Thursday, February 16, 2006

Minus 25 degrees

Got back from Helsinki, after 4 days in the cold. I had a wonderful time and I have to thank the Queen of Finland once again (Jutti knows who I mean). I flew from Athens to Helsinki through Munich and I have to remember to avoid doing this in the future, because it seems that Munich has a tendency to get fogged-out in the winter, which leads to delays and cancellations. Fortunately I was lucky and had only half an hour of delay, which did not affect my arrival. Helsinki seemed out of this world. Everything frozen, snowing, landscape in black and white. I felt I had landed on another planet (e.g. Pluto). The next days were sunny, which, contrary to expectations (at least of those who live in milder climates) leads to lower temperatures (see title above). Some observations regarding these temperatures: snow does not melt, it just remains dust and gets blown by the wind like sand; also, do not touch metal doors or gates with bare hands (your hands will freeze and may get stuck on the cold metal). When I flew back and landed in Munich (transit), the minus 12 degrees there felt nice and warm.
Finland has the Fazer chocolates. I bought those with the chilli peppers and they were rather good, not too strong.