Helsinki in detail
Trip Start
Aug 29, 2008
1
7
31
Trip End
Sep 20, 2008
Helsinki,
Southern Finland,
Finland
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
finally arrived in Finland ! This is quite exciting as it I'd something
I have always dreamed of doing. Of course the first course of action
was to store our bags at thf train station, which if turns out is a fair hike from the port, but this is a good intro to the city.
After this trek we are quite hungry so we grab a pastry and coffee
(hot chocolate for me). So €6 later we are satisfied and ready to take
on the city. (The pastries there were really good, by the way). Yes, things are a bit pricey here, but if you think about it, they are rather removed from the rest of Europe so its not that surprising.
We then walk down the esplande - a shoppers paradise, well so long as
that shopper has a lot of money!! The street itself is beautiful, rather like Paris .
We then make our way up to the Cathedral (I think that is all its called).
This really is an impressive site to say the least - it is totally and completely white, sitting
right at the top of this great square. Unfortunately it is closed so
we have to return later to view the interior. When we do so we find a
very simple interior. I marvel at the "finnishness" of it. No need to
be grandiose - this gets the job done very well, I think.
Next we head over to the russian cathedral. This couldn't be more
different - it is very ornate and looks a bit older. It is also
perched atop a hill so we have a great view over the city.
We then went to market square, which is a big, somewhat touristy
market right in the center of the pier area. This clearly is where the
action is. There were lots of crafts and other goods to purchase -
some were cheap but most were very nice indeed. We also had lunch/
dinner here - for 9 euros I had this huge piece of salmon and more
potatoes than any human should actually consume. It was really quite
tasty though - not so fancy as what we had in stockholm.
We finally go to the hotel - yet another Finnish experience.... The
hotel doesn't actually have anybody on staff. Very cool on my book -
just don't lose your code!! It gets you into all four door - exterior
gate,main door, door to floor, and finally the room itself. The room
was huge actually - a big double bed and two single couch beds. Very
slick hotel!
Nope... day isn't quite done yet!
We next walk up to the rock church. I really know of no other way to
describe it - it is a church built in a rock! The Finns seem very into
nature and integrating with it. That part of my heritage i'm quite
proud of. The inside of the church was rather unique as well. From
there we went up to the Olympic stadium. To our surprise the tower was
open to visitors so we went right up - pretty decent view from up
there! The olympics were there in 1952.
Oh, and we finished the night off by watching a norweigan ( I think)
band play all-american songs at an Irish bar in Helsinki, Finland ! Mondays
don't seem to be the happening nigts, however.
Whew! Long day!!
