When Lilias Came to Town...

...All hell broke loose. The inner freak became the outer us.

I don't know whether to tell you everything or just tell you nothing, and leave you with the knowledge that my siblings mean more to me than pretty much anything else in the world.

It was to be a Thursday (13^th) to Sunday (16^th) morning visit. We wasted no time and headed for to Bossaliina, the cutest coffee place in town (think miss matched chairs and a gold bathtub seat – oh yeah) where cookies were consumed, Chai teas supped and endless old jokes were resurrected. Some wandering, a little history and geography lessons carryied us to the language café evening I had to attend for class. I was schooled in French (horrifically intimidating – I praise all ye non-native English speakers, you do a mighty fine job!) and Lilias 'taught' English. They really shouldn't have bothered with an English table, pretty much everyone can speak it well enough to get by. Our dinner of an attempted and slightly failed Spanish omelet was overshadowed by the hilarity that ensued – more general haha and 'Anchorman', you really can't go wrong there. I'd say who needs food when you have laughter, but I do really like food... The jury is out on that one.

Friday was cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast, followed by a little trip to uni where I introduced Lilias to the sofa (the only sofa, may I add, that comes near to my rear, as my flat has only picnic bench style seating – boo) while I... who knows, but I didn't learn anything. Next port of call was the Art Museum that stands majestically on the top of a hill. We managed to wangle free entrance 20 minutes before everybody else, so got to peruse some very fine Finnish art with out the crowds that seemed to appear by the time we made it to the Carl Larson exhibit downstairs.

The evening ended with a surreal bang – a 'puppet' show at an outdoor swimming pool. Yeah, you heard me right. The interpretive production of The Abduction of Europa went beyond my expectations – a table skilfully manoeuvred over the length of the pool on ropes; a giant moving beast; a woman raised from the water in a metal frame, hoisted to the top of the diving board; fire, sweet potatoes, big white clogs, clunky wooden puppets (the kind you thought of initially when I said 'puppet'), empty water bottles as flotation devices – seriously, you name it they thought of it and used it to it's utmost capacity. (And they provided blankets!) Reminded me a whole lot of Nowhere – a Dali-esque week I spent in the Spanish desert last July with 600 odd (in both interpretations) people. 

He spent most of the time in the pool

 

Saturday morning! More kahvi and cinnamon rolls and then we hit up the outdoor gym – it's totally my favourite visitors attraction now. And of course a mandatory visit to the second hand store. Next into town where we went to more junky places to ogle at the things we couldn't afford, or more, couldn't fit in our bags for the plane. In a double whamy we did Hesburger (Wait, you don't know about Hesburger?! It's a mayonnaisey fast food joint, with great fries, founded in Turku. Don't even bother mentioning the golden arches that cannot be named. They have maybe one? Down some back alley probably...) and then back to Bossaliina (it reminds me of my house, but more pop arty) for more tea and cake. We concluded our afternoon with a gander at the cathedral and a meander along the Aura. Then we sat and watched a man doing various tricks on a seatless bicycle – pretty nifty.

 

Spiders?

 

Phew, nope.

 

Sokos bag full of Fazer. The flavour hits you like a tazer.

 

Lilias – master graffiti spotter.

 

Some badass entertainment.

 

Next morning we were up at 5am and I was back to bed at 7.30am with Lilias safe and sound on the train back to Tampere with itchy feet and taste for Finland.