Saturday, 13 Jun

Okay, I took Friday off from Blogging. Not really much to say... work, work, and work. Today, however, was a bit different. I went with 3 other folks to Kuopio. Eevamaria drove her car, and we were accompanied by summer students from France (Max) and Spain (Joan). In an hour we were in downtown Kuopio. Many of the researchers who work in Suonenjoki live in Kuopio, because it's a much larger community with more of things that go along with much larger communities. We walked a few blocks to the central market, a large, outdoor affair. Lots of vendors selling lots of stuff: flowers (pots and cut), vegetables, baked goods, crafts, drums, and assorted junk. You know, just like a Farmer's Market in the US. They also had the inflated girraffe for the kids to play in. After a stroll there, we walked a few more blocks to the Kuopio Museum. This museum's main goal, it appeared, was to preserve some of the old wooden houses that were the old Kuopio. After WWII, because of Kuopio's place in the landscape (surrounded by lakes and "mountains", they systematically replace the smaller houses with apartments. Eventually somebody noticed they were running out of those old, classic, wooden structures. So, they moved them to the museum.

We then walked back to the market area, past this cathedral and park, and headed down to the harbor. On stage were some local muscians and some dancers doing just that. Nearby was a restaurant, and since it was now nearly 13:30, we went for lunch. I went to the buffet, advertised as "Find your prey on our buffet." Clever, eh? It should have been "How many ways can we prepare fish?" Raw, smoked, in a variety of sauces, cooked inside bread, whole, and pieces. Oh yeah, and potatos. It was good!

With full bellies we departed for Suonenjoki. Upon arrival, I had Anna-Maria show me the right setting on the washing machine, and I spent the rest of the day doing some laundry. The time zone business is a challenge, but at about 21:00 my time it's about 11:00 at home. I surprised both Niklaas in New Orleans and Deb in Moscow with a phone call. I had to wish Niklaas a happy birthday. He said he was on his way to a consignment store... I wonder what he bought... Around midnight we had a hum-dinger of a thunderstorm. I woke up thinking I was back in Illinois. Pounded on for nearly an hour.


Birds of the day: Black-headed Gull, Common (Mew) Gull