Yesterday day evening and night was the annual Night of the Arts in Helsinki. It is part of Helsinki Festival, an urban happening taking place at the end of August and the first days of September.
The night has two sides: there are people that go to the city to see the art and visit venues, and then there are people that use the night as a good excuse to booze midweek.
We, that is Sanna and a few friends of us, have a tradition that we go through several galleries, following the routes laid out in The Enchanted Way gallery brochure. It is very nice way to see the arts and not get involved in any performance or being exposed to the drunken masses. A lot of art, some wine, some bisquits and a few new places to visit in the city.
Of course, the night has a lot more to offer, and we are just scratching the surface here. There is a lot of various public activities and the art goes everywhere — and it doesn’t need to be “high” art. For example, the police band was playing at the Kolmen Sepän Aukio Finnish dance music from fifties, and there were a huge crowd listening to them.
There were performances in some shops among the shoppers. One clothing boutique on Fredrikinkatu had hired a modern dancer to perform while they served some wine for the shoppers.
If you are planning to come to Helsinki in late summer, try to be here during this night. It is fun to mingle in with the arts.
Kyläkauppa Keskinen (Village shop Keskinen), the second biggest shop in Finland has a brand new food store located behind the new castle-like facade — yes, I’m not kidding here, check out OnnenTähti hotel review…
The food store has full selection of food items in quite good prices. Some of the stuff is sold in astoundingly low price, and the rest is in par with the normal supermarkets.
There are a couple of cafés and state alcohol monopoly store in front of the market.
Address:
www.tuuri.fi, Keskisentie 12, Töysä, Finland, +358 6 5100 200, neuvonta.ruokapuoti@tuuri.fi
Hotel OnnenTähti is really peculiar place to have an accommodation. It is located in the middle of nowhere (in a town of mere 500 inhabitants), it looks like a fairy tale castle outside, it has a huge food supermarket and state alcohol monopoly store on the ground floor and all rooms cost the same, 100€ — including suites.
The hotel is a brainchild of Vesa Keskinen, the shopkeeper of the second biggest shop in Finland. The shop is located in Tuuri, a village in a small town (as said before, only 500 inhabitants — most of them most probably employed by the shop) that has nothing else.
Everything revolves around luck in Tuuri (means luck or chances in English). For example, you don’t know which room you get beforehand, but it depends on your luck whether you get a basic room or a suite. And horseshoe insignias are to be found everywhere.
The basic rooms could be suites in other hotels, as they are huge (45 square meters), high (5 meters) and have excellent amenities. Surprisingly, the minibar was empty in our room. Maybe you can stock it from the market downstairs.
In short: Great rooms with low price. Good breakfast and free cone of ice cream for children after the breakfast. A huge shopping center in the same and the next buildings.
www.tuuri.fi, Keskisentie 12, Töysä, Finland,+358 6 5105 5000, onnentahti@tuuri.fi
Tuuri hosts the second biggest store in Finland that has been gradually turned into a full-fledged tourist magnet. And those need at least one decent monument.
As the man behind the whole store believes firmly in luck (Tuuri means sort of good luck in Finnish), most of the stuff there are related to luck or chance in a way or other.
What would be better monument for luck than a horseshoe? So they erected this golden-looking giant horseshoe “OnnenKenkä” (lucky shoe) in 2000 to act as the landmark for the area. It may be a little tacky, but everybody remembers it after seeing it once.
www.tuuri.fi, Keskisentie 12, Tuuri, Finland
Our feet are itchy again… This time we’ll have some low-key travelling, as our final destination is Turku. The old capital of Finland is somewhat 150 kilometers to west from Helsinki, and most of the road is highway — the missing section will be built in two phases; the first one is already inaugurated and the second will follow hopefully soon.
Finland has had arguments about the road money for some weeks now. The government has disputes between different offices whether to execute the works or not. The money has been put aside at least once, and now it is questioned again. The roads are deteriorating in some areas and the ever increasing traffic creates huge bottlenecks in certain areas around Helsinki. On the other hand, if we compare these jams to any other traffic jams in almost any Western capital, we can consider ourselves very lucky. Driving here is a breeze, for example, compared to US.
I should get my car before the trip, so it will be interesting to try it out… Now, don’t get me wrong here. As my wife and son are also riding the same car, I won’t do any speeding or constant accelerations. Instead, I’ll concentrate on more mundane subjects, such as the comfort of the ride, quality of the sound system and visibility.
Woodfin Suite Hotels have different take on the accommodation business: every room is a suite with a kitchen, there are a lot of amenities and the breakfast is free of charge. The price is still comparable with the other hotels of same quality within the nearby area.
The hotel is an excellent choice for people staying longer or travelling with small child. The fridge is an essential and it should added to every single hotel. The kitchen has also a stove, a microwave oven, a dishwasher and full set of tableware.
The livingroom has a table for working, couch and a small balcony. The separate bedroom has a sturdy bed with good linens.
The hotel is located next to train tracks and the trains can be loud. Try to get a room facing to the San Francisco Bay for better view and no train noises.
www.woodfinsuitehotels.com, 5800 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA, USA, +1 510 601 5880
Doyle Street Cafe is an American restaurant on, duh, Doyle Street in Emeryville. The neighbourhood has been converted from semi-industrial to dwellings, and there are also small offices here and there.
The place was quite packed during lunch hours, but we could find a table without problems. There is an extensive lunch list and also a few daily specials. The price of a portion is around $10.
The meals are good, fresh basic American food; fortunately not saturated with a lot of fat. There are not that many warm portions, but a variety of salads and sandwiches served with fries should be able to satisfy your appetite. They serve also Peet’s coffee.
Doyle Street Cafe, 5515 Doyle Street, Emeryville, CA, USA, +1 510 547 3552
Stanford Shopping Center is a collection of upscale boutiques and department stores. The center hosts four giants: Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus. As these name implies, shopping trips here can drain your wallet very effectively.
These department stores are surrounded with a selection of specialty stores that cater the most areas of living: books, children, cosmetics, gifts, jewelry, clothing (almost half of the stores), shoes and so forth.
All the shops are on one floor — or in fact, there are no floors at all, as the shops are located on alleys that grow trees and flowers. This is not your typical mall, but an elaborated version for places with good weather around the year.
There are also a wide variety of restaurants, but surprisingly enough only one fast food joint (McDonald’s).
The shopping center is on El Camino Real, near University Avenue.
Address:
www.stanfordshop.com, 680 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA, +1 650 617 8200
