Where: Helsinki, Finland
When: May 18-20, 2012
With: Nic
With Dave being in New York for a weekend, and there being limited weekends before Nic headed back to the US, Nic and I decided a weekend trip was very necessary. As the week leading up to the weekend continued and we hadn't planned anything, we assumed the trip would be a small one, perhaps even just a daytrip. But showing a rare impulsiveness not normal in either of us, at 11:30pm on Thursday night, we booked ourselves a trip to the cheapest locale we could find that neither of us had ever been to: Helsinki, Finland. And we would be leaving 20 hours later.
Trust me, I was just as confused by this impulse as you probably are. Why Helsinki? I don't know. My travel companion had the same sentiment, as when we met on the train to the airport the afternoon after our booking, we both had the same "what the hell are we doing?" expression on our faces.
However, after hitting up free drinks in the fantastic lounge at Heathrow (thank you Nic, for introducing me the world of airport lounges) and many a teeny bottle of wine on the plane, we relaxed into our trip and just laughed at how ridiculous the whole situation was.
When we landed at 11pm in Helsinki, it was still incredibly bright out. With one month until the summer solstice, and being this far north, the sky wouldn't be dark again until sometime in September.
We left the airport and hopped on a bus that took us right into downtown Helsinki. The atmosphere in the center of town was electric. Even at midnight, the streets were buzzing with activity. The city was like a hybrid between an old European city and a Nordic harbor town, with domed Byzantine-style churchs dotting the horizon. Our hotel was a little outside of things, and we took the long way to walk there, but that just gave us the chance to explore the night life.
Our hotel was so...different. It was in an industrial section of the city with lots of warehouses around. Even the hotel looked like an old warehouse. But now, it is a super modern, with lots of fresh wood and metallic designs, all with a nautical twist - a perfect example of the Helsinki way.
We decided to venture out after dropping off our bags for a night time photo shoot. The main item that caught our attention was an old church located right smack in the middle of all the warehouses, just adding to the whole architectural mystique.
From the top of the hill the church sat on, we could see the whole of Helsinki below us. As odd as it sounds, we were both mildly obsessed with this view and the smoke stack on the horizon. We were also obsessed with the fact that it was about 2am when we took this photo, even though the sun looks ready to rise.
While standing near the main docks of the town, we were inspired to take a boat trip out of the harbor. Destination: the small island of Suomenlinna, just 20 minutes outside the Helsinki harbor. It used to serve as the main line of defense against the Russians on the other side of the Baltic. Now, it is mainly the ruins of an old fortress.
While the weather was beautiful (sunny and high 60s), it was windy and cold on the boat ride over. But looking back at Helsinki, you got a better sense of the eclectic mix of architecture that makes up the city.
There was a small church in the middle. It was simple, but lovely, and while we were inside, the organ player came in to practice. It was nice sitting and listening to him play for awhile.
You can still enter some of the ruins. Some of the ceilings have stactites (stalagmites?) forming and coming down. It was cool and damp and echoey walking around in these - all that ruined fortresses should be.
Our walk soon led us back to the dock, and we decided to head back to Helsinki. But not before finding out that the Finnish are building an ark. Do they know something we don't?
We caught the right part of the wind on our trip back to Helsinki, and were able to enjoy the view much better.
After leaving the church, we walked outside and heard music. After realizing it was not theme music for our random trip that we both imagined, we walked back towards the front of the church to find a full on dance recital in the square below.
As we wandered around the rest of the city, we had a brush with the items that are listed in the book for Helsinki. They're a bit abstract and not as much a "thing" as a concept (how modern), so I've tried summarising both below.
We spent the rest of the late afternoon (I should say early evening, it was about 8pm by this point) wandering in different areas of the city. While we were really good at taking 8 billion pictures of Helsinki, we were terrible at taking pictures of each other. Here are a couple gems of Nic I was able to snap while we wandered.
We observed several bits of Finnish life while we walked, including a fashion gala and the youth of Helsinki having a party on the front lawn of a church (apparently, this is where the kids go to party). We wandered and stopped for a drink at Bar Llamas (who could resist that name), where I enjoyed a beer and the far reach of New Jersey manufacturing. Inside this bar, instead of stools, they had swings.
The squares throughout Helsinki made the city so pretty. And most of the locals seemed to appreciate it. They'd sit in the squares with a bottle of wine just basking in the sun and chatting.
Inside, all the locals were enraptured by the World Ice Hockey game on TV. Then, during a break in the game, two old Finnish men approached the back of the ship to start playing music. They tackled everything from the Doors to Van Morrison.
At the hotel, we asked the front desk if they had any recommendations for a good, authentic Finnish meal. The lady recommended a place that we couldn't pronounce, nor could we pronounce the street it was on. We set off on quite a journey to find it and eventually made it. The interior was made of wood from trees in all parts of Finland and the waiters all wore lederhosen. It was really crowded, but they made room for us.
