Imma Let You Finnish in Magical Realism

After one of the craziest winters in a while, it makes perfect sense to go on holiday somewhere even snowier and colder, right?

• Thursday night: Drinks and A Raisin in the Sun with my mom. Show was pretty good!
• Friday worked from home, went to the doctor to get a medical clearance for swimming, then packed and headed out to the airport with A. Had dinner/drinks at JFK, flight uneventful, landed in Helsinki and took bus into town. Checked into hotel and took a walk around town
• It was snowing lightly and really pretty out, walked by the water, then had a lovely champagne brunch at restaurant Sunn overlooking the Helsinki Cathedral and its steps
• We enjoyed the food, the view and the light very much. (I felt like overall the light in Finland is so clear brighter compared with most places, maybe a function of crisp air or being so far North?)
• After brunch we ran up the Cathedral steps, walked around some more, then grabbed a nap at the hotel. We went to dinner on the later side, then went to the Ateljee rooftop bar for drinks. It was a great spot with lovely 360 views around Helsinki, you have to go in/out via a tiny spiral staircase - very cool! Very nice to see the town all lit up. We were on the terrace for a bit but went indoors because it was pretty chilly/windy. Ateljee closed relatively early so we stopped in at Bar Base and stayed there the remainder of the night
• Slept in nice and late on Sunday, venturing out only for croissants/coffee at Sven's Bakery - which was really cute/warm place run by a couple of French guys. Very welcoming and the food/bev was terrific. I am kind of sad we never made it back there! After that we took a walk around but didn't do much else, it was a day of rest
• Monday was our last full day in town, we slept late again, took a walk, then went to Ateljee again to see the daytime view and watch the sunset from the terrace. It was so pretty!
• For dinner we went to Putte's Pizza which was really nice, shared fresh and tasty margherita pizza with red wine, cute but relaxed atmosphere
• After dinner we went next door to Noir - a funky wine bar slash hair salon with really cool decor (I will go anywhere with ornate velvet couches) for a drink which was quiet but really fun
• After that we went further down the road to Villi Waino for a beer - we also had a cheese plate with wurst and other snacks, this was not a place for food really but luckily we came out okay
• Ended the night again at Bar Base, they were having an industry night but it was kind of dead so didn't stay too long
• Next day had to get up way too early to catch our flight even further up north
• I was totally out of it due to lack of sleep but the flight was uneventful, thankfully
• This entry is already massive, even with bullets, so am going to stop here and continue the remainder of the trip in another entry.
• More to come, featuring acts of endurance/stupidity, accidental nudity at an international athletics competition, reindeer, and meeting diarist [a brown gown]!