A great blue-collar evening
What did Christ really do? He hung out with hard-drinking fishermen. Iggy Pop
One of best live museums of Helsinki, or maybe even the whole world, is the Kotiharjun sauna, one of few surviving public saunas in Finland. Certainly the biggest: the fireplace has 1500kg of stones, takes one cubic-meter birch-wood and 5 hours to heat up. The sauna can seat 30 bathers in the upper level, and few on the "Pipe shelf", which is even higher, and reserved for those wanting fierce heat. They also dictate when to let some more water from the firehose on the hot stones.
It is really fun. One buys some beer (or other drinks) from nearby shops, rents a towel, and joins the crowd of men of all ages and of all runs of life. Discussions are sometimes rather surprising, as one meets men one certainly would never meet elsewhere. Best discussions take place outside, on the sidewalk when everyone comes out to cool off. Yesterday, at it was -13C, the discussions outside were quite short: a towel was not enough for longer stays outside.
Kotiharjun sauna is a must for all brave and curious foreigners, who visit Helsinki. It is just as original as visiting a real diner in USA.
After sauna, the tradition dictates food in some restaurant. We decided to try a new place called "Soul food". Not that special, music too loud.
Ska-music is as blue-collar as music gets. A friend of mine, Jussi, is a vocalist of The Valkyrians. He had invited my to see their gig. What a gig it was! I just love ska and Valkyrians play it as well as possible, or even better. They play old covers but also their own songs. Everyone was dancing — no wonder the Valkyrians was selected as the dance band of the year here in Helsinki. (Also Aaro, Petri G, Samuli were dancing with me and others).
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs March to June 2006".
A great blue-collar evening
Being hard-working office clerks, I and my friends sometimes want to make a (retro-)trip to the past of the blue-collar culture. Or just hang out and have a few beers. This time the group was: Olli, Mikael, Aaro, Mika, Ile, Jytky.One of best live museums of Helsinki, or maybe even the whole world, is the Kotiharjun sauna, one of few surviving public saunas in Finland. Certainly the biggest: the fireplace has 1500kg of stones, takes one cubic-meter birch-wood and 5 hours to heat up. The sauna can seat 30 bathers in the upper level, and few on the "Pipe shelf", which is even higher, and reserved for those wanting fierce heat. They also dictate when to let some more water from the firehose on the hot stones. It is really fun. One buys some beer (or other drinks) from nearby shops, rents a towel, and joins the crowd of men of all ages and of all runs of life. Discussions are sometimes rather surprising, as one meets men one certainly would never meet elsewhere. Best discussions take place outside, on the sidewalk when everyone comes out to cool off. Yesterday, at it was -13C, the discussions outside were quite short: a towel was not enough for longer stays outside.
Kotiharjun sauna is a must for all brave and curious foreigners, who visit Helsinki. It is just as original as visiting a real diner in USA.
After sauna, the tradition dictates food in some restaurant. We decided to try a new place called "Soul food". Not that special, music too loud.
Ska-music is as blue-collar as music gets. A friend of mine, Jussi, is a vocalist of The Valkyrians. He had invited my to see their gig. What a gig it was! I just love ska and Valkyrians play it as well as possible, or even better. They play old covers but also their own songs. Everyone was dancing — no wonder the Valkyrians was selected as the dance band of the year here in Helsinki. (Also Aaro, Petri G, Samuli were dancing with me and others).
Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs March to June 2006".
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