August 19, 2006- Bad Karma in Helsinki
(photos:Suomenlinna,
Copenhagen trash)
A woman in our group had her purse snatched at breakfast. When we arrived in the dining room the police were there. It was the second snatching of the day. The hotel workers and police looked more upset than Lorna. It reflected badly on the Finns. She pretty much knew what she’d lost and it included her passport, a credit card, and traveler’s checks. Calls were made to the consulate, card company and AmEx so she felt secure about not losing huge amounts or ID theft. We found out that Finns don’t use checks anymore and haven’t for years. There are young people who’ve never seen one.
That hurdle jumped we boarded the bus where Yves asked us to direct our energy to finding the purse. The thieves would most likely dump it after they took what they wanted. They usually only took cash since everything else would be cancelled and come up “stolen” if they tried to use it.
Sea Fort
We boated over to Suomenlinna Sea Fort, a UNESCO site. It took forty years to build in the 18th century and was to protect all of Sweden. Finland was part of Sweden at that time. It’s located on four islands and the walls cover five miles. France designed the fort and contributed barrels of gold to the construction effort. The fort was an abysmal failure. Its guns couldn’t reach far enough to even defend Helsinki. It was a foreshadowing of the Maginot Line. Nonetheless it had parks, concert and lecture halls for the officers and a Russian Orthodox Church built when Peter the Great was in power. When Russia retreated the onion domes were removed, a plain cross was placed on top, and the steeple was turned into a lighthouse. The island is still inhabited and there’s a waiting list to live there. Young families with children are preferred and the governing board of the island chooses who gets in. In 1980, a service tunnel was built through which water and electricity is provided and emergency vehicles gain access. Icebreakers make it possible for the ferry to the mainland to run year round.
We had time to kill on the ride to the airport and as Yves was counting our heads someone asked if he’d ever left anyone behind. He said that he had. They’d stopped at a rest area and an hour after leaving it he had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. He’d asked if everyone was there and since they were all couples and no one spoke up he assumed they were. He noticed an empty seat next to a man and asked if his wife was elsewhere in the bus. The man replied she was not. Yves asked when the man last saw her. He told him it was at the rest stop. Yves asked the man what he wanted to do about it and the man said he didn’t want to do a thing. Rather than become a therapist or referee their issues, Yves did nothing. The wife turned up at the next town. She’d taken a taxi and was on a plane home the next day.
Good Karma in Helsinki
The purse was found! We don’t know all the details but it will be delivered in Copenhagen in two days. The tour director of the GCT tour behind us will deliver it. Our group energy worked.
Yves joined us for lunch and confided that he thinks the reason he took this trip was to meet us. Maybe he’s getting in touch with his Jewish roots. He doesn’t have a wife in Bangkok as I thought but was briefly married to a woman in Boston. He met his adopted son while studying in a Buddhist monetary. His son was nine and an orphan When Yves went to adopt him he realized the boy was a non-person whose existence was recorded nowhere in Thailand. If he didn’t exist he couldn’t be adopted. Yves turned to the American Embassy since we’re known for falling for sob stories. He was able to get the boy American citizenship and then adopt him. His son is now 22 and training to be a pilot.
In preparation for entering Denmark we were warned that Copenhagen isn’t pronounced as Danny Kaye did in the movie Hans Christian Anderson. It’s a long “a” sound that’s used here. We were also told that what we call Danish pastry at home is called Viennese pastry here. During the flight Yves presented David with champagne courtesy of Finn Air as a way to celebrate his birthday with the group
Copenhagen
As we were landing the man next to me pointed out that we were looking at Sweden. Copenhagen is that close. Windmills set in the Baltic Sea line the shore and provide 10 % of the power used in Denmark. Danes refused nuclear energy years ago. Denmark itself is comprised of 450 islands and is often referred to as the smallest country in Europe but if you take into consideration that the Danes own Greenland, the statistic doesn’t hold. Queen Daisy and Prince Henri are beloved even though Henri is a “two-step” prince. He isn’t Danish but is French and has to walk two steps behind the queen. Their son, the crown prince, may walk alongside his mother.
We were cautioned that after their love of eating, Danes love to smoke. Even the queen smokes. Yves told us that we shouldn’t criticize their habit since we’re guests in their country. He also mentioned that in 1989 Denmark and Sweden granted equal civil rights to gay men and lesbians including marriage and adoption. The Finance minister of Denmark is gay. Finland is twenty years behind. He warned us not to be surprised if we see two men eating together and when one leaves he kisses the other good-bye. Many in the group basically shrugged it off and said it was not different than Washington DC, New York, etc. and was not big deal.
There are 1.5 million Danes and they all ride bikes. Bikes have the right of way. Danes bike all year long. They say that there’s no bad weather just bad clothing. We passed several single-family homes but as we got closer to the city apartments prevailed. Entire areas look like Amsterdam and there are canals here too. That is mixed with fantastic modern buildings like their new opera house. It’s sold out for two years. Seen from a distance the skyline of Copenhagen is low-rise with just church spires jutting over the city.
We’re staying at the Admiral Hotel, a 300-year-old converted warehouse. It’s a dramatic old building with huge wooden beams that unfortunately bisect the rooms. We were warned about the danger of nighttime visits to the bathroom. We’re located between a re-gentrified red light district, Embassy Row, and the Palace
Our group walked to dinner and ate at Told and Snaps, a well-known restaurant by a canal. We’re also very close to the best ice cream place in town. We were surprised to find Copenhagen dirtier than Helsinki and St. Pete. It’s the weekend and trash was overflowing onto the streets and cigarette butts crunched underfoot. On our orientation walk after dinner we detoured through the palace complex, which is virtually unguarded. The four buildings making up the palace were originally owned by wealthy merchants who gave them to the royal family when the original palace burned. I’ve noticed that lots of those old palaces caught fire.
Tomorrow we do a driving tour of the city. It will be time to relax and try to stay cool. The temperature today was 89 degrees. There’s no air-conditioning.
Toby
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