Tag: helsinki

Sightseeing in Helsinki

Wednesday after the Nordic Day was the day of sightseeing. One of my co-workers who lives in France and with whom I wanted to connect said that she would love to do some sightseeing in the morning before we both board the plane to Paris. We only had several hours, so I decided against going to Suomenlinna, instead, I took her to Oodi library, and she loved it! She loved pretty much everything about it and told me, that it’s worth coming to Helsinki just to see this library! She asked, how could the city of Helsinki finance such a major project. My answer that Finland is a socialist country didn’t satisfy her, she said France is a socialist country as well 🙂

We had lunch at the library. Initially, I planned lunch at Esplanada, but my co-worker is vegetarian, so there was no need for a perfect salmon soup, and the library cafe had lots of vegetarian options. After that, we went to see the Church in the Rock:

And then we went to Sibelius park. On the way to the monument, I saw that cafe Regatte was open and there was no line! We seized this opportunity! We were not hungry, and caffeinated enough, so we ordered hot chocolate with no whip cream and a cinnamon bun to share. And then we sat by the fire looking at the harbor!

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What A Week!

So many things happened this week; it feels like a month! And I didn’t blog about anything!
Let me catch up on at least something.

My last post was about Suomenlinna, and how I took one of my co-workers on a tour there. Other people started to arrive on Sunday afternoon, and everybody was asking me about the “nice place for dinner.” All Vlad’s suggestions wee somewhere further away from the city center. A couple of weeks before the conference, I suggested Harald for the company dinner, and then I thought that we could also go there on Sunday, and if we don’t like it, we will change the EDB dinner reservation.

Cinnamon beer
Don’t remember half of it, the black things ar reindeer blood pancakes, and salami is bear salami, and the light things are made with cod tounges. Don’t ask 🙂
Reindeer cooked two different ways
Wild-game sword: it looked gigantic, but actually it was mostly presentation that was gigantic
A close-up


We liked it, although I am sure it is not really a “Viking food,” but rather a tourist version of it, it was a good food anyway.

And we also when there on Tuesday after the conference for our company dinner. Usually, when you are at the conference, you try to socialize more with people from other organizations, but since my company is so distributed, we do not meet in person often, so everybody is eager to see each other.

On Monday, I was trying to work, and then meeting with people and showing a little bit of Helsinki again, and then there was a speaker’s dinner in the evening in a different place.

***
Both days, there were lots of talks about the war. I argued with one of my co-workers, who was saying that “we need to support our community in Russia.” We need to make a clear distinction between individuals and organizations. Several IT organizations made statements condemning the war, and nobody destroyed them. On the other hand, multiple organizations received money from the Russian government, not necessarily in contracts, but often as direct financing of their work and research, grants, etc. And now they say nothing.

Many ordinary people are braver than these companies. And to be honest, I do not think they are “afraid.” Nobody would destroy them, they just won’t receive money from the government…

P.S. I know that some would be outraged with the way I combine the pictures from the fancy dinner with the talks about the war, but I am being honest. It was as it was: I live event after COVID, which everybody was anticipating, meeting with great people, having a great time – and talking about the war, and thinking about the war – all that time.

Helsinki Today

Most likely, I won’t have much time to blog anything here until the end of the week, so just a couple of notes:
1) We hear talks about refugees on public transportation, and actually, it seems to be even more Russian-speaking people around than it was recently. The Allegro train started to run three times a day – Helsinki became one of the very few options to get from Russia to the rest of the world.
2) My friend mentioned that people are making three-day water and food supplies and that many people try to take cash out of bank accounts. The authorities reminded people to familiarize themselves with the location of the nearest bomb shelter.
3) It is sunny – in contrast with the past couple of days in Chicago!
4) Exactly two years ago, Boris was unable to come to Chicago because lockdown started. I am happy that I am here today, and I can’t believe it was just two years ago – I feel like two epochs have passed since then!

Last Days In Helsinki

The remaining week in Helsinki was all work. I stayed on my US projects, so I had some free time in the morning and then worked from after lunch until bedtime. I did some clothes shopping on Wednesday morning, and I met with my friend Natasha on Thursday, and Friday morning was all spent trying to get a COVID test.

