Woke up early, the lake covered in mist. Jumpstart myself with coffee at the nearby motel bar.Watching truck drivers having a break, boat owners chauffering their swimming sweethearts towards the lake shore which looks like dolphins on skateboards.
Stop for finding a cheap hotel in Nykobing, succeed and have a fantastic Swedish dish there. For vegetarians completely unsuitable, for people like me taylor made. You got to try this: Norrlandspölsa! Todays fiurther challenges include: rethink some arrangements and mentally prepare for the ferry to Turku. Usually the most annoying part of the trip.
Honestly. I'm a bit disappointed. Where have all those good times gone? A packed ferry, youngsters throwing up, the full array of Finnish society going bananas with the omnipresent slot machines, cheap alcohol, terrible dance bands, even worse troubadours in the so called rock bar aboard the infamous Stockholm-Turku line. None of it was there.
Apart from the quality of the musical performances it seems everything has dramatically changed. Fins tired of alcohol? Is this the end? Of Alko shops? Of Viking lines' booze cruises? Of the world as we know it? This spells "Disappointment" all along the line. On top of that I have to drive off the boat in reverse gear this time.
If I don't want to miss out on this part of the journey I'm afraid the next time I have to go via Estonia and take the Tallinn-Helsinki boat.
Arriving 7 am in the morning in Turku gives me a whole day of loitering around. Deciding not to go first thing for a pint I find myself doing an extensive walk around Ruissalo in the drizzeling rain. Seems funny that nowadays things like this are just ok for me to make an exciting day.
22/05
No real big expectations for the first tour gig on a Wednesday night in Turku. Yet this one turns out to be a fantastic evening. Jyrki Mäkelä of formerly 100 Million Martians fame opens the evening at Pikku-Torre with a most pleasant singer-songwriter set in best Nikki Sudden tradition. A small attentive audience came down to see the two Mäkeläs and I'm pleased to see some faces I've seen a year ago at my gig in Bar Kuka just around the corne. My set goes down nicely and get's a bit out of hand towards the end. Ending it playing "Lonesome Town" atop of a table and selling a surprising lot of cds after the show.
An enjoyable evening which ends with a last round in nearby Klubi with my fellow Mäkkelä, his wife Satu, Mikko and part of the audience. Staying the night at Mikko "Lappis" Lappalainen's (whom you might know of Finland's garage-blues heroes Boomhauer). Having breakfast down by the river in a place named Hundsvotti Satamakapaka. Off to Hämeenlinna.
23/05
Meeting Janne Westerlund at Suisto Klubi for our first common gig in Finland. A nice little venue with an extraordinary soundman. Probably the best live sound since playing Vienna in April. The new songs work out even better than yesterday and with a big smile Tommi the sound guy passes me a cd with a live cut of the full gig before I leave.You can hear my version of Grant Hart's /Hüsker Dü's "Diane" on soundcloud. A late night's drive through the rainy woods to our Mökki.
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