The tickets for the very expected Unexpected Journey were released early yesterday morning in Finland. A long line of people, hobbits and what looked suspiciously like Shadowfax were waiting outside the doors of one of the bigger cinemas in Helsinki before the sale started.
The people in front of the queue had arrived on Thursday, and were camping out in sleeping bags and tents. However, the majority of the people (and hobbits) lined up on Friday to get the queue numbers that were handed out at 22:30 that evening.
Arriving with only a couple of hours to spare, I had exactly 300 people in front of me, and at least as many behind. Those with cloaks had good use of them to keep the warmth in the slightly chilly weather. Others had brought warm tea, and I am certain one or two of the elves brought Miruvor with them.
After receiving the queue numbers people could walk around as they pleased. A big lot chose to spend the night watching the Extended Editions of the Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers, which were shown in the cinema. Apparently the audience was very familiar with music videos from youtube, since solemn lines like “tell me where is Gandalf, for I much desire to speak with him” were met with cheers and applauds. The noise after “they are taking the hobbits to Isengard” was almost more deafening than the explosion at Helms deep.
After Gollum´s Song had tuned out it was time to line up again to finally buy the tickets. The sale was very effective, and the staff at Tennispalatsi deserves a lot of kudos for organizing everything so well! Just a couple of minutes after 8 in the morning the people were wearing big smiles while sleep deprived eyes watched the precious tickets. Now we just have to wait until December 12 to get use for them!
