Bicentennial Chair Lecture

Daily Telegraph highlights Finland

Today's Daily Telegraph has a travel section about Finland. I think I may have to spend an hour reading articles about the sauna etc.

I really didn't recognize the Helsinki that Norma Miller visited. Mostly because I have not explored the museums and I definitely have not bought the up and coming ceramics or fabrics. We did enjoy one of his comments about Helsinki.

What to Avoid

1. Don’t expect British shopping times. 11am opening is standard, while Saturday closing is 3pm. Only a few big stores, such as the giant Stockmann, open Sundays.
2. Stockmann – unless you like huge expensive mainstream department stores.
3. Don’t leave museums to Monday – they’re shut.
4. Steer clear of Kallio late at night, especially the “red light” stretches of Vaasankatu and Aleksiskivenkatu.
5. Salmiakki – unless you like salty liquorice vodka.

I am not experienced in many of these areas, but the late openings and early closings fit very well in our neighborhood. It is not unusual for the small shops to open about 11 and close by 3. There is a lovely little store that sells jewelry made with precious stones. I have come to the conclusion that the owner must be independently weathy and this is her hobby.

In a tough in cheek article about Nokia, Matthew Norman points out that Finland is a country populated by five million humans and two million saunas. Since everyone I talk to has a sauna in their building or apartment or work place, I can easily imagine that this one might be true. However, after hearing about bathing naked and going to the sauna in your all together, I am afraid there are just some things in Finland that I will not be experiencing.

Off to St Petersburg, Russia

I secretly suspect that the reason Leanna came to visit the Professor and me in Helsinki is because we are so close to Russia. Leanna served on a mission in L'viv, Ukraine for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She speaks Ukrainian and therefore understands and speaks a little Russian. I think since serving in Ukraine, she has longed for an opportunity to visit Russia. And here we are living in Helsinki just across the Gulf of Finland from St Petersburg.

Her visit here gave both of us a great chance to take the ferry to St. Petersburg while the Professor flew to Zurich for some meetings. The cost of getting a visa to visit Russia for even a day or two is around $120. Since Earl was attending a conference for several days in St Petersburg, he applied for a visa and got one. However, at that time we thought it was just too expensive for me to get a visa and travel with him by train. Leanna's visit gave me the perfect opportunity to go by ferry and visit St Petersburg for part of a day. If you take the ferry and spend less than 24 hours in St Petersburg, you are not required to have a visa.

On Saturday night the three of us boarded the Princess Maria of the St Peterline. We brought our own picnic dinner and Leanna and I spent the evening trying to keep Turk safe from all of the heights he tried to scale. Sunday morning we took a bus to the Cathedral of St. Isaac. We knew that it was going to be somewhat chilly, but we were totally unprepared for the wind that hit us as soon as we walked down the steps from the ship. It was the first time this fall that I regreted not wearing "long johns." We spent a lot of our time outdoors tucking the blanket around Turk and pulling his scarf up so that it would cover his nose and his ears. His hat kept slipping up leaving the tips of his ears bare. And so did mine.






We were in the city so early on Sunday that there were still no lights on at the cathedral. As we struggled against the wind, we decided that the best way to spend the day was inside the Hermitage.

We did take a few minutes to explore and find the Church on Spilled Blood despite the freezing wind. Even though this building is a church, it is the stuff upon which dreams and fantasy can be founded. The colors are vibrant. The shapes feel as if they are straight out of 1001 Nights. Although the church is sometimes referred to as "Saviour on Blood," it was constructed as a memorial to Alexander II on the site of his assassination. The name of the church refers to Alexander's shed blood. This is the same tsar that Helsinki revered and erected a statue to in Senate Square.

There is no doubt that much of the pleasure that we derived from our time in the Hermitage came from all of the older Russian women who were in charge of each of the rooms full of art. Every one of them came to talk to Turk and Leanna. They wanted to know how old he was. One wanted to know where his shoes were because she was sure that his feet must be cold with only soaks on. One showed us an elevator to use that was behind some closed doors. All of them were kind and so pleased with our charming little companion.

