rhkkmk's off to Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Tallinn via JFK
Sep 5th, 2009, 10:44 PM
#104
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Good nites sleep...!!!
Dinner last nite was medallions of pork tendeloin served with french fries (oddly), sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini, all accented with a very rich bernaise wine sauce. very very delicious.... 19,8 E each... Really the first meal that i did not think was overpriced... good and friendly service....who'da thunk at an airport holiday inn...
We had purchased a large pan apricot cheese danish for our breakfast at the waterfront market, which we enjoyed with coffee/hot chocolate in our room this morning....
K is trying the shower now and water is flowing all over the bathroom--- very odd... She says it is not that bad..
We will leave for the airport about 11:30...
One note, while processing our check-in last nite I found that finn air had changed our seats and given us horrible seats in the last row with no recline seats... I was able to find one window (K) and one aisle seat in the same row, but on opposite sides of the plane... hopefully someone will change with us... or the person sitting next to me will be sorry---i am large and a hog of space...
So that's it from here.... I will have a short recap and retrospective overview once we are home. Thanks for reading.. bob
Dinner last nite was medallions of pork tendeloin served with french fries (oddly), sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and zucchini, all accented with a very rich bernaise wine sauce. very very delicious.... 19,8 E each... Really the first meal that i did not think was overpriced... good and friendly service....who'da thunk at an airport holiday inn...
We had purchased a large pan apricot cheese danish for our breakfast at the waterfront market, which we enjoyed with coffee/hot chocolate in our room this morning....
K is trying the shower now and water is flowing all over the bathroom--- very odd... She says it is not that bad..
We will leave for the airport about 11:30...
One note, while processing our check-in last nite I found that finn air had changed our seats and given us horrible seats in the last row with no recline seats... I was able to find one window (K) and one aisle seat in the same row, but on opposite sides of the plane... hopefully someone will change with us... or the person sitting next to me will be sorry---i am large and a hog of space...
So that's it from here.... I will have a short recap and retrospective overview once we are home. Thanks for reading.. bob
Sep 6th, 2009, 05:54 AM
#107
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>>> In retrospect we think he and his friend were gypsies from their looks
Most likely gypsies from Romania, not Finnish gypsies, they are tall, some VERY tall, and they wear their own kind of clothing that is easily recognizible. Romanian Roma have been swarming all over the place since Romania joined EU. Most are beggars, some are pickpockets and shop lifters, and some are real low-lifes who attack old women. Unfortunately this summer there has been such a hike in numbers that about a month ago polica had to take action and stop aggressive begging. They also caught several pickpocket gangs. So you were lucky, usually they are very skilful.
Most likely gypsies from Romania, not Finnish gypsies, they are tall, some VERY tall, and they wear their own kind of clothing that is easily recognizible. Romanian Roma have been swarming all over the place since Romania joined EU. Most are beggars, some are pickpockets and shop lifters, and some are real low-lifes who attack old women. Unfortunately this summer there has been such a hike in numbers that about a month ago polica had to take action and stop aggressive begging. They also caught several pickpocket gangs. So you were lucky, usually they are very skilful.
Sep 7th, 2009, 12:55 PM
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So the holiday inn turned out to be a very good choice for us....very excellent room and bed and fantastic restaurant....plus the airport shuttle comes every 20 minutes and its free...it must be the only thing in finland not marked up 300%...
There was a small issue with our assigned seats for the flight which i found when i checked in on line..... they had taken away our seats assigned when we purchased the tickets months before and reassigned us to seats in the center section at the back with seats with no recline... I was able to find some one line with asile and window in the same row, but at opposite sides of the plane....For this reason we headed to the airport early...
Checkin was fairly swift, even though there was a long line---another flight was going before ours...The clerk found us better seats but still not in the same row...she said trade with someone when you get on and that is what we did...
The Finn Air airbus was again brand new and very comfortable...We left right on time and arrived early to JFK, but precisely on the minute that captain had announced when we took off---over 8 hours... The meal was again quite excellent and the sandwich searved before landing was a very tasty grilled veggie on a sort of italian style bread...
Immigration/customs at JFK was very speedy and suitcases were on the turnaround when we came out, so we only had to wait a few minutes for ours...
We called for a pickup from the parking place and called Tengombre to update our arrival at the Thai restaurant in Woodside, Queens....
