd songs as well, such as Ghost Busters, and another song in Finnish, that had something to do with a moon... It took me a while to realise he was singing in Finnsih, but the guitarist held up a big ball of styrophone and said something about Kuu. Make of that what you will...

Finally for an encore they did In The Shadows.


Was a great night. And no worrys about rushing for the last train home. Just casually strolled round to the student village where I stole some posters off a notice board, and then caught a bus back to the Kauppatori where I had time for a cheeseburger before the next night bus home :)

All the bacon in the world couldn't save you now...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I write this post while munching on a bacon butty. Yes thats right, after a long 10 weeks(!) without bacon I have finally found something that resembles the great stuff we have back home. Advertised as 'american style' it is in little strips more than proper rashers as such, but dammit it smells and tastes like bacon so i'm insanely happy. Turns out it was in my local supermarket the whole time! Lets just not mention the cost - but then you cant put a price on bacon-fuelled happiness :)

Best. Dominos. Ever.

Just watching some random videos on youtube, I remembered a video my Finnish teacher showed us while I was in Helsinki. I think the premiss was to spot foods and name them afterwards, but really it was just a cool video.

Heres what happens when your left in the store room of a large supermarket on christmas day.;

Weekend Plans

So looks like I have plans for the weekend after all. My friend has double-booked herself this weekend, and so had a gig ticket for sale for .... The Rasmus!

I very graciously accepted the sale of the ticket and so will be heading over to the hotel (:/) in Turku where they will be playing. And the night buses will be running so will just head on home afterwards. Will make a change to go to a big gig in my 'home' town rather than having to worry about the last train home from London.

Perhaps I better go buy the album...

I'm in the forest so rare and devine

In the end I did head back to Ruissalo and wondered around the woods. Literally 'around' them. There didnt seem to be any paths heading into the actual woods (apart from what appeared to be peoples driveways) so ended up following the path that ran parallel to the road. Meant I didnt have to go far to get back to a bus stop though.

It was still very beautiful. The sun was shining, the leaves are a beautiful golden colour at the moment, and in was quite damp underfoot, so everything seemed to shimmer a little. Plus there were some awesome mushrooms to look at.



I'll only put up one of the many photos I took. Its actually shameful how many photos I took, especially given the whole time I was thinking of how much it reminded me of home! And I would never take that many photos of wareside, hehe.

(Oh, and btw, the title is from a song by a British Band called The Coral. The song is called In The Forest, and I always get it stuck in my head whenever im out in the countryside here.)

I want to hear your voice, you know its been so long

And just thinking about Rachel and Teitur, I've been listening to this track a lot lately. Its my favourite song by Teitur (that I've heard) and its called Sleeping With the Light On.

Teitur - Sleeping With The Lights On
Uploaded by Teitur-official

Just Some Ramblings

So its finally the weekend again. Its been a pretty packed week. Not sure why, but just feel like I've been busy the whole time. Works getting busier now as well, so maybe I'm just more tired by the evenings. And tonight Rachel is away in Denmark (having a fabulous time no doubt) and everyone else seems to be off at party's or whatever. But I am already looking forward to an early night and my first lie-in in 2 weeks! The last two weekends have been pretty packed, and now I actually have no plans what-so-ever for this weekend.

If the weather turns good then I will head back to Ruissalo to walk around the nature reserve this time. Most of the island seems to be woodland by the look of it, so will be nice to explore that a little. If not though, I think I might do some serious shopping. I planned to go earlier in the week, the same day my cash card was munched by the cash machine. But I have been told a new one is on the way. So perhaps I can window shop tomorrow, choose what I want to buy, and then do a quick sweep of town in the week after work and buy all the bits I chose. If that makes sense. I only have one pair of shoes with me here in Finland, and have since discovered they are not water-proof at all.

Went back to Koulu last night for another meeting of the language cirlce, but we were somewhat smaller in number. The rain no doubt put people off, and also lots of people have gone on the trip to Russia (why I didnt go I'm not sure, I'm so jealous - next sememster for sure). But it was nice, and 4 hours flew by and ended up getting the last bus home! Wasnt very awake for work this morning...

Also this week was the 'Two Months in Finland' mark, which is pretty cool. Some days its feels like nothing is different and everythings just normal. And some days I remember that I'm miles from home and this is supposed to be some big adventure! Working 9-5 you tend to forget and just get into a routine.

Work seems to be getting a bit better now too. Started taking my coffee break in the afternoon, so seeing faces around a lot more. Think most people know I'm english now, so have given up talking to me in Finnish, which is good because it was getting annoying explaining to people all the time. Had a full-blown conversation with someone today as well. Was pretty cool :)

So here's to next week. My it continue! (And may my bank card arrive!)

Finlands National Finals

So the 12 competitors to represent Finland at Eurovision this year have been announced. Most of them I havent heard of, so decided to do a little research on those that looked interesting. Here are my thoughts to the main contenders.

