So what did the layers consist??
excluding underwear, they are
#1: Heatech from Uni Qlo (spelt it wrongly)
#2: Long Johns, which we totally didnt use at all, it was still vacuum packed.
#3: Normal clothes...
#4: Down jacket!

so yes we did overpack some clothes but still nevertheless its always good to be in abundance aye?? just not too much! :) As everyone can withstand cold differently, under -7 conditions, bro and I can survive with layers #1 and #3. Anything below that or -10 degrees saw us with #4! #2 never saw the daylights. So adjust accordingly and pack what you need! Even though this was sufficient for us, we didnt have gloves that could withstand the cold very well! and as my feet sweat quite a lot, my toes became VERY VERY cold in the more extreme conditions! So having 2 layered socks at times didnt help me at all. :( even though my gloves were very comfy, they were way too thin! i used the same gloves i use for ice skating, and then an additional half-glove on top but this still couldnt cheer up my not-so-trigger happy fingers that were freezing from the cold. Taking photos with my handphone was worse! i had to remove my gloves totally!

Helsinki is a really beautiful city with really vintage architecture and the buildings had a very brick-y feel! :P Weather there was pretty alright, so in the not-so-cold part of our trip, bro and i went without our jackets! and my hands and feet didnt feel cold either. We arrived at 6am in the morning and the sky was still dark. There, we only saw about 6 hours (or is it 4?) of sunlight and the very first thing that caught my attention was the mist coming out from my mouth! :D :D

(cannot see anything, dont bother)

The second thing that i noticed was that almost EVERY CAR was a Mercedes. This is not something you would see in SG man.
HIGH END MERC SEH

And they were very dirty. -.- At this point, we weren't in the artic circle yet, so it's quite alright. :) First thing we did was to deposit our luggage at Raddison Blu before going around the city centre to walk around a bit and settle breakfast! My family went for macdonalds!











huh dont ask me what it means man, i don't have the slightest clue. well in Sweden, you can simply read off the words and that's exactly how it will sound, however i dont know if that's the case for Finnish too.... KAMPPI






















































Notice how tidy the chairs are??? madness huh!! well actually, the chairs are bolted to the ground, so you cant move em at all. Tralalalala~ you have to squeeze a little to get in between the chairs and onto your seat though!

aaaaaand the toilet needs a code for you to use, so non-patrons of macs dont use the toilet! (pretty strict huh) and this time the code is...1010.















My reaction to the Macdonalds meal?
Unimpressed.




After that, we were bused around the city, as the tall brick-ish buildings envelop the brick-ish roads. The buildings here are pretty spectacular eh? Take a look!!
What i particularly like are the really vintage-looking buildings that they have all around. Also, those wires abovehead are actually for the trams that go around the city! they're pretty cute and travel on street level! quite a different experience from the MRT in Singapore, after trying it our in Sweden :P Also, their streetlights are hung mid-air in the middle of the roads instead of branching out from the sides!


PEEK-A-BOO!
















They have a pretty large working space to themselves dont they! this is pretty much replicated for every building in the city! wow cant imagine if i actually have such a space to work with at home or at the office next time :P

MUMMMMMM i want this cool rooftop for our house!! I've always dreamed (and still am) of having such a cool roof for our house :D because there isnt high ground like this that allows people to peek in, we can have all the privacy and all the sunlight! :D

A house with so much sunlight shining in would look so lively and upbeat dont you think? :) and seem fresher too! want to know what's the weather like outside, LOOK UP!
Will even look cool when raining. (y)


This brick-ish building below is actually a protestant church in the city area and it looks beautifulllllllll. Although frankly speaking i still prefer the layout of my church back home, city harvest church because of its more lively layout :P too solemn for my liking :/ i mean like just look at the dull insides! seems so solemn and not-very-joyful :l the outsides look way more pleasing than the inside xD

Dont you think the outside has a very soviet feel? well that's because in the early days, the russians once occupied Finland. Hence, they have some russian touch to their buildings and memorials!


hehe instead, i fell in love with this building!! it looks so stunning!! :D :D :D apparently it was designed by some world famous architect. ITS SO SO SO NAISEEEE. i should have zoomed in with my camera and shown you  the interior man. The buildings here have an open concept and THIS.... i think you can throw a stone and hit the person either at the end of the building or 2-3 floors down. now all we need is a powerful quadracopter that can transport files from one table to another. Voila~! *ideaaaaaaA*


We then visited the Sibelius Monument, Sibelius is a Finnish composer, Romantic period i think... i do recall playing one of his songs though! :D though i forgot which song lulz. sheeesh its been so long since i last had piano theory / practical exams, so i dont really remember much about composers these days :P The cool thing is that these metal pipes actually resonate with the same sound, despite of their shapes and sizes! not to mention, some of them look so cool :D It took a lady many decades was it? to collect all the different pipes from different countries to make this monument! though really, from afar, the monument just looks like any other ordinary artwork in a park. :/







pretty cool huh! all the buildings are in colourful colours! like yellow and red! So nice!!! it makes the whole place a whole lot more lively. i wonder why singapore doesnt do it though....people not daring enough? :/ I once wanted to graffiti my own house. After my parents saw how colorful the buildings are in Finland, they seem to lean more towards colouring our house! :D but i doubt they would leave it in the hands of their son. Muahahahahah >:)
we later went to the christmas market, but it was not yet open! WHAT A BLEAH. it was so disappointing!!!! really wanted to see how it's like, and it looked so promising D: as compared to those that we saw in sweden. That, coincidentally, was the only christmas market that we saw in Finland. Still thought i had the chance to try out different local foodies and buy some souvenirs from there. nope. *hopes dashed*

