Thursday Travels - Helsinki

After spending the day in Tallinn we spent the next two days in Helsinki. That may have been a touch too long as it turned out. The weather while we were there was fantastic, better than the weather we left in London. It was sunny, hot, and for the most part (aside from the heat in Tallinn) perfect walking weather. In Helsinki we walked through the main market, Market Square, which, if I remember correctly, takes place every day. And if you are looking to buy some berries, then go, GO! to Helsinki in the summer. There were berries everywhere in that market, and in the city. Stalls outside the main department store also sold berries, there were so many berries it was berry overload. I couldn't take any more berries. But let's move on.

There is a pretty park, Esplanadi, in the center of Helsinki. The park runs between two streets, so it is narrow and long, and is a popular place for people to gather and drink. Seriously, everyone sitting in the park was drinking. Especially since it was so warm out, people stayed out at night, talking and drinking. The streets around the park also held the Red Bull Show Run on the Sunday we were there, which basically consisted of little cars veering around the streets and corners as fast and as loudly as they could. We stood around and watched for a while while joking (sort of) about a racing disaster if a car happened to hop the curb and crash into the spectators. People were standing about five feet away from the road, so seriously, it easily could have gone wrong. But maybe we were just being negative. 

As far as the sites, we visited two of the three main churches. We walked into the main Helsinki Cathedral, which was rather plain inside, but pretty from the outside. It stands alone, on the top of steps and is quite imposing looking from the outside.

We also saw the Orthodox Cathedral, supposedly the largest Orthodox Cathedral in Western Europe (or outside of Russia?). It was quite pretty inside, a contrast to the other Cathedral. A wedding was taking place as we were there, and rather strangely, visitors were allowed inside as the bride walked down the aisle. It made the wedding feel a little less intimate in my opinion.

We missed seeing the other famous church, Temppeliaukio, or Church in the Rock. There were rather arbitrary opening hours at the church as we tried to visit it twice in two days and missed it being open both times. The opening hours were handwritten which led me to believe they change almost every day. I would have liked to have seen the inside but Dave wasn't willing to wait around 30 minutes for it to open. So I took a picture of the outside and we moved on.

We walked in various neighborhoods and down by the harbor. The city seemed rather quiet, perhaps it too is a city where everyone escapes to their holiday home on the weekends, much like Stockholm. Having never been to Russia take this next comment with a grain of salt, but to me, it had a Russian feel. Most of the apartment buildings were large, stone and rather dour looking. The buildings were imposing, and most blocks were filled with similar looking, similar height buildings, one after the other. Interestingly, when we got home my parents told me they happened to put on the movie "Gorky Park" that same weekend and noticed that it was filmed in Helsinki, not Russia. The city had a rather heavy feel, and slightly lifeless, but perhaps that's because it was so quiet on the weekend. On a weekday it may well feel more alive. Possibly.

We attempted to eat Finnish food, but had a hard time finding restaurants I had read about. I think we struck out twice, the restaurants were either gone, or my info was bad. We ended up at an Italian place the night we returned from Tallinn and it was actually good, but the service was atrocious. Worse than London. Awful. But good food. I also managed to eat some salmon while there, I felt very Scandinavian, and we definitely enjoyed some cinnamon rolls. A few of those actually. And some bun that was basically butter and sugar and nothing else.

Our hotel, Hotel Kamp, was in a great location, right by the racing action in fact. After the race, when we were going back to the hotel to collect our bags and leave for the airport, we noticed a large crowd outside and we then stood around and watched as two Red Bull Show Run racers (I have no clue who they were) left the hotel restaurant while the crowd cheered loudly. So the Hotel Kamp was not only convenient and comfortable, it was hip as well.

I'm glad we went to Helsinki and Tallinn if only because I can honestly say I would never go there if we lived in the US. Traveling from London was obviously easy, fast and weekend trip convenient. So doing it while living here, great - done and dusted. We got to see a part of the world we probably never would have otherwise. The weekend wasn't all that exciting, but sometimes the quiet weekends away are nice too, as they allow you to return home without feeling exhausted after two days of non-stop moving (and eating in our case).

Finally, although there was a dog park, I'm not sure if Riley would like Helsinki. Most of the year it's too cold for her precious paws.