The Fish Market

As you can tell from the five-week gap in blog posts, I have gotten quite lazy recently. What follows now is the first of many attempts to catch up.



One sunny weekend (several weeks ago, when the sun was still strong enough to create days qualifying as "sunny" here in Helsinki) I wandered down the street where I work and discovered a crowd clustered around a gaggle of fishing boats in the harbor. Apparently, for a week or two, these boats stop in Helsinki to sell their wares...



Though it was quite scenic and fun, the products they were all trying so hard to unload were completely unidentifiable to a native English speaker. The only fish I can identify in Finnish are salmon (lohi) and tuna (tonnikala) so the smorgasbord of tiny fish in every possible kind of sauce (well, color of sauce) was a seemingly hopeless case.



Despite many attractive eating opportunities (small mystery fried fish, anyone?) I settled for a salmon pastry and a Belgian waffle for breakfast instead.

And of course, what self-respecting fish market would be complete without a kickin' band of Finnish folk singers? Still not sure if looking like a cross between Eric Clapton, John Denver, and Steven King was an actual requirement for the band...