First Impressions- Part 1!

1. Have visited a bunch of Eurpoean cities but Helsinki is by far the most beautiful.Its not just the architecture or nature. There's just tons of character to this place. Very little is modern and everything right from the 100 year old elevators to the ancient cafes add up to the charm quotient.



2. I've heard,read,been warned about the introverted Finns. I dont know where those introverts are. Every single Finn I've met so far has been extremely helpful and overly kind. We were at Stockmann (largest, oldest departmental store, the Finns consider it somewhat akin to Harrod's of London) stocking up on some grocery. It happened to be one of their crazy day sales. The place was teeming with last minute shoppers. My little ones were dragging along large sized promo balloons. We rushed to the cashier to beat the queue when Shriya asked the cashier if she had a pair of sciccors to lend. I tried to tell her that we'd get one the minute we got home, the chances of the cashier having scissors was low, and even desperately switched to Tamil to explain that things were too busy around here for anyone to actually bother with her. But all that went right through her ears. The next minute "Excuse me, can you please lend me a pair of scissors"?



The cashier simply said "Please wait" and got on with billing my stuff. There you go, a curt reply and I was not even surprised. But the minute she was done with me, she went in somewhere and got a pair of scissors. She then went on to ask Shriya what she wanted cut. My little madam pointed to some extra piece of string hanging out from the balloon. And then her brother requested for the same. I was worried about the line behind us. I was edgy about delaying it for everybody but surprisingly it bothered nobody(That's another thing. Nobody ever seems to be in a rush or stressed or having a lousy day). The lady patiently cut away all those unneccessary bits and then told my kids "I didn't like those hanging bits either as a kid"!! And then looking at me, she said " Its very important to them to have it cut rightaway. They can now completely enjoy their balloons".


Kids are in the actual sense viewed as ' little people' here. Their rights are considered (as one can see with the beautifully equpped trillion playgrounds around), their voices heard (enough said above), their childish ways embraced ("dont worry about making noise when you play indoors").


3. There are hair salons at every turn. Not sure why, considering the fact that they either have a hat or hood on their heads.


4. The Finns give new meaning to recycling. Every little bit of waste is carefully recycled by each and every one in the country. How amazing is that!