And now, the letter I know you've all been waiting for - our trip to HELSINKI. Oh, Helsinki. In Finland. Yes. Its sort of like Scandinavia, and sort of like Russia, and also it's own thing. Some of you may remember, this is a trip we postponed from November - Our friend Johanna was in Helsinki in November presenting a Translation Prize from the Susan Sontag Foundation, and we decided to go visit her - because, heck, when will we have another chance to go to Helsinki? But then I got sick, and we postponed the trip to Easter weekend - figuring it might be a better time to be in the world's second-northernmost capital (after Reykjavik).
Even at the end of April Helsinki had snow on the ground, though it was mostly melted - weather was actually beautiful when we were there, sunny and in thethe mid to high sixties, which was apparently unseasonably warm for Easter in the Finnish capital. It seemed like everyone was either out biking/running/kayaking, or sitting outside enjoying a twelve-pack of Koff beer with friends. Indeed, beer picnics seemed like the most widespread pastime - and Finland actually has decent beer, much to our surprise.
