March 17, 2003

amerikan pastilleja

After years of hearing people make jokes about how much Finns love saunas, it's still sort of surprising to realize JUST HOW TOTALLY OBSESSED they are with saunas. We took our second this morning, and have been invited to the house of a pianist we met last night for a light dinner and yet another sauna Wednesday night. (He was playing at a party that Elizabeth's friend was hosting; Allan impressed him mightily by recognizing the Comedian Harmonists song he was playing, and rushing over to the piano to sing along with him.) We also visited the house of an artist friend of Elizabeth's who looks exactly like I imagine Baba Yaga (although her house doesn't look like Baba Yaga's). And we met an expatriate American yoga/pilates instructor who wants to take us out to a hip-hop club... if she can find one...

This morning, after the sauna & a neato buffet breakfast, we headed to a former Nokia cable facgtory that's now a cultural center/mass of artists' studios. Then we went on the WORST BUS TOUR OF ALL TIME--supposedly an architectural tour of the city, but with a guide who genuinely Didn't Get It. Consoled myself by purchasing some odd Finnish candy, which I bet people I see in the week or so after I get back will get samples of.

Every time I turn on CNN it depresses me, despite the fact that I'm generally listening to it in the hotel's bathroom with its wonderful heated floors. Luxury, terror, you name it.

Posted by Douglas at March 17, 2003 9:58 AM