The latter organisation had manage to arrange vouchers for free beer and pretzels at Rymy-Eetu, a German bar in Helsinki. My friends had managed to get some of the vouchers and texted me just as I was leaving work. Half an hour later I was stein in hand, with the only slight disappointment being that rather than a litre of a delightful German brew, it was Koff, a very ordinary Finnish lager. But without doubt, worth every penny (or Euro cent) that I had paid for it. And the pretzel, soft, salt crusted and still warm from the oven, helped soak up just a little of the beer.
After around half an hour, the oompah band began to play. It was the first time I had seen seven Finnish men in lederhosen and, though they were entertaining, I wouldn't recommend that they give up their day jobs.
I sought escape in the men's bathroom, but even there I was not safe. Instead of piped music, a loop tape was playing useful phrases in German, then their Finnish counterparts. So, "ein bier bitte" is "yksy olut, kiittos". Though I have not done so well in my language studies here, that one, at least, I knew in both languages!
The photo, by the way, was taken on my new Nokia N8. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now, it's the best phone I've used so far and we just started shipping them today. Just in case I needed another reason to celebrate over a beer!
1 comment:
Il semble que vous soyez un expert dans ce domaine, vos remarques sont tres interessantes, merci.
- Daniel
Post a Comment