Bruuveri

Brew pub Bruuveri is a highly popular hang out for friends of special beer in the heart of Helsinki. Having been there every time I visit the capital, the atmosphere is somewhat extremely cozy or how the Dutch would say gezellig. The elegant yet warm and inviting design of the place is something where anyone would feel comfortable stepping in. Although it seems the place is most crowded during 5-6 pm and lunch times, which is quite an unfamiliar scene in Finland. As I'm missing the discreet drinking culture in other countries, this is a more than welcomed change.

behind the glass is where the magic partly happens

A couple of weeks back I was reading a beer magazine, which inspired me to support national micro-breweries. Little did I know that most of them are actually more expensive than imported beers. But well at least I don't have to think that "this would cost so much less somewhere else", plus our beers are unique and good to pay extra for.

This time the reason for visiting Bruuveri was their Luostari beer, which according to them is the world's only Orthodox monastery beer, which was created with the collaboration of Valamo's monastery.

I'm not a huge fan of ale, as my taste buds are still stuck with wheat beer, so it wasn't really a wow experience for me. Also it would be nice if it had its own special glass. I bet though that ale fans would love it, or well who am I to know that.

Fun. @ The Circus, Helsinki

September 25th, 2012

Fun at the circus. Unbelievably ungoogleable. Unbelievably amazing.

After attending so many gigs in Amsterdam and especially in London, I did still remember how passionate the Finns could be at gigs. But I thought to myself that this mainly happens at big venue.

What a reality check.

The line in front of the doors was so long that we could have easily had a couple of beers more and not see the difference. I mean what were the odds for many people lining up in front of a night club. The odds were that the main act was the reason for drawing a full crowd.

New York's own rocky poppy fab trio Fun. has done extremely well back home and here too by getting a lot of plays on radio and TV. And apparently their support act Walk The Moon has been doing a pretty good job, even though I haven't heard their music before. But never mind me, when most of the audience were singing to their songs, which made me think that they're probably the first supporters that I've seen to be that well-received. They were like the main act already with that constant screaming from fans.

It continued even when they took their instruments out of the stage. Every single time someone walked pass. Nothing wrong with that though, as they did deliver. Plus the singer had such a nice sweater.

So, when I nearly lost my hearing with almost everyone giving all they got from their lungs, then imagine when Fun. got on stage. Or actually throughout the whole time they were on AND OFF the stage. Through the bloody shrieking I couldn't hear how loud I myself shouted. Usually at gigs people sing along to the most famous songs. There it weren't only the hits, but every single song! I was so amazed, and kept thinking in my mind that in London this could never happen. Before I thought Londoners were dull, now comparing to this they're kind of the living dead at gigs.

Also, you know when pretty much every band says something good about the city they're playing in, and it's most of the time just them pleasing the crowd. At that gig every word they said and every smile were completely sincere. How do we know this? Because even without them saying anything, it could be heard, seen and felt that this is the type of an audience musicians dream to play to.

I was waiting for them to say that we were the best gig they've played so far. Almost! As we were the best in Europe so far, which made me wonder, which crowd in America beats us. Perhaps their families and friends? Please tweet the answer to me!

What surprised me the most was their love for Moomins. Forget Angry Birds, bring on the Moomins bags and stuff! "Helsinki is the shit", they say.

Despite of the show being a high-energy non-stop crazy ride, there was still a moment for calming down. I'm pretty sure many fans got teary eyes at this moment. Like the uploader of the video describes;

Probably the best night of my life. Sorry about the shaking in the beginning, I had to give the camera to my sister because I was too emotional/tired to hold it steady.

Here's a song about singer Nate's parents.

My friend's only comment of the gig "it was so good for the singer's feet to be without shoes". She studies podiatry.


thanks fun. and fellow fun fans for making me deaf and lose my voice. but it was all worth it. 

Tourist-ish in the Capital

One of my favorite Spanish people and former f(l)at mate Nuria came for the weekend to see how Helsinki looks like. It was a pretty good timing, because I wanted to know that too. Even though I've lived close to Helsinki for a few months now, I only went there a couple of times to run some errands. So in other words I spent more time in the capital during this one weekend than the whole summer.

And without really knowing which places to go to.

I asked Nuria to send me a list with places she wanted to see, and most of them were something I've never heard of, so I was pretty excited to visit them too!

She was quite terrified to fly with RyanAir when she heard  the news that they've had the most problems with their planes in Europe. I, naturally started to think of my recent dreams, in which I've lost my teeth; in some cultures that's a sign of someone dying. When her plane was about to take off, an eagle got stuck in the motor, and loads of people were screaming. They had to change the plane, and the flight was delayed for a couple of hours. After I thought the plane had already landed in Finland, I got so worried, since she didn't inform me at all. Immediately I check the Internet for plane crash news, luckily nothing happened! It was quite tiring though to pick her up at 4am, but for sure a whole day of travelling is even more tiring.

Basically the whole weekend was about me following my intuition (and signs). I'm surprised of how all the main attractions are located close to each other. Also, it was supposed to rain on Saturday, but I guess Nuria brought the sun from Spain, since it started to rain again, when she left.

Anyways, here are some pics. The first day was mainly visiting churches, which she complained about a lot, but I wasn't the one who made the list ;)

helsinki train station

noah's ark chapel

the church built inside the rock

parlament

the blank church

restaurant onion

one of the best beers

suomenlinna

music video shoot

nate so hypnotized of the first spanish person he's met

he also loves the carbonara she made

the olympic stadium

This was the touristic side of Helsinki, and I was appointed "worst tour guide ever". If it was my home town, or even London and Breda, I'd know all the great places to go to, but no one is really a tourist in their own country, eh? But it was really great seeing Nuria after 2 years! I can't wait to go to Spain myself. Until then...