Tour de Christmas

Christmas this year - and actually whole December - was a little strange, since the temperature stayed above freezing point most of the time. And no snow. So on Christmas Eve we started driving in perfect driving weather, sunny and dry, although they hade poured tons of salt on the road, as usual. We picked up Pete and headed for Åbo, where we dropped him off at Maj-Britt's place and continued to Nisse and Mika. Mika had broken her leg (get well soon!), so she preferred to stay home.

The schedule that day didn't really work out the way we wanted, so we missed the Christmas Peace with a few minutes, by arriving to them at around 12:10. (We had planned to watch it on TV this year). Anyway, Kaisa was also home, so we met 75% of the family - maybe we'll meet Jenny next time, too!

I missed my traditional appointment with Bengt that day, too, but we all met in the evening at Maj-Britt's place and enjoyed a great Christmas dinner with the "folks". And there were some presents given, so apperently everybody had been kind this year, too.

The next day we drove to Patti and Kika, where we didn't only meet their kids, but also Kika's parents. And Patti had made the "Dad's Strategic Move" by buying a slot car racing kit. It was also great to see that some things don't change, because I remember Scalextric from when I was a kid. I tried a few rounds and did quite well, if I may say so myself. And it was fun! We enjoyed a great Christmas Day lunch and also drove to meet Ahle and Kata, but the whole family was sick, so we just said "hi" at their doorstep. Get well soon!

The day - or actually the evening - continued a little outside the city, where we met Yngve and Päivi. They hadn't bought a huge Christmas tree as they did last year, so things looked a little more normal this time :-)

It was really great to see the folks and all the friends with their families this Christmas, too. Thank you all so much for the hospitality and the great time!

Merry Christmas!

HeGe and Sirpa

A couple of days in Paris

Spent a couple of days in Paris at the LeWeb3 conference, this time just attending. The conference was held at Salle Equinoxe, somewhere in the southern part of Paris and no, I don't know Paris, and I have no idea where I was :-) Some interesting low-flying objects they've got there, I must say...

Anyway, the metro is great, so I found my way to the conference (end-station Balard) and to my hotel (dropped off at station Opera and then 3 stations left), no problem. Unfortunately I can't say I saw anything about Paris, really, just something out of the window of the taxi on Monday night. Well, maybe next time! I all saw an invalid station :-)


The conference was ok, but it became sometimes a little too French for me (and for quite a few bloggers out there, too), and they also changed the programme completely, totally ad hoc. So, when I walked to the conference on the second day I was wondering why there were millions of policemen everywhere, until I remembered that there had been some rumours of some very influential surprise quests. So what did we get to see and hear? Well, first there was Shimon Perez, whom you might recognize from Israel :-)

And then there was Jose Barroso, President of the European Comission. Where Shimon Perez actually tried to come up with something not only political, I think Baroso failed quite totally, and the audience wasn't very happy. He also tried to speak English quite bravely, though. But the dullness aside, it was of course somewhat exciting to be in the same hall as those guys, which probably won't happen ever again.

The conference party was held in a nightclub called La Bodega, which opened a few days earlier just because of us, i.e. official "launch" for the nightclub was a few days after we were there. Oh, and this picture is actually from the conference center, although you might not first believe it.

Independence Day

It's the same procedure as last year, so Sirpa has made ginger cookies today. Around 350 of them. In 4.5 hours. And what about me? Well, I didn't do anything, which is quite normal, but this time I had a good excuse. I got a stomack flu and have had quite a high fever today, so I'm (almost) dead at the moment. But need to relax and try to get in the right mood. Hey, it's still Independence Day!

A few days in Amsterdam

I spent a few days at the Nokia World conference in Amsterdam, but did unfortunately not have much spare time. I did see a very small car, millions of bicycles, and tons of dog shit, though.

Fortunately I was invited for dinner, and although it was a business dinner, there was some time to enjoy the place, called West India House (Herenmarkt 99). The place has a history starting from 1614, and involves planning of New Amsterdam, which later became New York. And the food and service was - of cource - excellent.

Dinner at Savoy

We celebrated Sirpa's birthday by having dinner at Restaurant Savoy. It's one of the most well-known restaurants in Helsinki, with a great decor, and view. Please read about it's history and some of the great designers that were involved in creating it.

And what about the food? Well, it doesn't have a Michelin star like Sundman's or Chez Dominique (two), but I (and we) actually think this was the best dinner we've had for ages in Helsinki. And great service, too!

Not the place to go to every week if you can't put the bill on your company, but not the most expensive, either.