2006.07.11 Finland 2
I arrived at the airport in Turku in the middle of night. It's dark and unfamiliar to me. Words which I saw in the airport were what I couldn't understand. I was anxious whether I could manage to get to a hotel. Before I left for Finland, I studied about Finland on the Internet. There was a homepage about Finland in Japanese. By the author, he took a bus to the center of Turku in the middle of night. So I thought there was a bus terminal. By the way, the terminal of Turku was the smallest in my ever life. It has three counters and a small cafe. I couldn't understand words and I didn't notice where a bus terminal was. I thought if I went to go out of the airport, I could find a bus terminal. So I went out and something like a bus terminal was not seen around. But I saw a bus. I spoke to the bus driver. He seemd to understand half of what I said. He seemd to be not good at English. He said to me if I took this bus I got to the center of Turku. I got into the bus. He walkd to me and said I had to pay before the bus run. I paid three yuro. I made a resevation of a hotel which was the nearest a bus terminal. In fact, I saw the hotel before I got out the bus. In Finland, names of the bus stops are not called, unlikely to Japan. In Japan, names of the bus stops or train station are repeatedly called. They are rather noisy. If I hadn't seen the hotel, I would have not got out at the right place. I am behind of luck. As I got out the bus, the hotel was across the road. I walked across the road and got into the hotel. I went to the reception desk and said to a receptionist
"I have a resevation."
She said to me
"Your name, please."
I gave my name to her and a certifiacation paper. She gave the card. I understood the card was used as a key of my room.
She said in last,
"Good evening!"
I said something like Yeah and walked toward the elevator. As I got in the elevator, I pushed the button. But the lump of the button was not turned on and the elevator didn't moved. At the short momment, I was at a loss. Suddenly, the elevator moved up and stopped at three floor and two strangers walked in. One of them put a card into a hole and pushed the button and the elevator moved down. When the elevator arrived down the first floor, one of them explained how to use the card and walked away saying good luck. I shouted Thank you and put the card into the hole and pushed the button. The elevator moved up and I could managed to get in the room. I was exhausted. I took a shower and went to a bed. When I woke up in the morning, it's already nine. The breakfast in the hotel was bufe(ビュッフェ) style. I took all foods. Because I was curious about foreign dishes. They tasted bit salty(塩辛い) and raw fish didn't taste good. From next morning, I selected foods. As I walked around and took foods, I saw a professor who we know each other. He had breakfast with a beautiful woman. If he was alone, I talked to him and would have breakfast with him. This woman was Russian and I was afraid of speaking English. So I didn't speak to them. This day was the arrival day of the conference, so it was free time until dinner. I decided to go to the Turku castle. From the hotel to the Turku castle, it is about 5km. I don't remember the correct length. I like walking, especially in unfamiliar place. I saw a map and found out a road from the center of Turku was straigt forward to the Turku castld. This road is along the river. Turku is afront of sea. I walked along the river. On my way, I took a photo of the street. Below is the photo. I think the colour of the sky is deeper than the sky of Japan. What do you think?



2006.07.10 Finland 1
In March 2006, I went to Finland and attended an international conference for the first time in my life. In Finland, people speak Finnish not English. I can speak English a little but can't speak Finnish. But people who are receptionists or waiters or waitresses in a hotel or restaurant can speak English. They understood my talks, which made me happy. When I left Japan for Finland, I got in an airplane which got off Narita and got down Copenhagen and went to Turku in Finland. In the picture is the airplane I got in. As the airplane rode down to an airport in Copenhagen, the captain or subcaptain in the airplane was very good and it's very soft landing. I felt happy to take a ticket of Scanginabia (スカンジナビア) airline.