When we last left our heroine...
I was hugging my brother and sister goodbye and hopping on a plane in Mumbai, India, to travel to Helsinki, Finland. Well, because a) I am dumb and b) I had booked a mega itinerary with all my travel from Mumbai for the rest of my trip; I didn't realize until I landed in London for what I thought would be a normal layover that I wasn't leaving for Finland until the next morning.
After a flurry of panic and texting Art frantically (and the emotional rollercoaster of thinking we might have one fun night in London together, but he didn't arrive until then next morning) I did what I had to do - hopped on the tube after booking a room on HotelTonight, stopped by my hotel, and headed straight to Dishoom. There's a bonus rec for you! I'll be honest, it was an extra few hundred dollars I wasn't planning to spend, but it was also a surprise trip to London.
So, we finally made it to Finland the next day. Though Art & I were there for just under a week, it went by super quickly because we were in transit. Overnight in Helsinki, to Joensuu by train (Finnish trains! Yeah buddy!!) the next day to meet up with Leena ^^ my mom's sweet cousin-friend, who then drove us to Nurmes the next day (where she is also from.) I kept marveling at the absolute trek it is to get from India to my mom's hometown. And also, I know this is sappy, but my mom's family really are the kindest, most generous, sweetest people.
It was really special to get to introduce Art to my cute grandparents, as well as have some QT with them (normally I am sharing them with 6+ people that look like me.) I was totally entranced hearing stories I had never heard before, like that my grandparents met at a dance in the 50's (!!! I mean!) my Ukki was driving a motorcycle (!) and they were doing a dance called the jumping jenka? And I always love getting to spend time at the family farm (top picture) that I've visited since I was little, but as I've grown, has become one of my favorite places.
All the Finns were commenting on how "unseasonably warm!" it was for them, but it was plenty cold for us, thanks, and therefore, cozy! I mean I know hygge was invented by the Danes but it feels like it was reallyyyy invented by the Finns. I didn't have nearly enough time to teach Art about all the finer things of Finland, but I did my best to pack it all in: we enjoyed lots of coffee times, saunas, very early sunsets ;) Jean Sibelius, smoked fish, Moomi, Marimekko, Arabia & Iitala, and about two Finnish words per day.
Then we had a bang-up time in Helsinki to bookend our trip, walking around a super festive Helsinki downtown, trying Georgian food for the first time (I obviously made many jokes about "Georgian food? Peaches and biscuits?! Nbd!") and spending alllll my money at the Marimekko factory store. Our very last night ended out at a karaoke bar with my cousin Otto which was one of the BEST memories of my entire trip. That was followed by a TON of Burger King (Finnish people love Burger King?) at the airport the next morning before starting the trek to the Bay Area, just in time for Thanksgiving.
This has been Phase 2 of my #pribattical, Phase 3, coming soon!
No comments
Post a Comment