When we finally left the museum and went in search of lunch, Turk was so pleased to get out of his stroller and have a little freedom. Leanna said that there were a few dishes that she wanted to eat. Naturally we started with Borsch. Then we ordered Varenyky filled with mashed potatoes and onion and blini. I tried some stroganoff. In other words, none of us came away hungry.

There is one thing for certain. Without Leanna and Turk, I would never have made it to St Petersburg. Left to my own resources, I would have lived in Helsinki for almost a year and never had the opportunity to visit this corner of Russia. Thank you, Leanna, for coming to visit and bringing a tiny ray of sunshine named Turk with you. And for taking me to St Petersburg.

Please also see blog titled Notes from the Professor about his trip to St. Petersburg.

Turk's Brings his Mom to Visit

Lighting the Christmas Tree

Sunday turned out to be an incredibly bright sunny day. The blue skies were welcome after many days of November gloom. Walking home from church we noticed that with the clear sky had come much lower temperatures. Of course, I was wearing a skirt but I had on tights. I was actually cold on my back and arms. By the time we reached Senate Square which is only a few blocks from our apartment, we had decided that we would not be back to see the lights lit on the huge tree at 3 pm.



The tree is covered with small colored lights which are not very noticable in the day time. Hakaniemi Square has a huge tree as well.

Photo: Katja PantzarHelsinki's Harrods: Stockmann is at the foot of Aleksanterinkatu, the city’s official Christmas street.
Helsinki is a city that truly celebrates Christmas. The lead up to the big day starts in late November, when Santa Claus opens the Finnish capital’s official “Christmas Street” on Aleksanterinkatu (one of Helsinki’s main thoroughfares), famous for its Christmas lighting display. Crowds of children of all ages line the street’s sidewalks to catch a glimpse of jolly Saint Nick, who is a celebrity in his own right here – which is not surprising, for as all Finns know, the real Santa Claus comes from Lapland in northern Finland.

Muumi was one of the celebrities who appeared while we were there. He was accompanied by a "little" girl in a red dress. She did all of the talking. Listen here to Muumi Techno.

The first book about Muumi was published in 1945. He remains Finland's best known cartoon character. His creator was Tove Jansson.

The Big Day is Over and Everyone has Gone

Part 1 - The Big Day

The last guest has left and most of the kitchen is cleaned up. Despite all of my worry, the day went okay. Lots of people commented that the turkey was great. Not the I had much to do with that. I just stuffed it and put it in the oven. And my cranberry sauce made with longenberries was a hit. Don't know why. Maybe because it was a surprise and most people hadn't eaten the berries before or if they had the berries were very bitter.
Elizabeth who is a senior Fulbright grantee (she has something to do with the evolution of butterflies) came over and cooked so it was great not to be alone in the kitchen and feeling so responsible for the outcome. So many people pitched in to clean up or to help get things ready. Great food was brought by everyone and one of the guys mashed the potatoes while two others carved the turkey. I don't think there was anyone who did not contribute. Dad cleaned house better than Cinderella ever could have and played host while I was in the kitchen.
We had a good day with about 18 guests, but we are so delighted to have everyone gone. :) However, they left behind a few things that they could have taken. For example; coffee that never got made. I found that after everyone left. Also a Bûche de Noël that was totally untouched. Sigh.
Tomorrow Santa Clause comes to town on Senate Sq. There is a parade and the Christmas Village opens. The huge tree in the square will be lighted by the mayor and Santa. We'll have to check it out.
Part 2 - Before the Dinner.
I was not a happy camper. If someone had bothered to tell me that getting a real turkey in Helsinki in November was no big deal, I would have been spared a lot of stress. I have stewed and worried about this for about six weeks - ever since we were told that we would be hosting the Fulbright grantees for a pot luck dinner. All I had to do was provide the meat/turkey. (I also did potatoes and longenberry sauce.) But of course, we have a miniature oven. We could not have done a bigger bird. This one was supposed to be 4.99 kg.
It cost about 29 Euros and the Fulbright center paid for it. Fortunately Elizabeth came over early to cook and everyone pitched in to make it a success (I think).
Anyway, about ten days ago, I went into the closest store to us and there were all of these frozen turkeys. Most of them about the size of the one that we bought. Who knew? Obviously the Fulbright people must have known. I told Dad we would be letting the next people coming in the fall know not to panic because about November 7th turkeys start showing up everywhere. People were telling me that I would have to go to this store or that store to do a special order etc. I just thought "Oh no. Why me?" And it turned out to be so easy to find a turkey just the right size.
Never having seen one in Paris, I worried for weeks about doing this. Obviously the Finns have either embraced Thanksgiving or have so many ex-pats living here or Americans married to Finn. Something. I am so grateful.
I did not try to do any pie. I'll have to make some at Christmas. Or buy a huge pumpkin pie from Costco if they still have them. :)
I think the turkey was delicious and I take no credit for that. The packaging said it was Wild Turkey from Finland. And it was so good.
The funniest part of our weekend for me was that while I was looking in the cupboards I found a lot of sheets. They were packed away in the sideboard/buffet. Someone must have thought that they were table clothes. But there were pillow cases with them. Here I had thought there were not enough sheets in the apartment.

