Bill's Version

White wine? She is drinking Coke Zero!  (Theresa's Note - that's because Coke is more expensive here than wine, so I only drink it when it's free -- seriously...who wants to spend $4 for a Coke???)

The drive this time was much different scenery from the other two. We went through several tunnels, and I was curious at the hillsides they cut through. Usually, the slope is 75 degrees, or less. But these were at least 80 if not 85 degrees. You could see the drill marks from the top to the bottom to blast the rock out. We resumed our Finnish Study, and I learned how to say “I would like meat!” (pronounced like “sigh-cinco leeha!”) I can find daily uses for that phrase! Enroute, we stopped for fuel, 57 Euros for less than 40 liters (that’s about $85 for less than 10 gallons!).

So, we got to Vantaa, and headed straight to the air museum. Someone asked what the best part of our trip was…this is in the finalist list! It was great! But, first, Theresa made us sit down and eat at the Cockpit Café. It reminded me of Christmases as a kid, when we couldn’t open presents until after breakfast, and then after breakfast dishes! You’d be surprised how fast we got the kitchen cleaned up! Anyway, the museum was in three “rooms”. The first and third rooms were chock full of all sorts of planes, from a Saab Drakon (fighter jet) to a DC-3, and even the remains of a DC-2, Lockheed L-188, and even a Convair from Finnair’s fleet. It flew up until about 1980. They were tucked underneath each other, hanging overhead, and just fit in like a big puzzle. They also had a galley training unit (for an ATR-42), and a Flight Attendant uniform, and several avionics (aviation electronics) items like “black boxes”, flight computers, etc. It seemed like a lot of their displays were pulled out of the water after a wreck, but that added something, at least for me. A few engines were set up with mangled propeller blades, some bent all the way back to the engine.

There were several military planes from Finnish history. It took a little getting used to, because the Count who purchased the first plane for their Air Force had a symbol he believed was good luck (independent of the political perspective), and it happened to be a blue swastika. So, he painted it on the wing of the first plane, and they decided to copy it on all the planes. It became sort of an unofficial emblem for several decades.

Then they had a section on “fantasy”. There were a few pictures of fabled flyers of (Finnish) folklore, and a “magic carpet”, and even a Nimbus 2000 (if you don’t know what that is, you probably would rather not know!).

At the gift shop, it was like a candy store! So many things I wanted, but I had to limit myself. Then in the parking lot, there were more planes! (though not many). But all of the planes in the lot were former Soviet built, including two MiG 21’s, and a couple of helicopters. So, by the time I left, I was really happy!

Parking is a little haphazard!

When we got to the hotel (after dropping bags, returning the car, and coming back on foot), we went up to the Exec Lounge. I finally got to realize my other “dream” for this trip. The city that the airport is in is “Vantaa”. And for much of the trip, I have been telling Theresa “I Wanta Fanta when we get to Vantaa!” Well, I opened the fridge in the lounge, and there beckoning me was a cold Orange Fanta!!  We also found out the AA Flight to Chicago was cancelled so a LOT of people were being booked to stay here. Uh oh! Glad we’re not going home tomorrow!  Oh, the other great part of this night, is I'm sitting here enjoying an Irish Wiskey, while watching planes take off an land!  What better way to end the evening!