The highway from Helsinki to Turku is mainly a view of endless forests of silver birch, punctuated by the occasional lake or farm. However, like any other major road, it has to have places along the way to allow drivers to take a break, amuse their bored kids, and relieve them of their money. We stopped at one such place.

A translation of the name would be “The Greenhouse Effect”, but the literal translation is “The Greenhouse Phenomenon” which is entirely more apt. It might once have only sold exotic greenhouses and other bizarre garden ornaments (e.g. a huge bird bath with a large brass eagle to perch in it), but now it sells all sorts of things, ranging from antiques to costumes. There were double door-sized mirrors in gilded frames; there were kitchen gadgets; there were small statues of singing frogs and a life-size painted statue of Napoleon. You could by a sarcophagus, National Geographic videos, ornamental mushrooms (I would have bought some for Jeff & Ann, but they were rather fragile), or anime wigs. If I had a very large house, lots of money, and no taste, I would have come away with half the stock.

We are now in Turku, and are staying at a Robo-hotel. That means the place is largely automated. When you book you get access codes for your room and the front door. I guess that they still have cleaners, but mostly guests never see any staff. The rooms sleeps four, has a huge TV and free wifi. All very Internet Age.