Next, we went to The Rock church too!! i always saw lotsa photos of the insides online, but never knew that it was this church until i entered the building. Its quite a small building actually! but apparently, it is made using a cave, which got it's name!

 it really looks a lot more like a contemporary church as compared to the previous one that we went to, however, the lady at the counter kept asking us to quieten down although there was NO ONE inside the church O.o pretty weird eh?? like hello!! we arent disturbing anyone man?!







I look so crazy.
God help me.

Anyway, dont you think the church organ looks just so boss??? :D They even have a grand piano!! wohoooo!! wish my church had a grand piano they used for service too. you know what? wish my HOUSE had a grand piano too! >:) #200000yearslater
Well.... i pulled off this stunt before the lady returned from the back! she went to get something or i dont know what MUAHAHAHA time to act like a pastor! but with mah black ice skating gloves. actually i think i look more like a politician.

We shopped for the next day too, before leaving for Ivalo, and guess what! the shoes here are relatively cheap, but are still really pricey! Here, you see a shop selling leather shoes! like ALL OF EM are leather shoes! its just whether they are full leather or not. and in this case, full leather = leather soles, leather insides, leather outsides. O.o

After touring around the city, we found ourselves pretty early back at the hotel! this was really surprising as in our previous group tour with Chan Brothers, we were pretty much rushing around for time, and had a very tight schedule to meet. it was more like a schedule packed with possibly everything you can do in the city D: whereas this is more relaxed, which saw me running over to the convenience store opposite the hotel. Low and behold, guess what i found!! :D *shines spotlight*



KINDER SURPRISE!! hehehe what a surprise it was!! *lame joke* esh but seriously, i was smiling to myself the whole time front the store back to hotel and was laughing at myself when i opened to find that it hasn't change other than a better capsule and a really fun spinning top! :D IT WAS SO FUNNNN hehe i was like a kid all over again! hoho butt pain. This blog post is gonna be loooooooong! If you ask me, this is one of the best discoveries in the whole trip, because i always used to love Kinder surprises!! they were the thing that could easily brighten up my day as a child! :D







Did we have macdonalds in the night again....not too sure. :/ i really dont remember! xD my memory is so fail sigh! Hey actually, that's all for Helsinki! All in all, (esh this sounds so GP-ish) its a really beautiful city with beautiful buildings and really dao (cant be bothered) locals and really nothing much to do around the city. Other than....KINDER SURPRISE!!! heh heh heh. Oh, do you know that the hotel tv actually offers movies?? and there is a separate section for adult movies. #firsttimeever Well ya gotta pay if ya wanna watch! Though i must say the commercials that they have in Finland are really funny and creative! :D unlike Singapore's commercials. Makes me want to turn off the tv. *seeks refuge in animes online*





zzz puny hotel room....at least we are here for a night only! phew!

Before leaving for Ivalo, breakfast was filled with quite a lot of different types of cheese! we soon realised that this was the case for every breakfast :P yum yum! i got to eat my favourite polar cheese! there's another type of cheese that i dislike, but i forgot the name! but will remember if it happens to cross my path! :)

Oh yes! and it was also the second morning in Helsinki did we actually get to see snow! :D LIKE FINALLYYYYY. though the snow was really meagre. -.- Its quite often to see it snowing in Finland, let alone snow. This is especially so when we were in the artic circle...which is gonna be the next blog post! :D

Ya know, i always take the first few days or day as the time for me to warm up and get used to the country! pretty much like making friends lmao. getting used to the way how people live here, and see how they go about their daily lives! Pretty much the same as icebreaker with a new friend aye? So usually for the first few days, i will be super blur like a toot! :D

NEXT STOP: 250km into the Artic Circle, Ivalo! (y) where the extreme temperature begins. YEAH! *gets ready to set the air con to some freezing temperature* *opens all the fridges at home*


oh yes and on the BRIGHTEST BRIGHTEST NOTE (so fast brightest already, sigh barely even started blogging about my holiday. good job ming yang.) MY CELL GROUP MATES CAME TO SEND ME OFF! :'D Awwww so cool right!! hehehe although it was kinda fail when they started asking me, its always this fail portion that makes it even more special and close-to-heart! :D




YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST MAN~!~! No special occasion, just a normal holiday and ya all appeared!! :D

and i even got homemade cookies! :D :D
























ZOMG the entertainment system is actually TOUCHSCREEN! *sua gu max*

hehe read some of Helsinki Times on the plane to learn more about Finland! (y)






















Fun fact 101: The top that i am wearing, is actually bought from japan about 5 years ago, but i never wore it. But after slimming down, its just right!! weirdo me. why would i even buy it in the first place if it's gonna be so tight fitting.



I leave you with some photos!!! :D