Helsinki. Mitä suosittelisin turisteille. What to recommend for tourists.

Listasin vähän aikaa sitten osin selittämättömiä lempipaikkojani. Nyt sohvalla makoilee couchsurffaaja, joka odottaa suosituksia, mitä mennä katsomaan Helsingissä. En kai mä voi sanoa, että mene ensin katsomaan Haagan liikenneympyrää ja käydään sitten yhdessä Heinon tukussa?

Tässä heiveröinen yritykseni turistikelpoisista lempipaikoista (kesällä)

Paikkoja

• Seurasaari
  (Pähkinöitä mukaan, siellä on oravia.)
• Suomenlinna
• Kaivopuiston ranta
  (Siellä voi ihan vain kävellä, löytää salaiset rappuset ja joskus jopa käydä tähtitornissa katsomassa aurinkonäytöstä.)
• Nuuksio
• Haltialan tila
  (Kyllästyneet vuohetkaan eivät ehkä ole täysin nähtävyysmateriaalia, mutta tykkään paikan lounasbuffetista ja Ruutinkoskesta. Lisäksi loppukesästä saa poimia auringonkukkia pellolta Haltialan läheltä.)
• Ruttopuisto
  (Koen kiehtovaksi, että ihmiset loikoilevat ruttoon kuolleiden hautausmaalla.)
• keskuspuisto, varsinkin pieneläinten hautausmaa
• Rakennetaan puutarha!
  Lasten rakentama puutarha Design-museon takana

Uimapaikkoja

• Mustikkamaa
  (Onkohan se oikeasti käymisen arvoinen? Tykkään Mustikkamaan rannasta, koska siellä on kauniita mäntyjä.)
• Kivinokka
• Pikkukoski

Kahviloita

• Sininen kahvila
• Ihana kahvila
• Café Regatta

Museoita ja muuta sellaista

• kansallismuseo
  (Oma suosikkini on vanhojen kalapyydysten osasto.) 
• Tuomiokirkko
  (Pidän siitä kuinka valo osuu iltaisin sen kattoon.)
• Temppeliaukion kirkko
  (En oikeastaan pidä sitä kovin erityisenä akustiikasta huolimatta, mutta ihmiset yleensä pitävät siitä.)
• Kiasma

Rasmus lisäsi listaan seuraavat:

• neukkuretroilu Merihaassa
• Kauppatori
• Ateneum
• kansalliskirjasto
• Bulevardi (kuulemma yleiseen pasteeraamiseen)
• Korkeavuorenkatu kahviloineen
• kauppahallit (Hakaniemi, Wanha kauppahalli ja Hietalahti)
• talvipuutarha

Näiden lisäksi ihmiset haluavat ostaa asioita. Ostan itse aika vähän asioita. Tässä joitakin kauppoja.

• lankamaailma Nordia Oulunkylässä
• lankakauppa Menita Korkeavuorenkadulla
• askarteluliike Hobby Point
• Pihlajamäen kirppis
• Pinkki's Eerikinkadulla
• teekaupat Théhuone ja The Ounce
• aasiakaupat kuten Vii-Voan ja Jasmin Food

Lisäksi yksi mussa hieman hämmennystä herättävä ihmisten innostus on Helsingin urkukesä, johon voi mennä ilmaiseksi kuuntelemaan urkuja. Ei sovi synesteetikoille.

Suomenlinna.

A short while ago, I listed my partly unexplainable favourite places. Now I have a couchsurfer lying on my couch, waiting for recommendations of what to see in Helsinki. I presume I can't say that she should first go see the Haaga traffic circle and then we'll visit together my favourite stock?

Here's my feeble attempt to list some tourist-valid favourite places (in summer).

Places

• Seurasaari
  (Bring some peanuts for the squirrels.)
• Suomenlinna
• Kaivopuisto park
  (You can just walk there, find the secret stairway and sometimes even go the observatory to see a sun show.)
• Nuuksio
• Haltiala farm
  (Possibly the bored goats aren't really a sight either, but I appreciate the lunch buffet there, and Ruutinkoski stream nearby. In the end of summer, you can also pick sunflowers from the field close to the farm.)
• Ruttopuisto
  (I find it intriguing that people leisure on the cemetery for those killed in pest epidemy.)
• central forest, especially the cemetery for pets is beautiful
• Let's make a garden!
  (A garden made by children behind the Design Museum)

Swimming

• Mustikkamaa
  (I wonder if it's really worth going to, but I like the beach there because of the pine trees.)
• Kivinokka
• Pikkukoski

Cafés

• Café Regatta
• Blue Café
• Ihana kahvila café

Museums and such

• Dome church
  (I really like how the light folds on its rooftop in the evening.)
• Temppeliaukio church
  (I don't find it so special in spite of the acoustics, but people generally seem to like it.)
• National museum
  (My personal favourite is the section for old fish traps.)
• Kiasma

Rasmus added few:

• Soviet nostalgy tour in Merihaka
• the main market square
• Ateneum
• national library
• Bulevardi ("for general strolling")
• cafés at Korkeavuorenkatu
• market halls (Hakaniemi, Wanha kauppahalli and Hietalahti)
• winter garden

In addition to these, people like to buy things. I don't buy much things. Here's a list of some stores I go to.

