Day 20

Today I started alone to work. I took the 8:50 bus , but missed the connecting metro. Since the next train was 5 minutes later I was sleepwalking in the metro towards a bench. A tall(much taller than 6 ft) German guy walked over to me and said 'boo'. He probably found it funny that I was so tiny and tried to scare me. But I was so sleepy, I just looked at him and waled away. He was smiling when I turned back to look at him.

Sharmili forgot her house keys and took my keys. I spent the whole day trying to read about soumennlina island. While reading, I came across this link where it was mentioned that an astronomer had built a model of the solar system spanning espoo and helsinki. It consists of pillars taking the positions of planets with almost the same scale. and mars and earth were near the bus stop where I get down in the evening. I thought I must check it out before I leave. I had no clue I would see it the same evening.

In the evening we started quite early as had very little work. We first went to parvez's place to collect his cam. The way to his place was scenic, we had to cross a bridge over the gulf of Helsinki. After taking the cam, we started for kamppi, we wanted to take snaps at the open air fair that was happening at kamppi. Took a lot of snaps and while walking back to kamppi mall met some old friends of parvez. We then went to McDonald's and had a chicken meal and then started for home.

On the way home, I got a call from akanksha that they were still in central. With no keys of my own I started roaming the neighbourhood. and finally stumbled upon mars.. Then walked a litle further to find earth. I knew that the otherplanets were not in the vicinity so did not proceed further. But it felt nice walking along the side of the woods. Only problem was, It was freezing outside and also I was wearing six inch heels and walking so much was killing my feet. After a while I went into a supermarket next to my place. I waled around until closing time and walked out with some ice cream and other such junk.

Had to wait outside my apartment until tese guys turned up.

Day 19

Today I had very little work. Once every thing was done left for the Indian market in hakaniemi. Once we reached there we were not sure which way to go. While going around, saw a lovely building. Must go back there in daylight and take a couple of snaps.

Got bored there and went back to kamppi mall. Got into a shop called ninja and what do I say, for me it was as if I died and reached heaven. Earrings!!! of each and every kind. They were a little expensive.. but simply amazing.. I took hours to look at each one of them and finally chose a pair that were stunning. They cost me 13 euros (almost 900 rs) but were so amazing this was something i simply could not resist. Also bought a simple bracelet for the same reason. But this was not very expensive.

Then i went all around kamppi mall and checked out the various flower bouquet shops simply because they looked so pretty. Saw them selling tiny cactus's with caps and beards like Santa Claus at 5 euros (expensive!!!)

Outside kamppi there was a roadshow happening with huge oil lamps and a lcd display which was gigantic. it was nice and warm outside thanks to those oil lamps. Plan to go back there again just to get some pics,..

Day 18

Another boring Wednesday. And done with working for another module. Back to working in my module. And lots of work again.

Today I had plans of going to kaisaniemi. There is a place called tarjostalo where you get splendid Christmas decorations. And really they were beautiful. Whenever I go shopping I make sure I get into the shops selling Christmas tree baubles. They look so beautiful. You don't get to see that kind of stuff in India. I felt like buying each one of them even though I knew I would not need any.

I reached Tarjoustalo and bought some lovely candles and flowers and stuff. A few chocolates again. Then I left for home. I never knew Helsinki has so many people. Everyone seems to be shopping these days :)

Day 17

Another day with a lot of interesting work. In the evening went to get my cam. Finally I am the proud owner of a canon a2000is. It is supposedly one of the best digicams in the market today in that category.

Had to get it duty free packed so that I will get Vat exempted which means I will get 30 euros back. Bought an MMC and a set of rechargeable batteries also. The people here seem to be in a shopping frenzy. I was number 132 that day to buy something at that mall. And I was surprised at the kind of things people were buying. Ever seen anyone take away a huge LCD TV as if it were a small package. People were buying LCDS as if they were candy. There was one guy who actually got it gift packed. The guy standing behind me had three Ipods in his hand. Gosh, I wish someone would gift me an IPOD! And one guy bought four lcd monitors. Christmas!!!

