Fun in Finland

Beyond the very cool dry toilet conference, we did make an effort to turn this trip into a sort of vacation by staying in a cabin on a lake for the week and seeing a little bit of Tampere and Helsinki. People were really friendly in general and it was relaxing to see some nature and do a bit of hiking. We only went out to eat twice, but it is always fun to check out the local grocery store to see what you can find and what the weird differences are. Turns out Finns, or those around Tampere anyway, are master pickle makers. Must be the long winters suitable for canning, but we had some really high quality examples. The exotic local dish was a kind of blood sausage and other than that it was northern europe potatoes and swine. Apart from the excellent pub in Tampere, we ended up at a Nepalese (mostly Indian menu) place in Helsinki after the sushi place we were looking for was closed. James even tried some tandoori and liked it! Helsinki also had a very cool antique/second hand market; we arrived just as people were setting up their stalls outside and the early birds were digging through boxes as people unloaded their cars. The lake was beautiful and peaceful even on the weekends; though we checked most nights we didn't see the Northern Lights this trip.