finally, Finland
so, I went to Finland a few weeks ago and since I was prodded, here's what happened.
I arrived on Friday afternoon, July 4th. Checked in at Hotel Seurahuone. It's my favorite in Helsinki, so classical and beautiful and right across from the train and bus station. there was construction on the street but I didn't hear it when I slept and it was cool to watch while I couldn't go out. more on that later...
I love this city and was so happy to be back. I headed to the S-Market for some supplies and just wandered around for a little while. I went back to my room just in time to see a really beautiful sunset. I wish I could have gone up to the top of Torni to see that since I couldn't sleep I spent a long time sitting in the window watching the drunk people staggering home at 3 and 4 in the morning.
Saturday I caught the train for Turku and Ruisrock. there was a bus right outside of the station that went to the festival site..almost. it actually dropped us off across the bridge from Ruissalo, the island that had the festival area and was also a nature preserve. everybody had to walk from the bridge to the site. about 1 1/2 miles I think.
when I got there I saw the last song by a band called Lapko and they sounded pretty good, I wish I had seen more. the festival area was huge with 5 stages. my favorite was the one right on the river. there were cool boats and huge barges going by.
that's where the first band I wanted to check out, Poets of the Fall, was playing.
I liked the show but the sideshow was even better. apparently, some people don't feel the need to bother with swimsuits!
next up was The 69 Eyes. I knew this was going to be a good show and I wasn't a bit disappointed.
I had such a great day just walking around catching a little of this band or that and just people watching.
One thing I learned is that as the day goes on and the people get drunker, any vertical object becomes a urinal. fences, trees, blades of grass... I feared for my back when I was sitting on a rock so I didn't stay in one place too long! haha
there was even one couple so swept away with the experience of the day that they didn't even bother finding a place for privacy, they just gave into their feelings by having a good bang about 15 feet from one of the main paths. everyone enjoyed the show, including the cops who were laughing and taking pics. I did have to laugh at one guy who ran up and offered them an energy drink after about 20 minutes. when they finally finished they received a round of applause, got up and straightened themselves out and walked away.
HIM finally came on at midnight and I was in the second row in front of Mige, where I usually like to be and while we were waiting for the show, out comes a camera man pushing one of those big cameras and stood right in front of me facing stage. so instead of a great view of a great band, I got a view of the camera guys ass. I was stuck there for most of the show getting more and more frustrated at the pics I was getting so I decided to get out and see what I could get off of the big screen. I had the hardest time getting out. no one would move, I was so worn out and starting to panic before I finally made it out. Again, I was disappointed by my pics but I must say the concert itself was great. I wasn't surprised to see Bam on stage sticking his camera in everyones faces. I'd like to see that footage.
I really didn't see Linde or Gas at all so I couldn't get their pictures. : (
Next came that long, long walk back to the bridge. there were buses coming to pick everyone up but the pushing and shoving were unreal. finally got shoved onto a bus and to my surprise it didn't go back to the train station but dropped us at the keskustori, the center of Turku. after wandering around until 3am I joined the line at the taxi stand and waited...and waited. we were entertained by two drunk guys walking up and down the street trying to get everybody to sing. finally it was my turn and I got into the taxi and asked if the bus station was open all night and in answer got back a string of finnish. me-no english? him-more finnish. my mind went blank and I couldn't remember the word for bus station so I said rautatiasema? big smile and off we went. I'm glad all that studying was put to good use. haha. got to the train station at 4 but it didn't open til 6am. there were people sleeping on the benches and one guy had strung up a hammock. I found a place to sit and froze my ass off for a couple of hours til I was able to go in and get my ticket. oh, that station was so nice and warm! I stumbled to the train and slept all the way back to Helsinki. since it was 8am Sunday morning no stores were open and I hadn't eaten all day and night so I grabbed a sandwich at a place in the station. staggered across the road to my hotel, hit the bed and fell asleep before I could take my shoes off, undress or even eat my sandwich. I didn't wake up til 6pm so sore and sick I couldn't even get around. I spent the next day and a half completely out of it. I was dehydrated and exhausted. I'll never do that again. I'm glad I went for the experience but no more really big festivals for me. Don't worry though, the trip gets much better after this, well, with one little exception. coming soon!
