Finland

I loved Helsinki. Seventh year in a row happiest nation? I believe it. Though honestly I don’t believe the Finns are THAT happy. I just think they have a low bar for expectations. And aren’t the type to complain so much?! Obviously I am not like the Finns.

Just the neighborhood park — Kaivopuisto

But I thought it was beautiful. Rocky — like Maine? Huge glacier-formed rocks and islands. Sadly I think the Baltics are on the receiving end from those glaciers with their puny little rocks. 

Anyway, at Donna’s old college roommate’s recommendation, I booked an airbnb in Ullanlinna. 

Street across from Kaivopuisto

It was really lovely. The “prettiest street in Helsinki” (Huvilakatu) was there. It’s got art nouveau (aka jugendstil) buildings, which I love and I think were more of the type I prefer (if I am to believe my Riga art nouveau guide).

This is actually a little north of Ullanlinna but see the face? Very funny
And this was the other big art nouveau neighborhood, Katajanokka
View out the window of my airbnb

A 10 minute walk to the center or the beach. There’s actually a LOT of beach in Helsinki. They have an archipelago of over 300 islands.

Taken from ferry on the way into Helsinki – random islands

So coastlines, ferries and parks and beaches are everywhere. 

Donna’s friend (David) very kindly offered to meet my ferry from Tallinn and he was waiting with his dog when I got off —sadly almost an hour after my arrival because the port is huge and the boat was crowded. It took a long time to deboard. Thankfully it was an absolutely beautiful day (like 70!! Everyone was outside) so David and his dog, Alma, had a nice wait. It got way colder in later days but was at least still usually sunny. 

Annoyingly my airbnb used a management company where one had to go to a central office to get the key (with bags and all) and THEN proceed to the airbnb, wherever it might be. So it was two tram rides (the airbnb was under a mile from the office but I didn’t want to walk with my bag!?). Anyway I felt so guilty about David waiting and going around with me, I bought him dinner. And Alma was with us of course. I don’t think he goes anywhere without her if he can help it! 

Random old observatory (no longer used) I happened upon in the ‘hood

At least I was in his ‘hood at the end so we did a walk, dinner, and a brief saunter before Alma was ready for home. Though thankfully I felt safe enough to walk around on my own after they took off. It’s was a lovely area, a Saturday night, and people were out enjoying the weather.

I did manage to have reindeer my first night in (plus fish and of all things, pizza — we split a bunch). One off the list. Then it was mostly salmon after. Yum. And a few pastries. But honestly my cinnamon pastry was not too different from anything I’ve had in the US so I was more focused on the fish. And the coffee was good too. 

Salmon soup w cream, potato and dill with rye bread with a paprika hummus thing? Soup —Lohikeitto — was delish and free refills
My soup was here at the famous Kappeli – I ate outdoors on the cafeteria side. They also have a fancy white tablecloth server half where I think the same soup costs double — people kept walking by and looking at the posted menu but left when they saw the prices!? Thankfully I had googled it beforehand so knew…

As usual I did my trip to the TI and had a very civilized coffee and pastry at another famous (Engel) cafe. Then did my “free” tour with a (self-admitted) odd Finnish dude. His dad is an MD and mom an architect and he’s the disappointment so lived in Malta and Cyprus? We do get some interesting tour guides. 

Helsinki (Lutheran) cathedral— inside is sorta boring — our guide said it looked like IKEA
Did not take photos of the admittedly boring pews but the organ was pretty
Uspenski cathedral – largest Orthodox Church in Western Europe
More ornate than the Lutheran cathedral— it was orthodox Easter but we were able to sneak in as the service ended
Had to take this – see the two dark cabins (at about 4 and 10?) — they’re saunas!!! The Finns are obsessed with saunas. Someone said there’s like 1 for every 2 people there
External of main train station. Inside was cool too
I don’t know what it is but every town I’ve been going to has an obligatory sign with the city name!? This is in front of a new and impressive public library, Oodi. The guide says anyone can get a card even if not a resident — and my picture did not do it justice. It was cool

Since this is mostly pictures I’m going to just keep writing. The rest of the day I took a long walk around, had the salmon soup and tried to find the other art nouveau area. I didn’t take many photos.

