Helsinki - Day 2

At eight o'clock the alarm rang and a new day had begun. I was really looking forward to the breakfast buffet. We took the elevator downstairs, said hello to the pretty girl at the reception desk and picked a table. I don't know, I guess I like hotels. The orange juice and the coffee were really good, so was the selection of bread and Aufschnitt. 

Sami picked us up at ten. We drove to their office/warehouse somewhere outside the city. First I hesitated to tag along, but the guys really seemed to be cool with it. It's a crazy huge place they have there. We went past lots of desks and monitors, super mellow people, a photo studio, a show room and uncountable shelves to the back where Nessi was waiting for us. Superdope guy, very inspiring. We had lots of coffee, Teilchen and Red Bull while talking, listening and learning.

At one o'clock Sami had another appointment, so Nessi took us to the city for lunch. We went to a place called Bar No.9. Make sure to check that out, whenever you get to Helsinki. After lunch he showed us the city and took us to several stores. At Punke's Skateshop he got me a great deal for a local deck and finally new bushings.

Back in the hotel we thought about making use of the health room, but ended up only thinking about it. Instead Tobs spent some time on the net, while I menaged to eat half of my Käsekuchen. Later on, our friend Simon appeared online. I haven't talked to him since he moved to New York in November, so saying hello to him was real fun. The three of us go way back, you know, I remember late night driving lessons somewhere close to Billig around ten years ago. Man, that boxy Mercedes was a great car. Lots of memories. 

Later in the evening Nessi picked us up for dinner. We went to the Inder and Sami came on point for the main course. I think it was my first proper Indish meal and it was really good, great bread. Afterwards we went for another drink at the Ateljee sky lounge. Cool place with limited seating and two terraces, offering a fantastic view over the city. Of course, it was so foggy that we couldn't see shit, but on a clear day, I bet it's a great view.

I really came to like Helsinki. Not that I didn't like it before, frankly, I didn't have any opinion on Finland in particular. The day before we left I started to look up Helsinki and learned a few fundamental facts about the city. I think, the most suprising news was that its population is at around a million souls, which is similar to  the population of Köln. Somehow I thought Helsinki was a huge city, but I found out, that it only feels big. It actually is kind of small and cosy.