Tales of a Day in Helsinki

On Wednesday morning (April 20th), I headed to the Russian Embassy to get my visa.  Sally and I met Todd there around 8:50am in an attempt to beat the line.  A queue was forming, but it appeared that we would finish our trip in less than 2 hours (the amount of time it took to get to the counter and apply for our visa).  Standing in line was a man who kept looking at me as if I could easily be his grandchild.  

Prior to coming to Finland, my mom bought be a new coat in Rochester.  It was made by Dale of Norway and has a Norwegian flag on my left arm.  This nice man noticed and asked "are you from there?" pointing at my arm.  It took a second to register what he meant and then I told him, no I am not but my grandfather was from there.  He smiled at me then and the rest of our time in line.  

Amazingly, we were out of the Consulate with our visas nicely affixed to our passports by 9:30am!

Later in the day I was walking to Kampii at quite a clip but noticed that the people around me were stopping.  I ignored it for a couple minutes and then saw photos being taken so paused.  Up in the Forum were two owls!  I snapped my own picture.

That night I made the best thai food I've had from the wok in my kitchen since the first time Sally and I used it.  I think the "spicy garlic" sauce is the trick!