Turku

Thursday the 12th...retrieved!!
Today, we went to Turku, which is at the southwestern edge of Finland.  We had a nice drive from Tampere, although on a much smaller road than the freeway we took to Tampere from Helsinki.  We saw a lot of moose crossing signs, and Theresa saw a picture of a camera, and thought it might be a photographic spot.  I noticed the "Poliisi" at the bottom of the sign, and judged they would be taking pictures of us!  A few minutes later, we saw a flash several hundred yards ahead of us, and then saw the camera machine when we got up to it.  Thankfully, we had slowed to the speed limit.  We saw lots of the cameras the whole way, which kept us under 80kph (50 mph) much of the way.  But, it was a nice drive.

Along the way, we worked on a bit of our Finnish.  I can tell you, most of the Finnish I know I learned from the Muppets Swedish Chef!!  Please is "olta hoova", which rolls off the tongue when said in the Swedish Chef accent!!  It was quite fun.  I can now count to 10, but you probably don't want to know how I remember some of the numbers!  :-)  For the drive to Helsinki tomorrow, we'll have to take on some other part of the language.

We arrived first at Turku Castle, which was built about 700 years ago.  As we arrived, looking around, we first found the restuarant, so started with lunch.  A few of the staff were eating, and they wore these period costumes (like servant ladies in "chore clothes"), which I thought was kind of funny.  Anyway, the castle is a museum, and an odd collection of things, from displays on the life in the 1200's through the 1500's, to clothing from that time, to money, several rooms of furniture, religious artifacts, and so on.  Of course, much of the castle was as you might expect a castle to look, rough hewn beams overhead, well worn floors of either wood or stone, etc.  There was a prison area, too.  In that sense, it really had the feel of being there when it was something.  The castle was built by Sweden (of course).

I tried to make a new friend, but I'm not sure he was receptive!

We had some time, so went on the Turku Cathedral, which we had planned for tomorrow.  The church was also built about 700 years ago, and is still an active church (although built as a Catholic Cathedral, and practicing as a Lutheran Cathedral since the Reformation).  The church was nice, but none of the churches we have seen here have been as impressive as ones we've seen on the Continent.    Not complaining, but I guess it just didn't impress us much. 

The adventure of driving continued.  On the way to the church, we got a little lost.  But, with a 300 foot tower, it wasn't too hard to find.  On the way to the hotel, traffic was insane!  We noticed the left lane turned left, and needed to go straight, so got in the right lane.  Sitting there behind a bus, there was a rap on the window.  Next to me, between the lanes of traffic was a police officer on a motorcycle, scowling at me.  Apparently, I wasn't to be in that lane either!  Buses and Taxis only.  I should have told him I was Theresa's taxi driver!  Well, the light turns, and no one in the left lane was going to let me in, and I could not get over because he was next to me, so I ended up in that lane for another light cycle.  Oh well.

All over the city, we saw young people (high school age?) in large groups with these wild pants!!  They looked like NASCAR with patches and things all over brightly colored fabric.  Groups seemed to have matching pants, although not identical.  We guess there was some function, but couldn't figure it out.  Then, near our restaurant, there was a line half a block long to get into this night club.  It was 6:00!!  I can't imagine what was going on in that club, or when it opened, but 6 seems early to be standing in line already.  I know.  I know.  I'm just not "cool".  I'm good with that!

For dinner, we tried a "Viking" themed restaurant. They had an interesting menu, with bear, elk, reindeer, "ox", and so forth. Of course, everything had campy names, but we had a good time.  I had reindeer and bear sausage. The bear was fine, the reindeer was better.  Theresa had some chicken with honeyed root vegetables.  We shared a dessert of tar ice cream with berries.  It was really tasty, but Theresa does NOT get the concept of sharing equally.  Everyone knows sharing is a time based function, so just because my function is faster than hers DOES mean I get more.  This whole thing about dividing the dish in two volumetric halves is just not right!