Secret tip for obtaining change in San Francisco: Go to a BART station and use the change machines to work from a $20 bill down to $1 coins. Then put a $1 coin into a BART ticket machine (not an Add Fare machine) and press cancel. It will return your dollar in quarters.
The plan was to fly from San Francisco to Chicago to Stockholm to Helsinki. But United canceled the San Francisco to Chicago flight. So they rebooked me via London, thus increasing the trip length by half a day.
Take off from San Francisco. Angel Island and Golden Gate Bridge on the left, Alcatraz in the middle, Bay Bridge and down town on the right.
Why do the safety pamphlets always lie about water landings? The depiction of a large aircraft sitting serenely in the water violates the laws of physics. When a plane with engines UNDER the wing lands in water, the engines act as scoops that cartwheel and fragment the plane. Maybe these nacelles should have explosive bolts so that they could be jettisoned prior to a water landing?
Great Britain. Just as I remembered her.
Heathrow is overcrowded. There are five planes on the taxiway behind us waiting for the runway. Plus an equal number queued up on the opposing side.
Crossing the coast of Denmark. Note that rivers don't end when they hit the sea. They keep meandering (although the radius increases greatly). The six white objects north of the river are windmills. I managed to locate this river on Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=55.436464,8.616028&spn=0.03691,0.090637&t=h&z=14
First sight after landing in Helsinki: a luggage scale demarcated in kilograms. How civilized. Interestingly, this also marks the most northernly point I have ever been (60.3°N).
Four ice breakers lounging around, waiting for colder weather.
Hot air balloon over the city.
During the war, the Finns set fires on all the islands south of Helsinki while blacking out the city itself. It worked, the Soviet bombers repeatedly bombed the sea.
Exploring the Soumenlinna Fort.
Large dry dock.
Newly built wooden boat in the dry dock.
The dry dock has two chambers, this door separates the two so that the outer chamber may be flooded while leaving the inner chamber dry. The door itself is actually a boat which can be floated away.
Travelling crane next to the dock.
Hiking around the island.
Inspecting the coastal defences. Side-to-side is easy to crank, but changing the elevation is really awkward. So when attacking Helsinki by sea, keep changing your range.
This is Finland's only submarine. Dates from World War II. The Paris peace treaty forbids Finland from having submarines, so it was hauled out of the water.
Sunset over Helsinki.
Three Googlers on the ferry.
Awww. Baby escalator. Recently hatched.
Sidewalk, bike trail, road. This is the normal layout for main streets in Europe. I have never seen a detached bike trail on a North American road.
Statue of a whale vertebra?
Free bike. Just insert 2 Euros, ride anywhere you want, for as long as you want, then lock up the bike at one of these stands and get your deposit back.
These mysterious polished spheres are scattered around the city. No idea what they are for. Pretty though.
Helsinki is infested by trams.
A very large floral mosaic under construction on the cathedral's steps.
Mob of birds at the harbour.
I'd buy some food, but Visa got scared about my suspicious purchasing pattern (Wifi access in London, withdrawal in Helsinki, and purchase of Moo Canada's web server). So I'm nibbling on digestive biscuits until I can get my account unfrozen.
Live music in the park.
Yes, this is how to honour someone.
Twin spires.
Every other row has its bricks turned inward, so that the bricks may bind with the layer behind. When a building more than one storey high does not have inward facing bricks, the brickwork is just a facade.
Instead of painting lines and zebra stripes on the streets, contrasting cobblestones are used. Even turning arrows are created this way. No paint to ever wear off.
A trip north to Vantaa. No level crossings, so no blaring horns. Electric drive, so whisper quiet. Straight welded track, so smooth as glass. Service every 10 minutes, on a Sunday. Amtrak has a lot to learn about how to run a railroad.
Heureka is a science museum much like San Francisco's Exploratorium. Except their displays would never work in litigious America. This self-balancing high-wire activity has no supervision. Nor is any needed here.
A display showing live data of every plane in North American airspace. Does the TSA know about this? And what is this mystery aircraft currently departing Mountain View with no stated destination?
Two rats who had been trained to play competitive basket ball. They were very good and clearly loved their handler's attention.
Möbius loop jungle gym. Now let's stuff that kid in a Klein bottle.
On the way home from Finland, I visited my friend Chris in London during the 14 hour layover between flights.
Chris lives on a narrowboat named 'Firefly'. Surprisingly spacious.
Rail link between the terminals at Heathrow. Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or an oncoming train?
Boing Boing reported that Heathrow's new Terminal 5 had no power connections for laptops (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/19/heathrow-terminal-5.html). Granted, they didn't wallpaper the place with sockets (unlike Helsinki's airport), but there are numerous sockets available.
Back home. San Francisco is really photogenic from 4,000 meters up.
