The Diarrhoea Diaries
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Bathroom Habits of the Finnish
...And so it begins.
6 months traveling across the Eurasian continent. First stop: Helsinki, Finland.
My trusty sidekick, Shannon, and I arrived in the Finnish capital way back on June 29th. A lot has gone on since then, so I'm going to try to keep this first blogpost brief, so that I can get up-to-date as quickly as possible (Though many of you who've read my painfully long bulk e-mails from past travels know that this may be a difficult task)!
Helsinki is an undeniably beautiful city. It is surrounded by water and it's bays are studded with an impossible number of islands. The streets are cobbled, the buildings ornate and turreted, and trams trundle along the streets beneath the shadows of two spectacular cathedrals. There is a distinct air of sophistication about the place, but also a distinct lack of energy.
Perhaps we were expecting too much. The population of Helsinki is a mere half-million, and it's not exactly situated at a major crossroads (Which might bring travelers flooding into the city from all directions), like other more southerly European cities. Perhaps we were just put off by the prohibitively expensive nature of the place. More than London. More than New York. More than Stockholm. At about C$10 for a pint, this was a serious obstacle for our alcohol consumption goals, and we were forced to limit ourselves to just three beers!
Having enjoyed an evening wandering around seeing the sights of the city and becoming ever more confused by the endless twilight which lasted from around 8pm until when the sun finally set around 11.30 (Only to rise again a couple of hours later!), we decided that we didn't need to spend more time in Helsinki and opted for an earlier ferry to Tallinn..... But first we had to spend a night at the Eurohostel!
Helsinki was to be Shannon's first experience with hosteling, and unfortunately the Eurohostel was not a great first-hostel experience! Aside from the lack of atmosphere and soviet-style minimalist rooms, the shower room came as somewhat of a shock for poor Shanno! The Finnish are apparently completely comfortable being naked - presumably a bi-product of their sauna culture - which I assume is the reason there was not so much as a curtain on the showers for privacy. The only thing that displeased Shanno more than this was having to make her own bed (If only the video would upload!) - a highly amusing experience from an bystander's perspective!
The one saving grace was the abundant source of amusement which came from the hand-held bidet system next to every toilet (Imagine a shower hose next to the toilet that you use to wash your arse). The Finnish girl on reception gave us a quizzical look when, after explaining to us their purpose, and that they're quite common in Finland, we skipped away giggling like schoolgirls!
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is being labeled 'The New Prague'. Maybe that's because it's a beautifully restored medieval city that offers a lot of 'bang for your buck', or maybe it's because UK stag parties and boys' weekends needed a new place to go after Prague started getting expensive. Whatever the case, the place is a gem!
Hostel number two, the Old House, was more to Shannon's liking despite being half the price of the Eurohostel. It was situated right on the edge of the old town and made an easy base from which to go exploring.
Tallinn is surrounded by a city wall dating from medieval times. The city has meticulously restored all of the buildings within the city walls (Having started restoration even before the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent independence), and if it weren't for the throngs of camera-wielding tourists from all over the world (Yes, myself included), you could probably be convinced you were walking around in the 14th century (Minus having buckets of shit thrown into the street from above).
It was our second warm, sunny day, and we put it to good use wandering every street and taking in the atmosphere. Following a very Estonian dinner at an African restaurant, we somehow ended up in an old bar later in the evening, tucked away in a vaulted cellar, where with an international cast of characters (And courtesy of Casper the friendly barman), we managed to obliterate ourselves. It was our first experience with Russian (Or Estonian) vodka. It was cheap in Estonia... and it keeps getting cheaper with every country I go to! Too cheap! The problem is that it also seems to get you much more drunk than you actually think you are, and it also produces massive memory-blanks!
We stumbled in at 2am (As the sun was rising after its 3-hour slumber), only to rise again a little after 5.00 to get to our bus that would take us to Mother Russia.