The big ugly ships are “ice breakers” that literally plow through the frozen Baltic Sea so ships can get through.. the funny colored boxes outside the fence are their mail boxes!?
I saw the biggest freaking rabbits ever during one walk… they were the size of a cocker spaniel!? Seriously huge

The next day I went to Suomenlinna, an island with a fortress built by the Swedes but later ceded to the Russians and now back under the Finns. It’s strategically located in the sea so they all wanted it as a look out. Interestingly, about 800 “regular” people now live there and the fortress has been de-activated (?) but there are several museums across the island. I met a very nice English mother-daughter pair on my walk on the island and they kindly let me tag along with them. (Hello Alisa and Becca if you’re reading this!) I also met a Japanese couple and a man from Singapore (originally from MS) on the short 15-min ferry ride over to the island — the only reason I mention this is because of all things, when I was leaving my MUCH longer 20-hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Stockholm, I met those three again!!? Crazy coincidences.

Anyway, photos of Suomenlinna.

Oops before the island I fortified myself with snacks from the indoor market near the ferry — and managed to spill coffee all over but that’s another story
Entrance to the island from the ferry
Formerly an Orthodox Church, they redesigned it to be more Lutheran (and this is where I met Alisa and Becca) — they got rid of the domes!
All the stone walls were crazy thick
I think these were bunkers? Or artillery storage? We thought they had a hobbit vibe but their purpose was not nearly as cute
I was getting a Monty Python vibe from this?!
Its definitely an island!
Wow you can’t tell his huge this is — and it’s on a track so one can “spin” it around to shoot it off
Kuninkaanportti or king’s gate
One of the wooden structures that are there though this looked way too big to be someone’s house

We also went into a cool little artist’s shop— an old Finnish economist who switched to wood working, light installations, and his latest, “nailism” — art on painted boards using old/new and different sized (metal not human!) nails. He told me some of his wooden letter openers had been shipped to MOMA to sell in the gift shop when they had a Finnish exhibition.

In any case, after returning from the island, I wanted to go to a rooftop to relax with a cocktail and get good views of the city. At one time it was the highest point in Helsinki (or close!?). My British friends hadn’t eaten so they went on their way and I went mine …

I found this in a “newspaper” from the city museum (a free museum that mostly caters to kids) that I toured after the Torni — I did hear a Finnish rendition of “Penny Lane” there

I had a “Torni” mule since no one wants to have anything to do with Russia (after the Ukraine invasion, they stopped the previously frequent trains to/from St Petersburg). And since it had gotten cold and windy, did not sit outside on the two patios at the very top in that picture although they provide blankets … but sipped my drink and updated the Baltics blog. And just as I was leaving, I heard voices and looked up to see — Alisa and Becca! Small world, truly! They stopped in for a quick sit on the patio with a last drink before flying back to England. Of course I sat with them briefly before they had to dash for their train to the airport and I had to dash for mine to the museum (it was closing soon). Hopefully they made it fine!! But here are photos from the rooftop.

Stockmann’s in foreground — it’s like their Harrods? I was sent there to buy salmon to eat at the apartment (there is a huge grocery in the basement)
I love that the sea is everywhere
More modern bldgs and what is up with those little pyramids!? Did IM Pei have anything to do with it?

I’m so close to being done I’ll just finish with my sauna … my last day, the boat wasn’t leaving until 5 pm and I had the day to wander. I did a bunch of panorama tram rides, saw a new church and heard a small protest to divest from Israel at the University of Helsinki.

Church kallio — previously one of the higher towers in Helsinki
You can’t really see but they were testing out the organ (?) and it sounded great

And showed up to an award-winning sauna (and restaurant) when they opened at 1. Sweat like crazy and yes, I dipped into the VERY cold Baltic Sea as a break from the heat. (Didn’t jump in but went down a ladder to hip level. Brrrrr.)

Löyly sauna. Apparently in Time magazine as one of the most beautiful places. Four saunas! All hot 🥵

I met a nice German girl also sauna-ing alone and kept running into a Swedish couple in various saunas where the husband took it upon himself to throw water on the hot coals — sometimes making it almost unbearably hot. Like I couldn’t breathe and my eyeballs hurt. That may have been the time I went into the sea after! But no beating with birch branches! I was told they typically don’t do it in the public saunas but usually do in their private ones (as I said earlier, the Finns have a lot of saunas per capita!).

I think that’s it!! I’ll talk about the ferry rides later!!

Oh and side comment — when I put captions under the photos in my editor, it’s in a different font and centered under the photo so it’s easy to differentiate from the paragraph text. But I noticed on the actual published site they’re sorta the same!? Sorry! I didn’t realize and don’t know if I can figure out how to fix?!

 

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