Yesterday was Chinese new year, and the "Terracotta Army"  by the Monument to the memory of President J.K. Paasikivi (a.k.a. East and West by Harri Kivijärvi) must grace numeous blogs and social media sites by now.

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The Lasipalatsi Square had been reserved for the new year celebrations, but when I passed through, there wasn't anything yet. Later there would have been Dragon dance and other events with various booths offering their services and goods, but I didn't feel like staying.

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But I had my own celebration also, and for that I wanted to buy a book - maybe history, maybe schience fiction... I thought I'd buy it at Akateeminen kirjakauppa, and have tea with cake at the café, and take a picture of it all. But I wasn't in a real book buying mood, and so I bought nothing there. However, on my way home I passed through Suomalainen kirjakauppa which has a worse selection, but at their discount shelves I noticed a book I had intended to buy when it was shortlisted for the Finlandia Prize in 2013. In Akateeminen I had checked its price but left it again to be bought later. And now I saved almost 27 euros, so I was pleased after all.

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The picture I took on my kitchen table and hastily photoshopped all the rubbish away. Instead of tea and cake I had an apple danish with my tea at home.