The table next to us contained about 15 very intoxicated Russians that were all celebrating the win of their hockey team that day. They kept demanding more vodka (fulfilling all stereotypes), and when the waiters decided to cut them off and give them water, they were not happy. The waiters took it in the utmost stride and explained that the water was actually "Finnish vodka" and that if they wanted more "Russian vodka", they should go to a bar down the street. They drunkenly left the restaurant and said they would be BACK if they found no bar, to which the waitress politely smiled, waved, and said, "I promise you won't miss it". I don't know where she sent them to, but it was a genius way to get them out.
Our food was incredible. When our starter of local Finnish foods came out, they asked if we'd like some schnaps. Without really knowing what it was, we just said "yes". A few minutes later, while conversing across the table, a mini-wooden ski holding two shot glasses slid right in between our noses. Nic immediately fell in love with the ski, particularly its purpose, and will be on the hunt until he finds one of his own. The shots tasted like ice, ice cold vodka, and while it was supposed to accompany and enhance the flavor of our starters...it still just tasted like cold vodka.
After leaving the restaurant, we wandered around the city at night, taking some photos and admiring the bright sky (it never got old that the midnight sky looked like this).
Then we went back to the hotel to finish off the night in the hotel bar with some wine and some very drunken hockey fans. The people watching was amazing.
The next morning, we had no real agenda except to see more of the city. We started with "our church", which I should correctly identify as the Uspenski Cathedral. Unbeknownst to us, behind the church was a large, beautiful tulip garden that we completely missed on all our evening photo shoots.
After our day of wandering, we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head to the airport. On our way, while saying goodbye to this lovely and unique city, we had one more ridiculous experience as we passed another large group of hockey fans chanting away.
It was a whirlwind weekend with less that 48 hours in Helsinki. And it could not have been more perfect. The weather was amazing, the Finnish were incredibly friendly, and I couldn't have had better company.
When: May 18-20, 2012
With: Nic
With Dave being in New York for a weekend, and there being limited weekends before Nic headed back to the US, Nic and I decided a weekend trip was very necessary. As the week leading up to the weekend continued and we hadn't planned anything, we assumed the trip would be a small one, perhaps even just a daytrip. But showing a rare impulsiveness not normal in either of us, at 11:30pm on Thursday night, we booked ourselves a trip to the cheapest locale we could find that neither of us had ever been to: Helsinki, Finland. And we would be leaving 20 hours later.
Trust me, I was just as confused by this impulse as you probably are. Why Helsinki? I don't know. My travel companion had the same sentiment, as when we met on the train to the airport the afternoon after our booking, we both had the same "what the hell are we doing?" expression on our faces.
However, after hitting up free drinks in the fantastic lounge at Heathrow (thank you Nic, for introducing me the world of airport lounges) and many a teeny bottle of wine on the plane, we relaxed into our trip and just laughed at how ridiculous the whole situation was.
When we landed at 11pm in Helsinki, it was still incredibly bright out. With one month until the summer solstice, and being this far north, the sky wouldn't be dark again until sometime in September.
We left the airport and hopped on a bus that took us right into downtown Helsinki. The atmosphere in the center of town was electric. Even at midnight, the streets were buzzing with activity. The city was like a hybrid between an old European city and a Nordic harbor town, with domed Byzantine-style churchs dotting the horizon. Our hotel was a little outside of things, and we took the long way to walk there, but that just gave us the chance to explore the night life.
Our hotel was so...different. It was in an industrial section of the city with lots of warehouses around. Even the hotel looked like an old warehouse. But now, it is a super modern, with lots of fresh wood and metallic designs, all with a nautical twist - a perfect example of the Helsinki way.
We decided to venture out after dropping off our bags for a night time photo shoot. The main item that caught our attention was an old church located right smack in the middle of all the warehouses, just adding to the whole architectural mystique.
From the top of the hill the church sat on, we could see the whole of Helsinki below us. As odd as it sounds, we were both mildly obsessed with this view and the smoke stack on the horizon. We were also obsessed with the fact that it was about 2am when we took this photo, even though the sun looks ready to rise.
The night life in our area was pretty much done by the time we finished taking photos, so we decided to catch a good night sleep to prepare for our Helsinki weekend.
The next morning, we woke up to have a lovely breakfast in our hotel. Afterwards, we set out to see the city we knew absolutely nothing about.
The first site we came upon when we approached the city center was a giant market in the middle of their main square, just on the water. Everything from local produce to touristy gimmicks were being sold. While Nic was seconds away from purchasing himself a giant, new fur hat, we decided to go a simpler route and simply purchase a giant bag of cherries and blueberries to snack on as we wandered.
