Sokos Helsinki

... tour and we were hungry. I had a small sandwich and a traditional cinnamon bun. Both were really good, also Stan bought with the company card so that was even better. Once finished we headed back to the main square and Stan went back to meet up with the team and I went walking again. This time I knew about a tram route that would take me to the Olympic center. This was really cool. I was able to take an elevator to ...

... island), we came across Blues News, a blues festival going on on the bandstand so we had a listen, then we came across a man and his puppets, and finally a clown on a bin. That was our first 5 minutes of our walk! <br>Our plan was to find the mainland swimming beach (as we had been told it was lovely over there), then head over to the stadium via Sibelius' monument and maybe the church in the rock. We took a slightly longer route than we needed (darn the new buildings ...

... Madonna. Pauliina arrived, we got our supplies, scoffed at the looky-loos, and went on with our day. Later on the news, we saw that Madonna had left her hotel five minutes after we walked past the hotel for the last time... Sigh...could've seen Madonna's car....<br><br>As it turned out, we were on Soumenlinna at sunset, and were able to hear Madonna's concert!! So...I mean, we were practically there... right? We thought we were. As we were ...

... openers in existence) and fox skin scarf/stole type things...with a stuffed head and plastic eyes and everything! (Sarah definitely wouldn't like them!).<br><br>After a bit of walking around I went to the Uspensky Cathedral, an impressive building inside and out. I'll let the photos speak for themselves on this one.<br><br>I then headed down to the food market building, where I bumped into Lucy from our group (a chef from ...

... and tonics, it's like they want you to get wasted on the flight... Anyhow, I got into Helsinki at 11 pm and caught a night bus to Jyvaskyla at 2 am. I think the Helsinki airport is so much nicer (and bigger!) than Edmonton's and the weird thing is they only have a population of half a million (ish). I finally get to Jyvaskyla at 5:40 am, where my student mentor Sanna is kindly waiting to pick me up :) I got to my apartment and just crashed! I woke up at noon and meet my ...

... we decided to walk to the Central Train station located in City Center. Our port lecturer had told us he believes the Train Station to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. The city center is an extremely large square that holds the Train Station, the National Theater and the National Art Museum, along with numerous large department stores. The Train Station is a striking building with it Nordic Designs and artwork. Although it has been raining for ...

... is in Olari, a neighborhood in Espoo known as the "West Side" by the Finnish hip-hop community, with some kind of reputation for being rough, although in truth the most annoying part about the place is the revving of mopeds by teenagers. It's a mixed bag, though, described colorfully by one as "families, students, and drug addicts." There are many trees and some rather nice-looking apartment buildings, as well as some uglier ones. Katri's ...

... annual wife carrying world championships (unfortunately not on while we were there!). 80% of the country is covered in either spruce forest or lake, so makes for a relaxing holiday. Helsinki is more like a small market town than a capital city, we loved it. Great fish and fruit market, harbour, cafe culture and history on Suomenlinna island (Unesco ...

Hello everyone. I've been in Helsinki for almost 10 days now, and it's very grey today. The city is small and orderly, and people are reserved but friendly. I've been mostly wandering around. What follows are some observations and such... One of the most distinctive features of Finland is the Finnish language. It is no longer weird to hear Finnish being spoken, and in fact I've started to like the sound ...