Waldos People
I had heard of this band before but couldn't remember any of their stuff. Now i realise why. The only way I can describe it is Cheesy Electro Rock. A very strange mix, that doesn't really do it for me I'm afraid. Although they have the potential to make a very catchy eurovision song actually, so maybe one to watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afyNN4xSSZg

Vink
A new rock group with a poppy-rock style. I quite like it actually, but I don't think its right for eurovision. Think the semi's will be good exposure for them though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grYpwwEJ75g

Riikka
Used to be part of a folk group that I've mentioned on here before. Her current stuff on myspace seems more contemporary and chilled-out but still keeps a traditional Finnish vibe to it. Pleasant but easily forgettable in the grand scheme of esc.
http://www.myspace.com/riikkatoarie

Signmark
I think this is an innovative idea and the kind of thing that is perfect for eurovision in terms of vision. This is a hip-hop group formed of three members; a dj, an mc, and a signer (sign language). Its a way of showing that deaf people can make and enjoy music and trying to remove stigma's and bring more awareness of deaf issues to society I guess.
All in all though, it is hip-hop, which never does well at esc, so we'll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKXlTXQCN0

Tiara
Singing a kind of mature power-pop, she actually seems like the kind of singer they would like back home (if she were singing in English of course). With the right song she could do very well at esc I think. Then again, what do I know?
http://www.myspace.com/tiaranmusiikki

Jari Sillanpää
But of course the main contender is Jari. I keep seeing his face everywhere I go! He was playing here in Turku a few weeks ago, and when I went to Naantali (not the biggest town) I saw his face on a poster on what I'm guessing was the town hall or something. So he gets about a bit. Think whatever he enters will get people ringing up to vote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TkkphTOVWE

The ‘Legendary’ ESN Cottage Weekend

Personally I was a bit skeptical about how ‘legendary’ this weekend would really be. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I managed to meet some new people, which was very strange for me. When we were split into groups for the cottages (there was 60 of us – we would never fit in the same one), I agreed to go in one where there was nobody I already knew (which isn’t hard really, since I hardly knew anyone anyway). But it was great. Our cottage was the biggest and nearest to the Beach, the main Restaurant, the BBQ area, and it had the sauna!

But before all that was ‘The Amazing ESN Race’ (They do like their positive adjectives). We were split into teams (again I was with only one person I already knew) and sent off with a map to go to various points and complete tasks. These included traditional Finnish sports, such as Wife-carrrying, Welly Boot throwing, and a kind of Baseball (which I was terrible at, the bat is skinnier than for rounders and I wasn’t exactly great at that at school). We also had a Finnish Fear Factor, where we were blindfolded and asked to taste different Finnish foods. I had my first taste of Salmiaki, which is salt liquorish. Its an acquired taste I think…


Unfortunately we didn’t win. Although, we must have come second at least I think, as we seemed to score high at most of the tasks. After the race, we had some free-time where most headed to the beach to relax and go on the rowing boats. It took me a while to get the hang of the oars, but in the end we managed. And the views were beautiful. Although it was the Baltic sea, like all the beaches in Finland, all you could see were islands. But it meant it wasn’t too rocky on board the boat.


After dinner, we had a bit more free time, where I decided to have a paddle in the sea, but soon after decided it was absolutely freezing. So we headed back to the cottage to get ready for Sauna. To begin with, it was just girls sauna, and we just about fit in the room. A few individuals that I decided were insane went to swim in the sea after each ‘round’ in the Sauna. However, I soon gave in, and went down to the sea to try it for myself. It was very refreshing actually. After time came for a mixed sauna, our sauna got very busy indeed, so I gave up and got changed and headed to the BBQ area to relax.


We had a bit of a party in the evening, but I was so relaxed after the sauna and the bbq, that I didn’t make it much past 2am before I was heading for bed. We were then woken up at 9am to head for breakfast. Cleaning the cottages started at 10am, and I had the painstaking job of walking along the beach in the morning sunshine looking for the odd bottle or cigarette butt (of which I didn’t find either – just some socks).

Just as we were about the leave, it started raining. So we had a quick picture in front of the restaurant and then onto the bus to head back to Turku.

My Fabulous Weekend, Part 3; Turku Castle.

Sunday was Turku Day, which meant that the town was a lot livelier than usual. There was a special market going on, and most of the museums were at a reduced entry cost. So we decided to go and have a look at the Castle. Finally the clouds had shifted and there was glorious sunshine, which was a good start to the day.

We got a bit lost trying to find the bus stop we needed. Every bus goes from the Kauppatori, and we knew we needed number 1, but you could spend ages wondering around that square trying to find the bus you want. So we asked in the tourist office. :)


We made it to the castle, and its has some beautiful grounds to look round before you go into the courtyard. After this you can enter the castle for a modest fee, given how huge it is. We walked around for what seemed like forever, and then ended up back at the start only to find there was also a museum in the other direction from the entrance. We made a quick dash around this before giving up and going in search of coffee.


The castle has been beautifully restored to its original size, which I found interesting but also a little strange. It was nice to wonder around a full castle, as we have ‘Hertford Castle’ at home, which is basically a wall. But it was also hard to tell how much of the castle was original, as all the staircases had been restored, and possibly the walls too? I had heard that a lot of the windows on the ground and first floor had been added in, but without a proper guide it was impossible to know the real history of this castle. A lot of the written information was only in Finnish and Swedish.

After the castle, we had a wait for the bus, so wondered up the river towards the Forum Maritime. I don’t really know what this is about except that there is a big boat you can go and look at. And it was free for Turku Day! So we had a quick tour while waiting for the bus. I cant remember what the name of the boat is in Finnish, but the translation was The Finnish Swan. It was a very pretty boat, or more of a ship I guess.

And then sadly, it was back to the town for a quick look round the market before heading back to mine for the girls to get their luggage and head to the train station. It was a perfect weekend though, and a great chance to catch up with my friends. Hopefully we’ll meet again soon.