Ps. My apron which I brought from home was also a big hit.

The Professor in Zurich

I had a very nice trip to Zurich the weekend of November 11-13. After arriving at the airport, I took the train into the central train station and then found tram #6 which dropped me close to my hotel, the Plattenhof. The hotel is right next to the University of Zurich and my conference was held down the block at a university facility.
I arrived early on Friday afternoon and then walked down to the main part of the city. There is a very nice “old” section of the city which features major churches and winding streets limited to pedestrian traffic. Several brass bands were playing in the old section, some with greater skill levels than others. The musicians were also dressed in rather strange costumes. I wondered if it had anything to do with 11-11-11 or if it were a regular Friday afternoon activity.
Central Zurich is a shopping mecca and there were no signs that shoppers were worried about an impending economic slowdown in Europe. Prices were sky high, even higher than in Helsinki. When I first started coming to Switzerland in the early 1970s, one U.S. dollar would buy four Swiss francs. Today, one dollar won’t even get you one Swiss franc.
On Saturday morning, I went into town again and purchased the one bargain that I had discovered the previous day. At the local Co-Op grocery store, I could buy 10 bars of Swiss chocolate with nuts for a grand price of 8.80 Swiss francs, about ten U.S. dollars.
As I returned back to the hotel, the sun was beginning to shine and temperatures were headed up to above 50 degrees, an exceptionally nice day in Zurich. I even saw a man in an old Mercedes convertible who was driving along with the top down. I also saw another rather novel sight—someone was in a telephone booth at a street corner and actually making a phone call. How times have changed.
I headed back to the hotel and changed into my suit, in time to meet the Swiss North American Studies Association’s handful of delegates. We then walked down to a restaurant where I had a tasty and filling plate of Zurich-style veal with roasted potatoes. It only cost 42 dollars, excluding the bottled water. I think that someone could get rich running a restaurant in Zurich. Even the Chinese restaurants had lunch menus starting at about 24 dollars.
I then walked over to the conference room and heard short presentations from the U.S. Public Affairs Officer, who had recently arrived from an assignment in Tel Aviv, and a professor from Fribourg University who had enjoyed a Fulbright at UC San Diego in 2002. She actually stayed at UCSD for several years and obtained a Ph.D. in comparative literature and cultural studies. Indeed, most of the people in attendance had a foreign language or literature specialty.
I then spoke for an hour on what had occurred in the United States since 9/11. I was honored to learn that I was the featured speaker for the meeting which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Fulbright program in Switzerland. The people seemed to be receptive to the topic and during the Q and A we discussed some of the challenges facing both the U.S. and Europe. Quite frankly, as difficult as things are back home, the current crisis among the 17 eurozone members (out of 27 nation-states which constitute the EU) is probably more vexing and intractable. I pointed out to the audience that the distance between Seattle and Miami is almost twice as great as the distance between Helsinki and Athens, but that there is a “world of difference” between what you would see traveling cross-country in the U.S. versus north-south from Finland to Greece. Greece is charming and Athens is a living museum, but the country is an economic basket case with a plethora of major problems. On the other hand, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands have globally competitive economies but are getting tired of picking up the tab for the dysfunctional political and economic systems in southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain). I have serious doubts that the eurozone can survive in its present form and this could lead to some major structural problems for the European continent and headaches for us on the other side of the Atlantic. By the way, Switzerland is “neutral” and not a part of the EU. It seems to do well economically no matter what is happening in other parts of Europe, but even the Swiss will suffer setbacks if the eurozone economy flounders.
On Sunday, I took the tram directly out to the Zurich airport and returned home, having experienced a very nice weekend in Switzerland’s largest city.