And the number of people on the roads surprise me. There are people all over the place. During weekends some people walk casually around with bottles of alcohol in their hands. It was freezing cold today and as I was waiting for the bus, I was wondering if it would feel good to have a smoke or a drink..(I got into the bus after waiting for 30 mins in the cold). Thankfully Mc chicken meal was still hot in my tummy.

Day 16

Counting down to return home, I look forward to stuff like sleeping on my own bed and eating hot pani puri on the roadside or laugh as loudly as I can, and the best part, No sweaters!! No jackets, no need to wear 2-3 layers of clothing even to get to the grocery store or to throw out the trash.

Had a lot of work but things feel good as everything works, I actually enjoyed working.

Today I went to verkkokauppa to checkout the cams one last time before I buy them. Also chose a memory card to buy along with the cam. Then I went down to K market to get some eats. This place makes me so lazy, You have escalators to go everywhere and the transport is also extremely convenient.

There are four modes of transport Bus, Metro, Tram and train and you have a common pass for all four. Buses and trams ply on the roads almost parallel. Metros go underground and the route is in the shape of a fork. Rouhoulahti, the place where my office is, is the last stop for the metro. There are metros to two destinations and both of them travel in the same route until itakeskus where they fork into two different routes. The metro travels from underground to a few levels above the road like our flyovers. It travels in an underground tunnel from rouholahti to fiskhamnen from where it comes out into the open and is on a flyover. And you barely notice that the metro has climbed up from a few stories underground to a few stories above normal level. You just feel that it is moving on a plane. I really felt amazed when the metro surfaced from the tunnel. It was as high here from the road as it was low in the underground. Almost level with a 6-7 storied building!!


Travel is free for children and those who are carrying children in prams. I did notice a few people carrying overage kids in prams to take advantage of this. I did mention earlier that pedestrians are given a lot of importance. There are wide sidewalks everywhere and another wide stripe for cyclists. the roads are not very wide, just wide enough for a bus to pass and at some places a little more for a car to pass. The people seem to be good drivers.

Day 15

Sunday!! turned out I did not have to work today. So I spent the whole day lazing around at home. Then i cooked chicken for myself and sharmili.. we had plans of going out to the park outside the building to get some quick snaps of the nice skirts and blazers these guys bought yesterday, but then we were too lazy and daylight faded at 2 pm.

I mean how lame is that, sunshine for only 3-4 hours a day. I believe in living by the sunlight like many Indians do, but here u can only live by the clock.. and if you sleep a little longer, you can never be sure if it's 4 in the morning or evening. Probably that is why these people use 24 hr time instead of 12 hour like we do.

Day 14

Saturday!! but I was supposed to be at work. I usually set my alarm for 6:50 in the morning and snooze it to wake up at 7:30. Today I suddenly felt wide awake when i checked the time. It was 8:30 AM!! and I was still in bed. On a normal Saturday i would have gone back to bed. But today, I had to rush!!! I got up and hurried with my chores packed my box with rice and ran out of the house without even bothering to button up my overcoat or tie my muffler.

I started at 9:25 and the bus was at 9:26. Thankfully, the bus was still there and I managed to get on. Once on board I buttoned up my coat and then realized why i was feeling so cold. I forgot my gloves!!!! No time to go back. So, i carried on to work.

Was busy the whole day with work. In the afternoon had a hot meal with chicken curry which parvez made(The same chicken that i tried to cook) turned out delicious.

In the evening we went to buy some chocolates to take back home. There was a wholesale candy shop at the central railway station. Some chocolates turned out to be a little more than 10 kgs between the both of us. Carried the stuff home with great difficulty. ´

Akanksha and sharmili went to Esplanadi park in the afternoon to check out the St. Thomas christmas market. It turned out a damp squib and a very expensive one too. They were cribbing ' sade se topi ke bees euro, ye log pagal ho gaye hai'