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August 18, 2004
Helsinki, Kiasma Museum, and Arctic Icebar
I didn't have a chance to update the weblog yesterday, but the day was pretty activity-packed. Todd and John were working all day again, so I set out to explore Helsinki further, on my own. Well, I didn't even wake up until 11, so it was really only a half day of exploration. Plus, the weather was crummy. It rained pretty much all afternoon yesterday.
First stop was the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum. I'm not usually a huge fan of modern art, but I found this museum to be a lot of fun. The main exhibit was "Love Me or Leave Me", and the works represented within are intended to evoke certain feelings out of the viewer, such as revulsion, anger, happiness, etc. There was a setup of about 29 urns in a room, where each urn is covered by a piece of cardboard. The viewer lifts the cardboard pieces to smell the essential oils inside the urns. The oils ranged in origin from Middle Eastern to Asian, to European and African. Some were pleasant, such as rose and jasmine. Others were not. The urn in the middle was the largest, and contained all of the other scents mixed together. That was truly repulsive.
I would like to write more, about the Kiasma, and about the Botanical Garden, and about the arctic ice bar we went to last night, but the ferry to Stockholm is leaving today. I will certainly be updating this page as soon as I can, though.
UPDATE:
Later on, we went to dinner at Manala Restaurant, where I had sauteed reindeer with ligonberries and mashed potatoes, while Todd and John had reindeer pizza. I guess we've just never had reindeer meat before Finland, and so we're making up for it? Sorry, Rudolph. After dinner, we walked to the Arctic Icebar, where we suited up for the -5F bar. That was pretty neat. Everything was made of carved ice. Of course, we got Finlandia vodka.
Posted by Kathy at August 18, 2004 11:34 PM