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Visited two big tourist attractions in just one day!
There won't be much photos from the Zoo on this page, so for all the photos taken in the zoo, please visit here.
Their zoo wasn't any much different from ours, really, so... well, I guess visiting the zoo is just the "tourist-thing" to do. XD
After the zoo, we headed to our next destination, Suomenlinna.
We had to go back to the harbour (where we went on Saturday) to take a ferry that would bring us to Suomenlinna. Suomenlinna is an island fortress on its own, much like our Sentosa. The difference between those two is that Sentosa has now became an "entertainment" island, whereas Suomenlinna remains as it is, maintaining the old beauty of brick walls, huge black cannons that faced the sea, and basically, Suomenlinna is a place where you can roam about freely on your own... provided you don't get lost. XD Oh, by the way, Suomenlinna is included in the UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The ferry trip took about 15 minutes, and although I didn't take any photos of the ferry, I can tell you that it could even ferry at least two big cars on it. I knew it because on our way there, there was a car in the middle of ferry... I asked about it, and Reko's mom explained that there are still normal residents living on Suomenlinna, and if they are working in Helsinki, they'll need to travel to and fro, together with their cars, if they have one. So naturally, cars are also allowed on the ferry since that's the only possible way for them to get their cars from their island to Helsinki.
Me, enjoying the sun, the sea, and the cold, cold wind
Reaching Suomenlinna! Oh, did I see a pink building?!
Look at all the nice, old structures in the background!
The quietness and the grandeur of these fortress walls took my breath away
The UNESCO World Heritage List plaque!
After walking around (and into) the fortress for awhile, we went uphill... and I was momentarily mesmerised by the breath-taking seaview beyond the cliffs. It was almost like... a dream come true. (I think I should elaborate on this a little.)
When I was 15, I had attended a "Leadership skills" course
in my secondary school. There was a course facilitator there
who taught us how to relax whenever we were all stressed up.
He said, "Imagine your favourite place. It can be non-existent,
it can be outer-space... just imagine a place where you'll
feel most relaxed. Be it on the mountains; be it on the sea;
be it even in the toilet... just imagine. Close your eyes,
open your mind and imagine." The favourite place I conjured
up was somewhere on top of a cliff, away from the bustling
cities; where the sound of sea gulls filled my ears; where
sea waves lapped gently against the rocks beneath, and where
the warm sun and the gentle sea breeze carressed my face.
It has then been my haven, a place where I retreated in my
mind whenever I felt stressed about anything. And after imagining
myself at my favourite place for about five minutes, I'd feel
better. That's the magic of it.
I never thought I would really find a place like that. Well
I know that there might be a place, somewhere out there in
the world, that resembles my inner haven, but I never thought
I'd actually find it. I was totally dumbfounded when I stood
on top of the cliff in Suomenlinna, looking out to the sea...
it was as if the whole place came straight out of that haven
that had, till then, only existed in my imagination.
The whole place was so quiet, so silent, except for a few sea gulls calling out to each other now and then, and the sounds of waves crashing onto the cliff rocks below. The wind was cold, but the sun rays were warm. It was just... the haven I had been looking for.
That's me... who's still pretty awed by the view
There are even stairs for you to walk down to the rocks,
where you can enjoy a nice, quiet picnic with your family
when the water is at low tide.
I love big cannons! (Pun not intended...)
Soon, it was time to leave, so that we could catch the ferry back in time for our dinner. I was reluctant to leave that place... but I'm glad I had found it. And I'm glad that it's in Finland, the country where we are going to retire and reside in... if things go as what we planned, that is. =)
Us... hand in hand
Dinner was at... a Chinese restaurant back in Kerava. *cough* Yup, we had Chinese food that evening. I was intrigued by that Chinese restaurant ever since we went past it once while walking back home, but I never really wanted to try it, because eating out in Finland is just too expensive. However, since his mom suggested it... =D
The setting in the restaurant was very "chinese", as expected. A little way too Chinese though...
The restaurant's name
Their table setting... a wee-bit too over-"cheena", perhaps...?
Our "appetiser" - Popiah
Dinner - Beef in spicy sauce, and fried chicken meat
What is a Chinese meal without a big bowl of rice? =D~
All in all, the food was... all right. Their popiah is long, rectangular, and flat. And I have no idea what to make out from the taste. It's definitely not "chinese", it's not thai, nor it's vietnamese. Ah well. Their beef was nice and tender, and their sauce is not that spicy, but that was to be expected. Their fried chicken was... edible, I guess. Well, I'm not a big fan of fried chicken brest meat, so I'm a tad prejudiced there. xD
There's dessert too, and it's "fried banana with icecream". In other words, goreng pisang with ice cream. I didn't take photos of that, nor did I eat it because I don't want to fall sick from the icecream or the fried food. So I gave mine up to his sister.
One little gripe though. They didn't give me a spoon. How am I supposed to eat rice without spoon?! I know, all caucasians eat rice with forks, but I don't like to eat my rice with fork. I mean, if you go Japanese restaurants, you'd expect them to have chopsticks, yes? So when I go Chinese restaurants, I'd expect them to have spoons. But in Finland, their Japanese restaurants do have chopsticks readily available for customers, but no spoons in sight for Chinese restaurants. Well in the end, I decided to grab a spoon that's on the fried chicken dish (they have spoons for that hygiene purpose since we are sharing food) and promptly attacked my rice with that big spoon.
On a side note, the waitresses there don't speak Chinese either. They spoke weird Finnish (according to Reko), and they spoke in some alien language, which I totally didn't recognise. It's definitely NOT chinese, not even those remotest dialects; it's not Thai; it's not Korean; it's not Japanese. The only possibility left is... they could be Vietnamese. Well, I didn't go ask them, though I nearly wanted to ask the waitress for spoon in Chinese. Haha, I guess it's good that I didn't, or else it would be an awkward situation for us. xD I mean, a Chinese restaurant, with Asian staff, that can't speak Chinese? That's a little odd, I'd say...
After dinner, we went back home and started to pack for our Lapland trip. Reko and I would be taking a domestic flight the next day, to Lapland, for a three-days-two-nights stay at a nice log cabin which his mom had generously rented for us. And I do mean "generously", because that cabin alone cost about 1,000 euros for the entire stay. That's about S$2,200! Yes, his mom is very nice and a very generous person...
For more pictures taken on this day, please click here.
Day 5 - Day 7: Lapland! >>
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