MAY 16 - From a travel perspective, today was not very interesting. There are a few time-consuming ‘administrative’ activities we needed to take care of. Since we have already spent time here and now know the layout of downtown transport, it seemed like a good time to get some of it done. Plus, Finland has a good coverage of products and services, with English widely spoken at businesses. The bit about English might seem petty, but when it comes to boring errands, anything that speeds up the process is desirable.
Both Janet and Odette’s boots completely worn out, so we go on a mission to find replacements. There are a number of buildings with shops downtown near the central train station, though the way to get to stores isn’t always obvious. Eventually we get the job done, finding that hiking boot prices are about the same, if a bit higher, than in the US.
I go on a mission to get my hair cut. Easy enough to find a barber shop, and I already have pictures on my phone of my head, taken after a recent cut, to show as an example. Not a big deal when I can use a language I know to describe it, but later on this may not be the case.
We have one large wheeled suitcase that I plan to abandon before we move on from Finland. It served its purpose while we rented cars, but now that we plan to be almost entirely on public transport, it will become a real burden. So today we determine what clothing and other bulky items can be tossed in order to reduce volume. Clothing is the easiest to deal with, since we are now moving away from cold regions and won’t need any of the arctic wear.
I need to send a box back to the US, with a few things that are special enough to pay for sending, but also of no further practical use to us. I am mostly unsuccessful at figuring out how to get this done, as the Finnish post office system is highly automated with few walk-in options available. So it gets put off until tomorrow.
The one fun thing we do this evening is visit Petri’s family (mentioned on Day 25 - Finland I), who live in Espoo. This city is about 30 min east of Helsinki. Petri picks us up outside our apartment and we make the trip during Helsinki rush hour, which doesn’t seem like much in comparison with a place like Long Beach.
They have two girls, a bit older than Odette, and she is elated to be able to spend some time live with other kids (rather than online). We have some lonkeros (long drinks), a popular Finnish concoction with gin and grapefruit juice.
There is a lot of discussion about Finland’s entry into NATO and what, in general, are Finland’s concerns about Russia. The striking parallels between what Russia’s attack on Finland in 1939 and on Ukraine this year have been discussed previously. Fortunately, it does appear that the Russian military is not up to the task of further invasions, let alone gaining much ground in their current adventure.
Finland went through the Covid pandemic in a way similar to most countries: lockdowns, and a great deal of shifting to work from home for those able to do so. Also, as with seen in the US, this shift of workplace will likely become permanent for some. Resistance to vaccination was present but not nearly as statistically significant as in the US, and did not immediately sort itself along political lines.
Back to the question of how to group Finland with nearby countries, there really isn’t one answer. As mentioned in Day 23, I have not taken the route to call Finland part of Scandinavia, since there is a great deal of geographic and linguistic difference. But the idea that resentment due to historic issues may exist between say, Finland and Sweden, is not really relevant. I get the impression that all the Nordic countries (I will include Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark) are doing well enough and have very little to complain about with respect to their neighbors. Obviously the equation changes completely with Russia, who do share a significant land border with Finland but do not share much cultural similarity.
Finland II