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As it’s the New Year, anyone looking for some travel ideas?
I mentioned yesterday that National Geographic had put Oulu into the ‘Top 25 destinations to visit in the world in 2026’.
Other European entries in that list are …The Dolomites (probably due to the winter Olympics this year),Hull in England ?!,The ‘Spanish’ part of the Basque country,The Black Sea coast of Turkey,Guimarães in Portugal.
Anywhere there looks interesting? There are certainly some ‘different’ options!
I listened to the The Lemminkäinen Suite by Sibelius yesterday. This is a tone poem that’s based, like most things Finnish, on Kalevala and follows the doings of our hero Lemminkäinen (which I tried and failed to spell correctly every time). I think Sibelius is one of those composers who are really great at painting with sound. Even if you don’t know the story (which I didn’t) you can grasp the beats and tone of it from the music very well. [The Swan of Tuonela](https://youtu.be/tke8q9_MmnA?si=7voB-vRVa4SYgjks&t=1010) is very beautiful. There’s also another recording on YouTube with HR Symphony and Jukka-Pekka Saraste (who I keep mixing up the Spanish volinist/composer Sarasate) which is excellent as well. Highly recommended.
It’s super wimby and stormy here. We had a short power outage yesterday even.
Today I’m in Milan, just on the way between Prague and Palermo.
Actually nice weather here! Contrary to what most people think of the Milanese weather… blue skies, sunny and about 3° at 11am.
I just had second breakfast at my favourite Neapolitan café here.Yes, strange in the north, but they actually have both great coffee and really good sfogliatelle…
-7°, snow and windy as hell. No running today.
I saw [this photo](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fnysse-tulee-v0-eyqanvvumkag1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1080%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D343b074869b1fc4aea8f177c28728a5858986b3b) on the Tampere subreddit, apparently it was taken last summer during Eurobasket. Public transport working optimally right there, lmao.
I barely slept last night because I stayed up until the morning watching videos from The Cher Show. When she performs she has such goofy and cute mannerism. Funny looking dancing that people with lanky frames do, and the expressions on her face, it’s super sexy in a cute way. Her movement is infatuating. And she had goated midriff, oh my god. Can’t take my eyes off of Cher’s abs.
But I started thinking, I don’t think I have ever listened to a Cher album. There are so many hits, all the way from the late 60s and early 70s up until Believe in the late 90s which is crazy, but no sort of seminal classic album.
Some belated random New Year’s (Eve) thoughts:
* I’ve seen (parts of) the traditional NY/E concerts of Berlin, Vienna, Dresden and Venice. And Berlin was the best by a *far*. I know Vienna is the “big” one, but I’ve never been too much of fan of the Strauss waltzes. That whole style is too over the top for me. Same with Andre Rieu.
* We stayed with some friends at their cottage, and on NYE in the early afternoon some more or less random neighbour came around and just gave them a whole homemade smoked char! And not a small one either, it must have been a good 2-3 kg. Apparently they had some leftover and he decided to give them away. And again: they’re not best friends or anything, “just” normal friendly neighbours. Hashtag perks of village life?
* Alcohol-free Gin is rubbish, both as a concept as well as the actual product.
* “Hitster” is a *great* party game. Lots of fun. You have to bring songs into the correct chronological order (knowing artist and song title gives bonus points but isn’t the main point).
* If you’ve never spent the time in Germany, which of the following traditions have you heard of: Bleigießen (“lead pouring”, now with tin), [Feuerzangenbowle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Feuerzangenbowle_044-3.jpg) (fire-tongs punch), eating fancy Berliners (like jelly-filled doughnuts) – only one of the bunch is actually filled with *mustard*.
* Lighting up fireworks next to thatched roofs is just a whole new level of stupid.