Honey, you're scaring the kids

« People enjoying Tulireki [fire sled], the new rollercoaster at Linnanmäki. A few photos from Jarkko's birthday at Lintsi »

Jarkko decided that he wanted to spend his birthday at Linnanmäki, so we and two friends helped him try to feel a year younger instead of older for a day. :) They all spent the day getting me onto various rides that I likely wouldn't have tried in my slightly hungover state coupled with a fear of heights. The first one we tried was something called kieputin [the spinner] which rates high on the vomitronic scale. I kept expecting to be drenched either in my own vomit or someone elses, but I was happily disappointed.

Finnish clowns are still as creepy and scary as other clowns around the world. Perhaps there is an EU commission on the scary clown standard along with everything else, since Lintsi the clown should send little kids running. There's also the clownish orange globule known as the plop-plop guy who haunts the park with sinister eyes. I sat on the opposite end of the Viking Ship, another bad hangover ride, from the plop-plop and watched him smirk at me as I was laughing my ass off while trying not to lose my lunch. "Honey, you're scaring the kids.", Jarkko informed me as a group of girls in the row across from us was apparently eyeing me rather cautiously. They weren't facing the plop-plop guy.

Aside from all the spinny, whirly, puke-o-matic rides in the park, there are several roller coasters that are small in scale, but still a lot of fun. We went through the arcade, too, and I won a little Winnie the Pooh doll for Mari. Near the end of the day they finally agreed to ride my first choice which was the carousel. :) It's an antique and rotates slowly, but the slightly naughty designs, wooden animals and classic punch card organ make it a fixture in any carnival. Jarkko agreed to sit on the camel and let me take a picture of him, but a man sitting on small bactrian camel leads to a bit of a pitiful grimace. It was a fabulously fun day of frivolity.

Hopefully, he won't ask for bungee jumping next year. :)