Out and about in Helsinki

EPOS concluded Saturday.  This meeting was a wonderful kickstart to our European tour.  We head to Denmark today.  Saturday afternoon was free, so we decided to explore the City of Helsinki.  Helsinki, sitting on the border of western and eastern Europe has a beautiful blend of culture.  From a religious standpoint this means protestant Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox.  Like other European capitals, the cathedrals are amazing.  The Lutheran cathedral, formerly know as the Cathedral of St. Nicolai (now just "the cathedral" out of anti-Russian sentiment) is shown here:

The orthodox cathedral, Upenski Cathedral, is equally impressive:

As you can see, this shot was taken from the open air market.  While we were there, Matt and Michelle did a little bargain hunting:

It's still not clear to me whether or not the Fins consider themselves Scandanavian, but the other booths definitely gave Helsinki a Scandanavian feel:

Meanwhile, I was of course drawn to the food.  The pan fried herring looked and smelled amazing:

Unfortunately, for us, the weather still feels quite Scandanavian, so we passed on the outdoor food experience and made our way through downtown Helsinki.  The city is primarily composed of 5 and 6 story buildings (very 19th century in feel), but rivals any major city in shopping options.  I did not stop in H&M for my daughter however!  Here Matt and Michelle are seen walking in the distance down the main shopping drag.  The street car system, which is quite cool, is also seen:

As you may have noticed, I have a big focus on food.  I love exploring foreign countries via the culinary experience.  This is not good for my attempt to keep the weight off!  Nonetheless, we received a great referral from the front desk receptionist and ended up at an off the beaten path Finnish restaurant (in English - "Seahorse"), where Matt and I dined on the herring that SO caught our eyes:

Many thanks, once again to Dietrich Schlenzka our Helsinki host for a great start to our tour.  We are off to the airport today for Aarhus, Denmark and the company of Bjarne Moller-Madsen!

More EPOS 2012 - Helsinki

Well...down to business today...EPOS 2012 meeting...full day of presentations, meetings, and of course coffee. Don't feel too bad for us, the presentations were great and the company was even better. More time with our hosts, the president of EPOS Prof. Rudiger Krauspe (middle) and our local host Prof. Dietrich Schlenzka (far left).

After that a few beers with the POSNA presidential line and the EPOS Gala Dinner...I wish I could show you those pics but they have a saying here in Helsinki..."what happens in Finland, stays in Finland!"...so that is enough...stay tuned for more

Opening ceremonies of EPOS

one last picture from the clinic in the Children's Hospital of Helsinki.  The whole gang with a demonstration of wood casts - totally biodegradable splint material made from spruce!

Here are Matt and Michelle in the cold, windy, beautiful North.  My first purchase was a THICK wool scarf and some reindeer wool mittens.

Later that night 4/18/2012 we attended the opening ceremonies of the EPOS convention at the city hall.  There we met many great European friends (and heroes).  Here is EPOS president Prof. Rudiger Krauspe who welcomed us! 

 We also enjoyed a performance by local youngpeople in traditional garb with Finnish folkmusic.

After that we went off to a great dinner at a Greek restaurant (in Finland, what?) with a wonderful group - Thanks so much to Deborah Eastwood for dinner!

Children's Hospital of Helsinki

OK
This is my first attempt at an entry which is made slightly more difficult by the fact that the browser is in Finnish - I am clicking on random buttons and hoping I am getting it right!

Day 2 was really great.  We went to the Children's Hospital of Helsinki  where we attended the DDH clinic and the clubfoot clinic.  These are two trainees Henri on the left is an orthopaedics resident and the lady on the right is a general practioner in training.

This is the examination room.

 Here is a picture of a trauma bay in the emergency department.

Beds in the orthopaedic ward.

Yrjana Nietosvaara demonstrated the use of a brace for DDH and described safety measures for its careful use in infants.  We had a wonderful time and were very thankful to the residents for helping us as well.

Reindeer - Beware of Travelling Fellows

We all arrived in Finland safe and sound!  After getting settled at the hotel we got together for a little dinner.  We were lucky enough to find a great little "Finnish Restaurant" not far from the hotel (note the sign to our left, very authentic!):

The most intriguing aspect of this restaurant was this menu item (note the middle main course):

Much to the dismay of little children everywhere, this was the dinner we settled on:

 I can tell you that poor little Rudolph was not only visually appealing on the plate, but tasted terrific!

What a fantastic start to the trip!  Today we will go and see Helsinki Children's hospital, spending time in the DDH and clubfoot clinics.  This afternoon is a choice between a Bone Tumor session or time visiting around the city.  You guess what we do!  Stay tuned and find out later...........

Wheels up from DC

Sitting in the airport in DC ready to get this trip started.
Looking forward to the time with our hosts and my traveling companions.
Hopefully I can give as much knowledge as I get, but judging from our
itinerary that is going to be tough!
Let's go to Helsinki...