Helsinki, mostly. And Placebo rant. *lol*

Not gonna finish this tonight cuz soooo tired (ok nevermind, I finished it anyway), but gonna start while my pics upload to Flickr [done, here].

So. I went to Helsinki cuz Placebo were going to play there. And then Placebo cancelled postponed. But not ahead of time so I could cancel the hostel, stay home and save money, nooooo! They waited until 10 minutes before the doors were supposed to open, because Mr Molko “delayed traveling to Finland until the last possible moment to allow as much time to recover”. Yeah, that was a great plan! All the fans who travelled hundreds or sometimes thousands of miles (some had come from Italy) and waited for hours outside the venue really appreciated the good intentions. Not. *lol* Actually, at the time I wasn’t that pissed off (the fans I’d made friends with were, altho they’d only come from Tampere), but my resentment kinda festered over the weekend. They’d cancelled a show in August too cuz of Brian’s throat problems, and instead of properly resting he was back on stage 2 nights later. At the time I thought “well ours is still a whole month away”, but well… *sigh*

Funny thing is, as I was queueing I realised that my very first Placebo show had been at an ice rink (so was this one), and had some “oh no, what if that means that this is the last one?” worries. What I remembered later was that this very first show was also rescheduled, which at the time didn’t bother me cuz it was in Lux, i.e. local, and I could just go again at the new date (and dragged Katja and Tobias with me as I recall). Obviously I’m not gonna fly all the way to Helsinki again for whatever date they decide on. I want my money back! And hotel and flight too! *lol*

Anyway. After that disappointment I had another 1.5 days in Helsinki so decided to make the most of it. It was… it’s not a terribly interesting city, tho it did kinda grow on me after a while. But it’s pretty small and provincial and there isn’t really that much to see. I’d put a “24hrs in Helsinki” guide on my iPhone and I’d done all the sights in three hours. *lol* I did a lot of random walking around. I will do a list of the things I saw, or remember seeing. Then I will really sleep. Honest.

• Uspenski Cathedral (Orthodox one)
• Helsinki Cathedral (main one)
• Temppeliaukion Church (“blew a hole in a rock” church)
• Kauppatori (market place with stalls, some touristy, some not, right by the South harbour)
• Esplanadi (sorta fancy boulevard with greenery)
• Hietalahdentori (flea market, which was hilarious in that there were about 4 stalls *lol*)
• Kiasma (contemporary art museum. 2 out of 4 floors were closed for refurbishment. Meh.)
• Design Museum (cuz Helsinki is design capital 2012. This was… ok. Lots of glassware. *lol*)
• National Museum (about the Finnish people(s). They’re much like everyone else, unsurprisingly)
• Vallila (area which has wooden houses. Wanted to see it and had free tram travel anyway. Was ok.)
• Cute park that I don’t know the name of West of South Harbour. Not Kaivopuisto. *lol*

 
Ok I think that’s it. I mean, I obviously saw more stuff while walking around, but this will do. So Saturday morning I decided Helsinki was very boring. Saturday afternoon it got a bit better, and Sunday I started liking it. I mean, it’s still boring and provincial, but it’s kinda cute. It starts feeling familiar pretty soon because it’s so small. *lol* But yeah, it’s not somewhere I see myself returning tbh. Tho there were quite a few things I didn’t see – such as the fortress island thing Suomenlinna, and the other island with the open air museum. But oh well. I’ll live! 😀