Flag Days

On our way to church yesterday, we discovered that the city was decorated with flags. Flags were out everywhere. Places that usually have flags such as the parliament buildings had bigger flags. We learned that November 6th is an important day in the lives of the Swedish speaking population of Finland.

The Swedish calendar provides for special flag days. Flag days are in some cases official holidays or the birthdays and namedays for the Royal family and informal holidays like Gustav Adolfsdagen (Gustavus Adolphus Day, November 6).

Gustav Adolfsdagen (Swedish for Gustavus Adolphus Day) is a general flag day, celebrated in Sweden and Finland on November 6 in memory of king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (Swedish: Gustav II Adolf), who was killed on this day in 1632 at the Battle of Lützen. Gustav Adolfsdagen coincides with the Finnish Swedish Heritage Day.
The date has been celebrated since the early 19th century. It is especially popular in Gothenburg, which was founded by Gustavus Adolphus, and in Uppsala, where the king donated a lot of money to the university.

Kustaa Aadolf is the king's name in Finnish.
Who knows. Maybe Gustav was the king of Finland in 1632. Poor Finland has been shuffled back and forth between Sweden and Russia for much of its existence.

Life on the Navagator of the Seas

When in Rome

The Blogger had advised us that we should stay in Rome close to the railroad station rather than outside of Rome close to the airport. Following her advice, the Professor found us a room in Rome. He did mention getting a B&B with a bathroom down the hall. Since I am over 60, I was a little horrified at the prospect of wandering down the hall in the middle of the night. My hero came through for me and found a very comfortable room for us not far from the station at the Hotel Camelia, at Via Goito 36, Stazione Termini, 00185 Rome. It had a great bathroom "en suite." It would have been even more terrific if the plug had actually worked on the tub allowing me to soak in a huge bathtub after a long day of walking.





Rome surprised me. I had a vision of what the city was like and it turned out to be very different from that idea and much, much lovelier. We arrived on a Sunday morning. We left our suitcases at the hotel and set off wandering with the hotel clerk's map. We were very close to the Place Republic and from there just a short distance to the Coliseum. We still do not know if we arrived on a special Sunday or if every Sunday is like it was that day in Rome. Major streets were blocked off to traffic. We wandered towards the Coliseum down broad streets with hundreds of other people. Parents with babies, lovers arm in arm, and older people like ourselves. Along the street were groups producing music and there were gelato wagons everywhere. The sun was shining and the breeze was cool. It was a perfect day.









I had not expected there to be so much continuing excavation in the area around the Coliseum. Frankly I had expected the area to be dirty and unpleasant surrounded by a bustling city. It was delightful to find it a part of a larger group of archeological projects with a feeling of openness.

On Monday morning the Professor woke me up and told me that we needed to have breakfast and go. We took the Metro from the Republica station to Ottaviano to see St Peter's cathedral. We arrived there at about 8 am and waited in line about 15 minutes before passing through the metal detector at security and going on into the cathedral. The square was breath-taking. The cathedral interior was awe inspiring.












When we came out of the massive museum into the sunshine again, I was startled by the length of the line waiting to go through security. Already a half hour later the line was 3 or 4 times longer than when we had arrived at 8 o'clock. The Professor had been wise about getting our day started early. Unfortunately we had only a short time to take the metro to get back to the hotel to check out and go out to the airport.

Would I go to Florence and Rome again? Yes. But only if I can go in the company of the Professor.