1936 On the Continent

visitor who intends staying some time might, however, consult the British Consul about the Society. The gentlemen-guides provided by the Tourist Association might also be able to suggest some means of avoiding the loneliness that is liable to attack the solitary traveller, particularly when watching dancing. The popular dance-restaurants where any unattached lady could be asked for a dance were too much for puritan Helsinki, and these were soon abolished. For the same reason there is no real night-life in Helsinki, though the first-class dance-restaurants are often open to 3 a.m.
    Finnish hospitality is mostly a matter of the home. In restaurants it is usual for each member of the party to pay for what he has consumed. Thus an invitation by a Finnish acquaintance to a meal at an hotel is a real invitation only if worded as such. If he merely says “Are you doing anything this evening? What about Kämp or Kaivohuone?” he may mean that as you will probably be going somewhere, the two of you might as well go together. In that case it is a Dutch treat he has in mind, and when the bill comes you pull out your purse and wait for him or the waiter to calculate yourshare of the bill, unless of course he intimates by a gesture of the hand to the waiter that the meal is on him. The arrangement is a commonsense one in a country where the cultured classes have much smaller incomes than in England.
    If invited to a country place, the thing to do is to take a fancy cake (from Fazer’s or Ekberg’s), or a box of assorted pastries to present to your hostess. You may be sure she will be delighted, for such special additions to her coffee or tea table are very welcome, being ordinarily unobtainable. I mention the bakers, because the fact that the pastry is from a fashionable pastrycook’s takes away the implication that one is giving food. A box of Fazer’s chocolates is another alternative. Do not, however, imagine that you are expected to bring something. On the contrary, this attention on your part will be all the more pleasing to your hostess because of its unexpected character.
Lady Bath Attendants!
    For special baths, use
Uimahalli
(swimming baths), where you can taste a Finnish
sauna
, with massage, if desired. The attendants at Finnish baths are women, a national custom so ingrained that Finnish men would be embarrassed at being scrubbed by a man. Medical baths, light treatment, etc., in the same building.
    Any barber in the main shopping district will be found satisfactory. Away from the centre women barbers are the rule, and well trained as they are, experience has given me the conviction that the male barber stands to the female of the species as a chef to a cook.
    Within the Stockmann’s Department Stores ladies will find a first-class hairdressing department and beauty saloon—another one, named Edith Rahkonen, is situated in the same building as the information bureau of the Tourist Association, Aleksanterinkatu 7 A, etc.
    Shop anywhere. Prices are so little higher in the main shopping district as to make no difference. Stockmann’s Department Stores are convenient because of their central position and interpreter; the second floor of the Academy Bookstore (one of the biggest bookshops in the world, now merged with Stockmann’s) has a surprisingly big stock of English books. Elanto (main building in the Sörnäinen suburb)is another big department stores. Suitable mementoes are Finnish cut crystal glass or other art glassware, art porcelain or faience, and art-handicraft work, which includes very good woven tablecloths, wall-hangings, etc., and carved wooden figures.
    Wines and spirits are sold at
Alko
(Alcohol Monopoly Company) shops only; headquarters on the south side of the Esplanade in a fine grey granite building, retail shop on the left-hand side. Consult the lists on the wall, mark down the number or numbers you want and size of bottle on a piece of paper torn from the scribbling block, take this to the cashier’s desk and pay, and then hand over the receipt at the counter. Not a word need be spoken. Thus, if it is a bottle of whisky you want, seek out the whisky list. “Johnnie Walker” is number so and so. Accordingly you mark down 1—2756 or ½—2756, or whatever the number may be. The bottle will cost you less than in England. Brands marked with a red button are out of stock.
TOURS AND HEALTH RESORTS
Health Resorts
    At Helsinki one catches the note, so to speak, of Finnish life. There,