• yarn stores Nordia and Menita
• craft store Hobby Point
• Pihlajamäki fleamarket
• Pinkki's at Eerikinkatu
• tea stores Théhuone ja The Ounce
• Asian stores like Vii-Voan and Jasmin Food

Then there's of course Helsinki organ summer, an opportunity to go hear organ music for free, which some couchsurfers have been very excited about, causing great confusion in me. Not for synaesthetics.

A perfect day

Best days are the days you don't have to do anything. Okay, getting tyres changed. But that's done now and I have summer tyres and sunglasses and new windscreen wipers. Well, yeah, and a new car. And white lilies in the bathroom, gotten from a sweet American girl who was couchsurfing here. And another sweet, joyous couchsurfer sleeping on my floor, this time from Brazil; and melon muffins, although I used honeydew and toadskin melon instead of cantaloupe and damsons instead of apple sauce; and a happy tired cat and patches, endless, neverending patches. Soon, soon it'll be finished and I can finally do something else. And I feel like writing a memorial to my old car.

Self-admiration and spice

I honestly feel that all of my guests should admire my collection of spices. They should express their awe of both variety and quality and ask interested questions. This applies especially for couchsurfers, when I show them where they can find everything they might need during their stay. I imagine an ideal discussion would go approximately like this:

'And if you should need any spices, you find them here', I say.

'How much spices you've got!' goes the couchsurfer, with an expression of astonishment.

'Oh, I'm afraid it's not so much', I say modestly, pointing out some vital shortcoming.

'But such good quality too!' continues the awed couchsurfer, ignoring my remark.

I imagine s/he would also like to go through all the tiny jars, bursting sometimes with excitement commenting 'organic galangal!', 'organic French rosemary!' or 'oh my god, you even have organic ramsons and Cambodian black pepper!', nodding vigorously to him/herself.

I also expect to hear something about the way sage behaves when you try to pour it from a jar or a box, a little like a flock of sheep would fall from a cliff to the sea; or, if not that, at least something about the coarseness of Korean chili on the skin of your fingers. This happens quite rarely, however. Mostly they just nod without any interest and probably with no plans of cooking. Apparently they do not realize they could just prepare a raw cocoa drink with ground cardamon, clove, dry ginger and some oat milk, or spice up their sandwiches with green pepper and basil. Poor people.

But as I am left alone to admire my spiceshelf, I don't think I have much else to do than to list them. Spices and herbs are also one of my favourite souvenirs, and I like to remember where they come from.

Things I have on my spice shelves

 - algae, from Portugal
 - basil, organic
 - bay leaves, whole
 - black pepper, organic, ground
 - black pepper, Cambodian, whole,
   got from a friend met accidentally in a hostel in Saigon
 - capsicum, organic, ground
 - cardamon, organic, ground
 - cardamon, green, whole
 - chili, Korean, roughly ground, bought in London
 - chives, from France
 - cloves, ground
 - cloves, whole
 - coriander, ground
 - cumin, ground
 - curry, Panang style, paste
 - fennel, whole
 - fenugreek, organic, whole
 - galangal, ground, from France
 - ginger, organic, ground
 - green pepper, from France
 - lemongrass, organic
 - mustard seeds, yellow
 - oregano, from France
 - parsley, organic
 - pili-pili, ground, from France
 - piri-piri, sauce, a souvenir from Madeira
 - ramsons, organic, from France
 - rosemary, organic, from France
 - sage, organic
 - salt, gray sea salt, from France
 - Sichuan pepper, whole
 - soybean paste, Korean
 - star anis, whole
 - thyme, grown by myself in Estonia
 - turmeric, ground
 - vanilla, from France
 - wasabi, paste
 - white pepper, from France

Spices I need to get

 - some good quality Indian or Thai kind of chili
 - fennel, ground (I'm not exactly sure what for but I feel I should have it)
 - fenugreek, ground (it's difficult to grind it smooth enough by yourself)
 - nutmeg, ground (for soups and baking)
 - vanilla, powdered
 - wasabi, powdered

Observations. First, spices I've been using most lately are, quite curiously, ground cardamon and rosemary. Second, listing your spices is just what one should do on April 2nd when it's [add bad words here] SNOWING.

From left: chives, pili-pili, cardamon, rosemary, sage, cloves, piri-piri, Sichuan pepper, oregano, ramsons, black pepper, green pepper, algae, mustard, white pepper, fenugreek, coriander