Although my flight back was not super-early, we both did not feel comfortable relying on the test at the airport and tried to get something in the city the day before. One of the clinics, which is relatively close to Boris’ place, was presumably doing tests for travel for everybody. When we came in, they told us that yes, please go to the lab and take the number. We did and waited in line, and then the nurse said – no, they can’t take me if I am not registered with their system. It was very annoying because we had already spent all this time, and now had to look for another place.

Long story short, I got the test, but I have to pay over 200 euros for it! Indeed, the ferry to Tallinn is the cheapest way to get the test, even with the fare and breakfast! I was tired and upset, but I had to buy some chocolate to take home, so we went to Stockmann, and I barely made it to the start of my workday.

One funny picture from the center of Helsinki – this is granite which is going to be used to mark the bike paths – love these giant “shopping bags” 🙂

Both flights on my way back were half-empty, and the food was surprisingly good. It looks like SAS either didn’t reduce their menu during COVID, or they already returned to the pre-COVID times. It is hard to believe, but I had to take additional layers with me because it was way colder in Chicago than in Helsinki!

Chocolates

I came home last night – a flight was a little bit delayed, but otherwise nice an comfortable, and there were very few people on the aircraft. I am on the CTA on my way to the office, and I have a detail appointment after work, and somehow I need to squizz in a conference call on a non-work-related topic.

I still want to post another hundred pictures from Tallinn, which I hope to accomplish in the next couple of days. Life goes on.

And here is… well, I had an “economy light” fare, which meant no luggage… but I know how to use my carry-on wisely 🙂

Biking In Helsinki

While in Helsinki, I try to combine work and doing something interesting together. Until today, the weather was great, sunny, and not as cold as everybody told me it was going to be, so we went on long bike rides every day, including the very first day I came.

Boris discovered several new bike routes, and each day, our ride was different and very scenic. Boris often reminds me the story which happened to me on one of my early visits, when I thought that if I needed to get from one point on the shore to another point on the shore, I could do so by walking along the shoreline:)

I am not making this mistake anymore, but all three of our rides were along the shoreline (for my love of it :)).

I forgot again, what’s the proper name of this sport, but it looked pretty cool
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Oodi Library

Nobody bothered to tell me that the pictures in the previous post were not visible (and I know that many people saw that post). I just realized it and fixed the pictures, so if you are curious about what you’ve missed, you can check it out :).

Now – more pictures! This morning, my friend Natasha gave us a tour of the famous Oodi library. Boris and I visited it shortly after it was opened, but even then, we realized that we needed a tour with a Finnish-speaking person :). Then, it was COVID, and finally, it happened!

I think everybody heard about the Oodi library in Helsinki. One might say that none of the features is unique, but being brought together under one roof of the building designed to host the best library you can imagine makes it one of a kind.

That robot scans the books you return and directs them to different transporters to be dropped into a different bin
This DNA-shaped staircase lists all the kinds of people this library is for (Natasha says, no word is repeated:))
THe second floor is the library of things, a digital library and a library of activities
In this area, you can use sewing machines
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A Flight To Helsinki

Except for everybody wearing masks, I do not see any material difference between traveling now and pre-pandemic. There are not that many people traveling, but close to that. First time in a year and a half, I didn’t need to present a copy of my marriage certificate, just the passport, and the vaccination card. That’s all that was required for boarding, and the same thing in Helsinki – my passport and vaccination card. The border control office even joked like in old times about me visiting “for just a couple of days” and about being torn between two countries. 

The food was close to normal (almost), and the new cameras on the aircraft are just OMG!!!  

A new cool feature
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Helsinki Day 2

On Monday, I met with my friend Natasha, and we had a long walk. Let me tell you this: Boris does not like eating outside, and never did. I mean, he really dislikes eating outside. And I always loved it, and my kids love it :). It always surprised me, that in Finland, people love eating outside so much, even in a very cold weather. And they make it fun! I can’t imagine eating outside in Chicago at 10F temperature and not feeling miserable. But yesterday, sitting by the open fire at Regatta, I enjoyed it immensely!

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In Helsinki

it is pretty cold and snowy, but ironically not as cold as in Palatine – over there, it’s negative Fahrenheit, and in Helsinki, it is from 10 F to 21F. we are going fro long walks (because that’s more or less all we can do :)), and I sleep and do not work 🙂

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