6 months traveling across the Eurasian continent. First stop: Helsinki, Finland.
My trusty sidekick, Shannon, and I arrived in the Finnish capital way back on June 29th. A lot has gone on since then, so I'm going to try to keep this first blogpost brief, so that I can get up-to-date as quickly as possible (Though many of you who've read my painfully long bulk e-mails from past travels know that this may be a difficult task)!Helsinki is an undeniably beautiful city. It is surrounded by water and it's bays are studded with an impossible number of islands. The streets are cobbled, the buildings ornate and turreted, and trams trundle along the streets beneath the shadows of two spectacular cathedrals. There is a distinct air of sophistication about the place, but also a distinct lack of energy.
Perhaps we were expecting too much. The population of Helsinki is a mere half-million, and it's not exactly situated at a major crossroads (Which might bring travelers flooding into the city from all directions), like other more southerly European cities. Perhaps we were just put off by the prohibitively expensive nature of the place. More than London. More than New York. More than Stockholm. At about C$10 for a pint, this was a serious obstacle for our alcohol consumption goals, and we were forced to limit ourselves to just three beers! Having enjoyed an evening wandering around seeing the sights of the city and becoming ever more confused by the endless twilight which lasted from around 8pm until when the sun finally set around 11.30 (Only to rise again a couple of hours later!), we decided that we didn't need to spend more time in Helsinki and opted for an earlier ferry to Tallinn..... But first we had to spend a night at the Eurohostel!Helsinki was to be Shannon's first experience with hosteling, and unfortunately the Eurohostel was not a great first-hostel experience! Aside from the lack of atmosphere and soviet-style minimalist rooms, the shower room came as somewhat of a shock for poor Shanno! The Finnish are apparently completely comfortable being naked - presumably a bi-product of their sauna culture - which I assume is the reason there was not so much as a curtain on the showers for privacy. The only thing that displeased Shanno more than this was having to make her own bed (If only the video would upload!) - a highly amusing experience from an bystander's perspective!
The one saving grace was the abundant source of amusement which came from the hand-held bidet system next to every toilet (Imagine a shower hose next to the toilet that you use to wash your arse). The Finnish girl on reception gave us a quizzical look when, after explaining to us their purpose, and that they're quite common in Finland, we skipped away giggling like schoolgirls!Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is being labeled 'The New Prague'. Maybe that's because it's a beautifully restored medieval city that offers a lot of 'bang for your buck', or maybe it's because UK stag parties and boys' weekends needed a new place to go after Prague started getting expensive. Whatever the case, the place is a gem!
Hostel number two, the Old House, was more to Shannon's liking despite being half the price of the Eurohostel. It was situated right on the edge of the old town and made an easy base from which to go exploring.Tallinn is surrounded by a city wall dating from medieval times. The city has meticulously restored all of the buildings within the city walls (Having started restoration even before the fall of the Soviet Union and subsequent independence), and if it weren't for the throngs of camera-wielding tourists from all over the world (Yes, myself included), you could probably be convinced you were walking around in the 14th century (Minus having buckets of shit thrown into the street from above).
It was our second warm, sunny day, and we put it to good use wandering every street and taking in the atmosphere. Following a very Estonian dinner at an African restaurant, we somehow ended up in an old bar later in the evening, tucked away in a vaulted cellar, where with an international cast of characters (And courtesy of Casper the friendly barman), we managed to obliterate ourselves. It was our first experience with Russian (Or Estonian) vodka. It was cheap in Estonia... and it keeps getting cheaper with every country I go to! Too cheap! The problem is that it also seems to get you much more drunk than you actually think you are, and it also produces massive memory-blanks! We stumbled in at 2am (As the sun was rising after its 3-hour slumber), only to rise again a little after 5.00 to get to our bus that would take us to Mother Russia.
posted by Scott Robertson at 5:47 AM
1 Comments:
Nice work! and concise! Looking forward to the next! Jess
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