Nordic Ninjas and Finnish Meatballs

This morning, we hauled a giant box of Saori's clothes to the post office and mailed it to the US. It was the hottest day of the season so far, and the tourists and natives were out in force for the warm sunshine. We stopped at the Russian Orthodox church for a quick peek, surrounded by throngs of buzzing tourists who were happily snapping away ignoring the "no photography" icons everywhere. The chruch interior was not that impressive, I have to say, not nearly as impressive as the creative and beatuiful brickwork which made up the exterior. There was something about the simple material of the humble red brick, which cut, mitered, and moulded in various forms and laid in various bonds that created an awesome, elegant classical Russian church. The red brick really set off the green patina of the copper roof and the bright brassy gold of the onion domes and crosses.

After hiking back to Saori's apartment, we ate breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, and moved our convoy of luggage across town to a classmate of Saori's. Because Saori is staying later than the contract with her landlady, we found it cheaper to temporarily live in one of her classmate's studio's who will be staying for much longer. It's a different part of the city, so it feels more like a hotel than the very lived in feel of Saori's apartment.

This afternoon, we stopped for a light lunch of goat cheese and fig salad at Nolla, a really cool restraunt and bar close to kamppi. Finnish designer chairs and light fixtures, good food, and apparently it becomes a DJ'd dance club thursday through saturday nights.

After Nolla, we walked towards the church in the rock, one of the main tourist destinations in Helsinki. Since Saori has been here, it has been closed for remodeling, cleaning, whatever, but as we approached, the tourist busses lined up in front gave us a good idea that this was no longer the case. The church itself is a broad round space, enircled by the rough granite walls which rise all the way up to the ceiling. It was originally a granite stone mound, which had the church literally blasted into it. The entire space is capped with a shallow dome created from dozens of concrete spokes radiating away from the center of the dome. Glass between the copper roof and the rock walls allows light to to fall all around the perimeter.

Our next stop was a quick spin through the Finnish national musuem, which related a chronicle of the Finns living quietly and peacefully in ancient forests and tranquil lakes and rivers until western civilization in the form of the Sweedes, the Holy Church, and the Russians pretty much put made it a ragdoll in a three-way tug of war for most of recorded history. Unfortunately, we ran out of time before we got to more contemporary history, where silent, fast, white coated Finnish ski patrols took out Russian troops like a nordic ninjas.

It was a bit early for dinner when they kicked us out of the museum, so we stopped for a drink at a cafe in Chiasma, the iconic Holl project. My throat's been bothering me since I've been having some drainage issues and I got some tea to help soothe my throat. Afterwards, we walked over to Kuukuu for the Nice Helsinki Dinner. KuuKuu was the restaurant that Saori's architecture studio went to after final reviews, and apparently many of the big names in Finnish design also walked through the door while they were there. I ordered the Finnish meatballs and a glass of pinot noir, and Saori got the pan-seared liver. The meatballs were delicious. Best meatballs I've ever had. Served with gravy, lingonberries, and mashed potatoes, it compares to Ikea's dish like Ikea's furnature compares to the original scandinavian furnature designers'. Amazing. We finished the meal with the traditional Finnish desert of chocolate lava cake. Also, rather delicious.