Dining out in Turku

Unfortunately the professor and I did not get to do very much together on our short trip to Turku. He spent almost all of our stay there in meetings. After we got settled into our room at the guest house, we joined everyone else for lunch. We had a buffet lunch in a restaurant not far from where we were staying. Following lunch we all went to the main building on campus and met in an auditorium. Earl was the first speaker. As always his presentation was very good. During the first break I snuck away and returned to the guest house. I very shamefully read for awhile and then fell asleep.

That evening we walked along the river to the Suarte Rudolf which is a boat permenantly docked beside the Aura River. We sat with Johana who works for the center and another Fulbright professor whose name is Sammye. We had to order our food in advance. Of course, I didn't remember that and was pleasantly surprise to have asparagus soup followed by a tender steak with French fries. Since we don't ever seem to see or eat a lot of meat, it was an especially delicious dinner.

Johana (Yohana) is very athletic and we talked about her exercise activities and her Saturday nights which are dedicated to the Sauna. The other three of us are couch potatoes and we talked about food. Sammye is here on her own and it didn't take long for us to figure out that 18 to 20 Euros for lunch was about what she usually pays. The two of us
try to aim for that amount for the two of us. We did discover that there is apparently a good German restaurant right next to our apartment. It is in the opposite direction from the way we usually walk so we have never seen it.

The funny part of our conversation was when Sammye told us that she had not resorted to eating at McDonald's since arriving in Finland. Well, I have. It was not a great experience because they put some type of bbq sauce on the hamburgers. I wanted a hamburger that tasted just like home. However, while I was standing in line at the fast food restaurant, I overheard the woman in front of me speaking in English to the cashier while trying to figure out how to use her bank card. It was Sammye. I smiled and said hello to her and she looked at me as if she had never seen me before. When she mentioned at dinner that she had never been to McDonalds since coming to Finland, I kept her secret. But I chuckled and shared the story with Earl later. Was I mistaken? Was it someone else that I saw at the local McDonald's? No. I was not wrong. Sammye is very distinctive looking and could not be mistaken for someone else.

A group of about 8 or 9 of these large ducks were floating in the river. They definitely looked strange and I don't think anyone ever asked one of our local hosts what the funny ducks were all about.