I arrived on Friday afternoon, July 4th. Checked in at Hotel Seurahuone. It's my favorite in Helsinki, so classical and beautiful and right across from the train and bus station. there was construction on the street but I didn't hear it when I slept and it was cool to watch while I couldn't go out. more on that later...
I love this city and was so happy to be back. I headed to the S-Market for some supplies and just wandered around for a little while. I went back to my room just in time to see a really beautiful sunset. I wish I could have gone up to the top of Torni to see that since I couldn't sleep I spent a long time sitting in the window watching the drunk people staggering home at 3 and 4 in the morning.
Saturday I caught the train for Turku and Ruisrock. there was a bus right outside of the station that went to the festival site..almost. it actually dropped us off across the bridge from Ruissalo, the island that had the festival area and was also a nature preserve. everybody had to walk from the bridge to the site. about 1 1/2 miles I think.
when I got there I saw the last song by a band called Lapko and they sounded pretty good, I wish I had seen more. the festival area was huge with 5 stages. my favorite was the one right on the river. there were cool boats and huge barges going by.
that's where the first band I wanted to check out, Poets of the Fall, was playing.
I liked the show but the sideshow was even better. apparently, some people don't feel the need to bother with swimsuits!
next up was The 69 Eyes. I knew this was going to be a good show and I wasn't a bit disappointed.
I had such a great day just walking around catching a little of this band or that and just people watching.
One thing I learned is that as the day goes on and the people get drunker, any vertical object becomes a urinal. fences, trees, blades of grass... I feared for my back when I was sitting on a rock so I didn't stay in one place too long! haha
there was even one couple so swept away with the experience of the day that they didn't even bother finding a place for privacy, they just gave into their feelings by having a good bang about 15 feet from one of the main paths. everyone enjoyed the show, including the cops who were laughing and taking pics. I did have to laugh at one guy who ran up and offered them an energy drink after about 20 minutes. when they finally finished they received a round of applause, got up and straightened themselves out and walked away.
HIM finally came on at midnight and I was in the second row in front of Mige, where I usually like to be and while we were waiting for the show, out comes a camera man pushing one of those big cameras and stood right in front of me facing stage. so instead of a great view of a great band, I got a view of the camera guys ass. I was stuck there for most of the show getting more and more frustrated at the pics I was getting so I decided to get out and see what I could get off of the big screen. I had the hardest time getting out. no one would move, I was so worn out and starting to panic before I finally made it out. Again, I was disappointed by my pics but I must say the concert itself was great. I wasn't surprised to see Bam on stage sticking his camera in everyones faces. I'd like to see that footage.
I really didn't see Linde or Gas at all so I couldn't get their pictures. : (
Next came that long, long walk back to the bridge. there were buses coming to pick everyone up but the pushing and shoving were unreal. finally got shoved onto a bus and to my surprise it didn't go back to the train station but dropped us at the keskustori, the center of Turku. after wandering around until 3am I joined the line at the taxi stand and waited...and waited. we were entertained by two drunk guys walking up and down the street trying to get everybody to sing. finally it was my turn and I got into the taxi and asked if the bus station was open all night and in answer got back a string of finnish. me-no english? him-more finnish. my mind went blank and I couldn't remember the word for bus station so I said rautatiasema? big smile and off we went. I'm glad all that studying was put to good use. haha. got to the train station at 4 but it didn't open til 6am. there were people sleeping on the benches and one guy had strung up a hammock. I found a place to sit and froze my ass off for a couple of hours til I was able to go in and get my ticket. oh, that station was so nice and warm! I stumbled to the train and slept all the way back to Helsinki. since it was 8am Sunday morning no stores were open and I hadn't eaten all day and night so I grabbed a sandwich at a place in the station. staggered across the road to my hotel, hit the bed and fell asleep before I could take my shoes off, undress or even eat my sandwich. I didn't wake up til 6pm so sore and sick I couldn't even get around. I spent the next day and a half completely out of it. I was dehydrated and exhausted. I'll never do that again. I'm glad I went for the experience but no more really big festivals for me. Don't worry though, the trip gets much better after this, well, with one little exception. coming soon!