Juhannes!!

Dateline: Turku, Saturday, June 20, 2009

Warning: If you come to Finland during Juhannes (Midsummer weekend) be prepared: when they say everything is closed, they mean EVERYTHING is closed! It's kind of weird and spooky in to visiting a big city and have NO stores open, maybe 2 restaurants open in the whole city - one of them at the Radisson Hotel (go Carlson group), and possibly one or two coffee shops, NO bars, etc. And practically no one out on the streets. We had a tiny forewarning about this when making reservations in March - one small hotel in central Finland told me they were closed this weekend because of Midsummer. Then, Monday, just a day before we left I had a message from the B&B where we had booked, that they were going to be closed, but we could still stay there on our own with their 15 year old son. I think I wrote about that earlier. However, none of the guidebooks we consulted prepared us at all or the extent of this holiday! Fortunately, we prepared ourselves before leaving Helsinki yesterday by buying extra bread, cheese, fruit, and beer. We didn't buy wine, because the wine shop was closed. Now, of course, all shops are closed at least until Sunday afternoon. I might have to walk over to the Radisson to have a glass o wine!

One thing that is very weird to me, is that almost everyone here in Turku appears to be Finnish - blond or light brown hair (except or the women who have dyed their hair black or neon red) with very blue eyes. I've seen a very few people with swarthy skin, but no Indians or Pakistani (there are quite a few in Helsinki), and absolutely no people of African heritage. It's rather disconcerting - kind of like Minnesota squared!

People are very nice when we have an opportunity to speak with them, it's hard to speak Finnish, though, because everyone between age 5 and 50 at least speak superb English. I did have a chance to talk with an older woman at the market who was selling some handknitting. She didn't speak English, and I was able to use a little Finnish talking with her. In the hotel in Helsinki I asked one man where the sauna was (in Finnish) and he answered me in English.

Today we are going to drive out towards the sea - it's too cold to swim, but it looks as though there are some good places or nature walks, so we'll take our raincoats and umbrellas, and try to at least get out and see some scenery and the water.