We both arrived at the restaurant at exactly the same time so that was great....We had brought them some black bread from Finland and they had brought us some Thai red curry... We both will enjoy each...
The thai restaurant is SriPraPhai, 64-13 39th Avenue, Woodside: 718-899-9599... It is simply the best Thai restaurant in NYC and perhaps the east coast and maybe the whole USA!!!!
Robert ordered with two requests from me: Steamed buns, green papaya salad, pork laab salad, chicken satay, soft shell crabs, fried shrimp in rice dough, mee grob (vermicelli with sweet palm sugar), and maybe another or two that we forget....Then the main courses: yellow chicken curry, red curried pork, another curry, phad thai and various rices including coconut rice... There were six of us, and maybe we were 10 by the time we finished eating....oh yes, singha beer too and tons of ice water.... As always it was simply delicious...
We said our good-byes and were on our way to Greenwich, CT by about 7:30... We were staying at the Hyatt in Greenwich for the nite....This is a very nice hotel btw, if you are in the area....
We got home today about noon...
I will work on pictures for the next couple of days and then post the sites here...I also plan to have some final comments about the trip and the area later in the week...
South Africa is right around the corner on Oct 14, wo we are gearing up for that, but first the Boston GTG on Oct. 10...All are welcome...
There was a small issue with our assigned seats for the flight which i found when i checked in on line..... they had taken away our seats assigned when we purchased the tickets months before and reassigned us to seats in the center section at the back with seats with no recline... I was able to find some one line with asile and window in the same row, but at opposite sides of the plane....For this reason we headed to the airport early...
Checkin was fairly swift, even though there was a long line---another flight was going before ours...The clerk found us better seats but still not in the same row...she said trade with someone when you get on and that is what we did...
The Finn Air airbus was again brand new and very comfortable...We left right on time and arrived early to JFK, but precisely on the minute that captain had announced when we took off---over 8 hours... The meal was again quite excellent and the sandwich searved before landing was a very tasty grilled veggie on a sort of italian style bread...
Immigration/customs at JFK was very speedy and suitcases were on the turnaround when we came out, so we only had to wait a few minutes for ours...
We called for a pickup from the parking place and called Tengombre to update our arrival at the Thai restaurant in Woodside, Queens....
We both arrived at the restaurant at exactly the same time so that was great....We had brought them some black bread from Finland and they had brought us some Thai red curry... We both will enjoy each...
The thai restaurant is SriPraPhai, 64-13 39th Avenue, Woodside: 718-899-9599... It is simply the best Thai restaurant in NYC and perhaps the east coast and maybe the whole USA!!!!
Robert ordered with two requests from me: Steamed buns, green papaya salad, pork laab salad, chicken satay, soft shell crabs, fried shrimp in rice dough, mee grob (vermicelli with sweet palm sugar), and maybe another or two that we forget....Then the main courses: yellow chicken curry, red curried pork, another curry, phad thai and various rices including coconut rice... There were six of us, and maybe we were 10 by the time we finished eating....oh yes, singha beer too and tons of ice water.... As always it was simply delicious...
We said our good-byes and were on our way to Greenwich, CT by about 7:30... We were staying at the Hyatt in Greenwich for the nite....This is a very nice hotel btw, if you are in the area....
We got home today about noon...
I will work on pictures for the next couple of days and then post the sites here...I also plan to have some final comments about the trip and the area later in the week...
South Africa is right around the corner on Oct 14, wo we are gearing up for that, but first the Boston GTG on Oct. 10...All are welcome...
Sep 8th, 2009, 05:06 PM
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Delightful report...just don't let "his nibs" see the comment:
<<It is simply the best Thai restaurant in NYC and perhaps the east coast and maybe the whole USA!!!!>>
You know how he feels about The Similans...he reads anything that even hints at disagreement with that assessment and we'll never hear the end of it, plus we'll be subjected to watching the bicep trick again....
Looking foward to reading more and seeing the photos.
BC
<<It is simply the best Thai restaurant in NYC and perhaps the east coast and maybe the whole USA!!!!>>
You know how he feels about The Similans...he reads anything that even hints at disagreement with that assessment and we'll never hear the end of it, plus we'll be subjected to watching the bicep trick again....
Looking foward to reading more and seeing the photos.
BC
