Talk with Steven Pinker

Calistoga hot springs 

Our first Christmas tree with gifts underneath 

Web pathways to North Pole

How to contact Santa Claus:

• Multilingual Santa greeting letters can be ordered through http://www.santagreeting.fi

• Santa office live webcam: http://www.santaclauslive.com

• NORAD, the military air defense system, tracks Santa's annual progress at http://www.noradsanta.org

Scandinavian Show Polisher 

Scandinavian Ashtray 

Eye on Helsinki

Two days before my trip to Helsinki, I was walking through the aisles of Costco in San Jose CA with my wife by my side. We happened to pass by a globe, which aroused my curiosity. I turned it around to locate Finland and was surprised to find how close it was to the North Pole. This also translates directly to how cold it is going to be in the month of December and how many hours of sunlight I will get to see in a typical clear day. I started to mentally note down the list of absolutely necessary things that I should carry with me to protect myself from the brutal cold in the northern most part of civilization I would have visited so far in my life.

White Awakening:
After a long 8 hour flight from New York JFK, the pilot of the Boeing MD11 announces to the flight crew to prepare for landing and take their seats. This means that the aircraft is at an altitude of about 5000 feet and one should be able to see the tall buildings and smoking chimneys. I strain my eyes through the window from my aisle seat to get a birds eye view of Helsinki and all I could see was white emptiness all around. The aircraft is descending rapidly to 3000, 2000, 1000, 500 feet and I still cannot see anything. Within a few seconds, the aircraft lands with a violent thud and still everything around the aircraft is white. Only then I realize that it was snowing heavily in the Helsinki Vantaa airport and the pilot managed to land the aircraft amidst the snowfall. It was a breath taking sight around the aircraft as it was taxiing to the gate. Every inch was filled with snow and the snowflakes were dancing around the aircraft trying to defy gravity.

I knew that the weather was going to be chilly and I came prepared for it. Since I had been in the New England area for 2 years I have seen snow before and am aware of the precautions one should take during these winter months. I had a thick jacket with a headscarf and 2 sweaters to keep me warm from the wind-chill. Since I was seated close to the eixt, I cleared immigration in the next 10 mins and was waiting for my baggage. It arrived in less than 10 mins. I then exchanged some currency and was on my way to the hotel in a taxi. I was surprised to find that the taxi driver spoke fluent English. I later came to know that almost everyone in Finland spoke English contradicting my impression about non-English speaking European countries.

It was a 25 minute ride to my hotel and the roads were very good. It was snowing heavily during the ride and it reminded me of my New England years. One influencing factor to make California my home was to get away from this kind of brutal winter. But I realized that it is nice to visit such places for a short period during winter months and experience the snow and cold weather.

Infrastructure:

I was amazed at the infrastructure that was available here in Finland. Every person had a cell phone. I remember reading somewhere that number of cell phones is more than the number of landline phones. I also saw how much this device is being put to use in a day-to-day basis. For eg: one can purchase train and bus tickets using their cell phone. No waiting in lines or logging on to Internet to make the payment. As you are walking to the station, one can send an SMS to a number with a predefined text, which would send a confirmation in the form of text message. This can be used as a ticket and you will be charged to your cell phone bill for the ticket fare. I thought this was just amazing. There are numerous other daily activities that one can perform using the cell phone here.
The ticketing system in the public transports is also automated. The ticket-dispensing machine is a very interesting gadget. It is twice the size of a normal calculator that a conductor carries around. I was reminded of the bundle of tickets a conductor carries in his hand in a bus back in my hometown. This ticket vending machine would be a dream come true for them.

European countries are well known for their public transportation. So every time I travel to any European country, I prefer using the public transport as they are very easily accessible and connects almost every street. I was lucky to be able to commute by train to work during my stay in Helsinki.

One thing I did find annoying was the smoking. I found that 6 in 10 people smoked. Smoking was allowed in public places and I found that to be obnoxious. It might be because of the cold weather here. But I guess there are other ways to keep oneself warm.

Food:
As you would have found in my other blogs, food is one of the main features of my visit. Breakfast was complimentary in the Holiday Inn I stayed. It was by far one of the best breakfasts I have ever had. The number of items was so elaborate that one can eat a different breakfast every day of the week. There was also a chef who was preparing hot omelets with a choice of cheese, onion, mushroom and tomatoes stuffing. Everything was unlimited and I looked forward for the breakfast every morning. I savored it for 30 minutes every morning with a Herald Tribune in one hand.
Finding vegetarian food in Helsinki was very easy. Every fast food joint and restaurants carried a vegetarian choice and since everyone spoke English, they could understand what I was trying to ask. I had a good sandwiches, vegetarian burger, pasta and pizza for dinner each day. There were also grocery stores in every train station from where I stocked up Yogurt and chips for munching.
Due to the compulsion of my family, I decided to bring a rice cooker and some rice to cook if I did not get good vegetarian food in Helsinki. The wattage requirement for the rice cooker was so high, that I ended up burning a transformer when I tried to turn it on. But I realized to my relief that there was no problem in finding vegetarian food here. On the last night of my stay, few colleagues and I took the tram to Helsinki city center and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called La Familigia. Had a Chicago style pizza in authentic Italian style. It was very different from the Chicago pizza that we get in Pizzeria Uno here in the US.
It was a great feeling to walk the streets of Helsinki when it was snowing and all the buildings were lit up for the holiday season. Something that I can never experience in California. I was recommended to come the next day and walk the streets during daylight but I could not find the time to do that.

Interesting observations:
Couple of things that caught my attention in Helsinki was an automatic show shiner machine and an ashtray. I have pictures of those and will upload it if possible. Those were really unique items that are supposedly found only in Scandinavian countries. Never seen them anywhere else so far in my travel.

I make it a point to take the public transport on my way back to the airport. I decided to do the same in this trip also. So I did my research online the previous night and found out that I can take a tram and a bus to the airport for just 3.40 Euros compared to 26 Euros for a taxi. When I came down to check out, the receptionist suggested that I take the taxi since it was 0 degrees outside and there is no direct bus to the airport. I explained her my research. The tram station was right opposite my hotel and the bus stop was right next to the tram station. Only glitch was that I did not know which way the airport was when I got to the bus stand. So I took a guess and stood on the opposite side waiting for a bus when I realized that I saw planes landing on the other direction to where I was waiting for a bus. So I quickly checked with a passer-by and confirmed that I was waiting for the bus on the wrong side. So I had to cross the road and get to the other side and caught the bus just in time. The bus dropped me off right outside the Finnair terminal. The total time was around 40 mins and it was a good ride.

Overall the trip to Helsinki was very interesting and got to do some interesting work also. 5-day trip was just about right to make it enjoyable. Any longer would have made me sick of the snow and winter. Again, I should thank my dear brother for loading some movies on to my laptop, which I was able to watch to kill time at the hotel and at the airport. I blogged this while waiting for my flight at the Helsinki Vantaa airport and at the New York JFK airport through which I had to connect to my final destination.