Woke up at 8, again. Today is the day we start our journey home.
Breakfast in the executive lounge at 9:15. Once again, I cannot stress enough the impact that the lox they serve in Finland has on my life.
It started snowing at 10, much to our excitement. I mean, what use is it to spend time in Finland in the winter if it's doesn't snow?
We left the hotel just before noon. Our agenda consisted of two things: the stone church, and Šašlik.
We got distracted almost immediately by a farmers market that was being held in the square directly behind the hotel. While we didn't eat there, we did end up buying a great pair of reindeer-skin gloves for me. I named them Donner and
As we were about to leave the farmers market, my dad spotted a brick building with factory-style windows. We went inside, only to find a larger indoor market, much like the one near the shore that Riku brought us to a few days ago. Father, true to form, kept the camera on his iPhone turned on and at the ready, taking pictures of literally everything.
Next we hopped on the metro to the Kamppi stop, and walked north to the stone church.
Unfortunately, the one touristy thing we wanted to do today is closed for renovations until January. But we saw pictures in a local souvenir shop, so I'll write a little about it. A very little.
Finns built church into hillside. Stone wall and small dome are only visible things from surface.
We wandered around the stone wall for a tad, stepping gingerly on the newly fallen/falling snow, afraid we'd fall in. I did once, up to my knees. Dad slipped twice. One had him performing a very impressive summersault for a 59 year old man. The other was a graceless stumbling as he stepped down to a curb - only the conveniently placed pole next to him kept him from falling, as he grabbed it on his way down.
After that little ordeal we attempted to find a cab to take us to Šašlik. We tried to hail a few until an Oregon native studying in Helsinki stopped us and told us that in this country you call a cab or go to a taxi stand. He called a company who told him that there was a stand a minute walk away, so we went there.
Šašlik (Шашлык) is a Russian restaurant which has a reputation from some as being the best Russian food outside of Russia, and by others as being the best Russian food in or out of Russia. Either way, it was supposed to be incredible. It did not disappoint.
We arrived at two outside the restaurant, about 70m away from Sea Horse, which was adorned with a simple red onion dome awning. Inside the first door was a massive, plush upholstered, red throne, and a door to the restaurant itself.
Inside the restaurant:
--Paintings everywhere, on every wall. Most were of Russian nobility of old, some of children or Russian pastimes, and at least one representation of Father Christmas;
--Stained glass windows, each with a unique design. We sat next to a window with a bright peacock design on it;
--Candles. But not just your average romantic candles. Next to our table was a candelabra that seems to have held at least 100 full sized candles, judging by the size of the total wax drips all over it;
--The rest was, in the interest of time, fancy, welcoming, and whelming.
We started the meal with a traditional Russian dish; vodka. I had a polish vodka to start, called Zubrowka. It was one of the better vodkas I've ever had. After I got Russiya Standart Platinum, while my dad got Zubrowka.
As for food, here's what we ordered:
Dad:
-- Appetizer: Bear roast (with Georgian tea syrup and caramelized garlic cloves)
-- Main course: Chicken breast à la Kiev (Chicken breast stuffed with lemon-parsley butter, served with deep-fried root vegetable rösti)
Me:
-- Appetizer: Sturgeon and snow crab ballontine (with champagne mousse and truffle creme)
-- Main course: Potted bear meat en croûte à la Šašlik (tender bear steak in sour cream sauce served with barley kasha)
We almost ordered the Flambéed bear fillet on a skewer à la Peter the Great (Served with porcini blinis and port wine sauce), but with a price tag of almost double the second most expensive item on the menu, €98.20, we ruled against it.
The bear roast was juicy and tender. The sturgeon was cold and refreshing. Both lifted our spirits and made us happier people overall.
When the main course came, we were presented with empty plates. Both meals were brought on one large wooden trivet, piping hot, and we were given utensils with which we could scoop out our food and consume from the plate.
All I know about the Chicken Kiev is that when dad cut into it, all kinds of butter came spilling out, and he loved it dearly as he ate it. But as for me, I was given a mini bread bowl to scoop my Bear stew into, and a ramekin of mushroom something. One bite brought me to tears. It was one of the most savory things I've ever experienced. I took my time with it, enjoying each bite over the course of at least 45 minutes. I don't think there has ever been as clean a set of plates after a meal as ours were after this one.
At 3:30 we realized it was 3:30 and we had to leave for the airport soon. We paid our bill, left the Russian paradise we had found, and walked down the street to where the sea horse was. Around the corner was a bookshop that my dad had been dying to see, so I let him pop in quickly while I ran down the street to see an historic house - V.I. Lenin had lived there in 1906, probably after having fled St. Petersburg in 1905.
After seeing the plaque and the building I ran back and pulled dad away from the bookshop.
We walked north up to the Esplanade, where we found a taxi at a taxi stand outside a hotel. The driver took us to the hilton, where we picked up our bags and got another taxi at 4:10 for the airport.
In a bizarre twist of fate, though, we arrived at the airport so early that EasyJet hadn't even started checking anyone in. There weren't even EasyJet desks yet. But when the tv screens switched to show our airline, we got in line and got through early.
Security was a breeze, and customs too. We got to gate 35 way too early.
We boarded the plane at 6:20, and left on time at 6:50, on our way to London - Gatwick North.
We landed about 3 hours later, which was only 1 hour later with the time difference, at 7:53.
We picked up our bags at the baggage claim and left the secure area of the terminal to find the bus to Heathrow. Tomorrow morning we have a flight to the USA and we needed to spend the night near or at the airport.
We got a bus almost immediately, remembering the mistakes we made last year, and got a National Express ticket for us both to Heathrow.
From Heathrow, we avoided the "hotel reservation desk" ripoff by booking a reservation online, saving £63 over the £141 that they tried to charge us for the Renaissance hotel near the airport.
We got to the hotel around 10:30, and spent 30 minutes chatting with the women at the front desk, Linda from Sweden and Agele (I think?) from Lithuania. It was quite entertaining, and they even gave us a free glass of champagne apiece while we talked.
Around 11:45 I went to sleep. 6:45 wakeup call in the morning to catch our flight home.
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