Zara is a mammoth of a fashion house, originally from Spain, nowadays found almost everywhere. They are known to be fast to produce garments; it takes about two weeks from designing the clothes to get them to the stores, and they do rotate their stock every month. So if you find something worth buying, buy it now. Otherwise you may never find it again.

Zara’s flagship store in Tallinn is located on the ground floor in Viru Keskus. The location could not be more central. The store serves both ladies and gentlemen, and also children. The clothes are of good quality, stylish, and the price is decent. If you like shopping in H&M or Mango, you’ll like this store, too.

Zara, Viru Centre, Viru Väljak 4/6, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 610 1366

I’ve been working like a maniac lately. Fortunately enough, Sanna’s mother has been with us taking care of Aapo.

On Tuesday afternoon I and Sanna had a rare luxury: spending some time just together in Helsinki. When the child is not around, you don’t have to worry about his wellbeing constantly. It is really nice feeling to be just with adults for a change.

We first browsed through a few shops in Helsinki. It seems to be ages ago when we did this for the previous time. There were so much to buy and so little time (and money :) …

After shopping, we sat on Kämp’s patio, looking towards Esplanadi park and people on the streets and on the park. This combined with very nice weather and excellent drinks made it the best patio experience this year. Never mind that it was also the first one.

The last stop was restaurant Yume, also in hotel Kämp. It is quite recently opened haute cousine Japanese restaurant, and probably the best in town — sorry Raku-Ya and Kabuki. The food was just delicious and service swift. Atmosphere was nice, too. There will be review on due time.

On our way back to home, we bought ice cones from Stockmann. I’ve never tasted so good vanilla. Go to the ice cream counter next to the magazine department and ask for old-time vanilla.

Oct 17, 2006: Changed the web address based on Pete’s comments.

If you are an American or British ex-pat or just otherwise feeling a bit homesick, visit Behnford’s to find your favourite food and drinks, such as coffee, candy, salad dressings and so forth.

The quite small store is located on World Trade Center Plaza, a central spot in Helsinki, just next to Stockmann and the railway station. Note that the plaza is inside the World Trade Center building.

The prices are high, as everything is imported and there is virtually no competition.

www.behnfords.fi, WTC Plaza, Keskuskatu 7b, Helsinki, Finland, +358 9 671 110
Website:

Stockmann’s Tallinn department store was the first abroad store for Finnish department store giant. Nowadays they have several stores around the Baltics and western Russia, and the Tallinn store has moved at least once.

Stockmann’s principle is to be the most desirable place to shop and also the most desirable place for the brands. This shows in good service attitude, excellent selections and reasonable prices. Stockmann is never the cheapest in the town, but there is no fat margins for them either.

Tallinn store is located a bit far from the old town, but you can still walk there in less than fifteen minutes. All major aspects of life are catered. Especially the downstairs food store is excellent in selection.

www.stockmann.ee, Liivalaia 53, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 633 9539
Website:

Yesterday was a hot and humid day in Finland. Day before yesterday was, too, today will be, day after tomorrow also and so forth. We have been blessed with good weather over a week for now and there is no end in sight.

We travelled to inland that is even hotter than the coastal regions, and really enjoyed the day out — good food (you can’t really get wrong when you are barbequeing), good weather and good people. What else do you need?

Yesterday was an exception, as I’ve been extremely busy with Exove projects this week. I’ve achieved a lot, but it has also taken away some time from my family. Next week will be hectic, too, but then it should be time for a vacation.

Silk sushi bar is a stylished version of sushi restaurants found nowadays in every major city. The interiors of the restaurant have very modern look and feel, somewhat typical to the more upscale joints in Tallinn. The restaurant is kocated on a quite prominent place in the Tallinn old town, and the patio combines good food with entertainment from the people passing by.

The served sushi is average; I’ve tested better, but also lot worse. The list is extensive and there are also some hot dishes available. The service was snappy when we visited, but it happened to be still early lunch time and we were the first customers.

www.silk.ee, Kullassepa 4, Tallinn, Estonia

We finally got to visit Turku last weekend. Our trip was once again almost cancelled, as Onni (Aapo’s cousin) had chicken pox. We bravely decided to visit, as Aapo could get the disease from Onni and we would be dealt with it. They say that chicken pox gets harder and harder as child grows older.

On Sunday we thought that Aapo got it; there were some pimples around his body — but alas, today we visited doctor for other reasons, and she told that the pimples are insect bites…

Getting back to the subject, the trip was very nice. Weather favoured us, and Turku had medieval days going on. The old great square was transformed into a medieval Turku, and there were all kinds of public medieval stunts, such as selling your girl to a farmer, going on in middle of tourists.

The festivities included also a huge number of stalls selling all kinds of stuff, and a separate area that had art and craft performances.

All in all, the visit was really nice and relaxing. Sauna, good food and good company. Do you need more?

Bocca is a fine-dining Italian restaurant located deep inside the Tallinn old town. Carefully renovated to an old building, Bocca’s interior is splendid and gives a good mood for the dinner.

We visited the restaurant on late lunch hour and it was almost deserted. Maybe this was due to summer and the time of the day — but we did enjoy being served by three or four waiters and waitresses.

The food is tasty, but it took quite a long time to get it on the tables. The service is better than in most of the places we visited — Finns would call it friendly, Americans maybe even hostile…

I found one peculirity, there were no signs on the bathroom doors. I ended visiting them both and couldn’t figure out which was which? Maybe there’s no distinction. If this bothers you, take a leak beforehand.

www.bocca.ee, Olevimägi 9, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 611 7290