While the weather was beautiful (sunny and high 60s), it was windy and cold on the boat ride over. But looking back at Helsinki, you got a better sense of the eclectic mix of architecture that makes up the city.
On the island was a complete mix of unique architecture, ruins, and sites.
There was a small church in the middle. It was simple, but lovely, and while we were inside, the organ player came in to practice. It was nice sitting and listening to him play for awhile.
As we continued to journey around the island, we started approaching the actual fortress, now covered all over with grass.
You can still enter some of the ruins. Some of the ceilings have stactites (stalagmites?) forming and coming down. It was cool and damp and echoey walking around in these - all that ruined fortresses should be.
The island had lots of beautiful area to just relax and enjoy the weather in as well.
We decided to sit and bask in the sun for a short while (we haven't gotten much of that in England, and it's funny we have to come to Scandinavia to do it). While sitting there, we watched this little boy running around picking flowers. After collecting an appropriately sized bouquet, he very proudly ran up to his mother and presented the flowers to her - absolutely precious.
When we decided to get moving again, we followed a pathway that led around the perimeter of the island. From here, we could see the Helsinki skyline, Finnish islands (that we pondered conquering), and transport ships coming in from Estonia.
Our walk soon led us back to the dock, and we decided to head back to Helsinki. But not before finding out that the Finnish are building an ark. Do they know something we don't?
We caught the right part of the wind on our trip back to Helsinki, and were able to enjoy the view much better.
After getting back to the city, we decided to have some lunch. The cafes on the main street all had tables outdoors and just like Paris, all the seats were facing out towards the street to ensure everyone there can enjoy people watching. We took a seat and watched the locals go about their business, tourists wandering around taking photos, and cruise ships slowly lumbering into and out of the port. The World Ice Hockey championships were also going on, so our relaxing afternoon in the sun was occasionally pierced by the yells of large men chanting their countries name in a Slavic language of some sort.
After a completely relaxing lunch, we continued our touristy ways. We headed up toward the Helsinki Cathedral.
Doing as the locals do, we climbed up the steps of the cathedral to do some more sitting and people watching. My favorite person to watch? The man making crepes on a sterno at the bottom of the stairs.
Inside the church, it looked like you were in Virginia as opposed to Helsinki. The inside was all white washed walls, domed roofs and of course, a very large organ.
After leaving the church, we walked outside and heard music. After realizing it was not theme music for our random trip that we both imagined, we walked back towards the front of the church to find a full on dance recital in the square below.
After each performance, the dancers would jump into a rent-a-van for a costume change before the next number.
This was one of their weirder ones. I think it was supposed to be a modern twist on a classical piece, but it did not work
As we wandered around the rest of the city, we had a brush with the items that are listed in the book for Helsinki. They're a bit abstract and not as much a "thing" as a concept (how modern), so I've tried summarising both below.
We spent the rest of the late afternoon (I should say early evening, it was about 8pm by this point) wandering in different areas of the city. While we were really good at taking 8 billion pictures of Helsinki, we were terrible at taking pictures of each other. Here are a couple gems of Nic I was able to snap while we wandered.
We observed several bits of Finnish life while we walked, including a fashion gala and the youth of Helsinki having a party on the front lawn of a church (apparently, this is where the kids go to party). We wandered and stopped for a drink at Bar Llamas (who could resist that name), where I enjoyed a beer and the far reach of New Jersey manufacturing. Inside this bar, instead of stools, they had swings.
The squares throughout Helsinki made the city so pretty. And most of the locals seemed to appreciate it. They'd sit in the squares with a bottle of wine just basking in the sun and chatting.
We started meandering back towards our hotel to freshen up for the night before going out for dinner. On our way back though, we realised that this large red boat moored by our hotel was actually a bar (reminds me of the Frying Pan!)
Inside, all the locals were enraptured by the World Ice Hockey game on TV. Then, during a break in the game, two old Finnish men approached the back of the ship to start playing music. They tackled everything from the Doors to Van Morrison.
At the hotel, we asked the front desk if they had any recommendations for a good, authentic Finnish meal. The lady recommended a place that we couldn't pronounce, nor could we pronounce the street it was on. We set off on quite a journey to find it and eventually made it. The interior was made of wood from trees in all parts of Finland and the waiters all wore lederhosen. It was really crowded, but they made room for us.
The table next to us contained about 15 very intoxicated Russians that were all celebrating the win of their hockey team that day. They kept demanding more vodka (fulfilling all stereotypes), and when the waiters decided to cut them off and give them water, they were not happy. The waiters took it in the utmost stride and explained that the water was actually "Finnish vodka" and that if they wanted more "Russian vodka", they should go to a bar down the street. They drunkenly left the restaurant and said they would be BACK if they found no bar, to which the waitress politely smiled, waved, and said, "I promise you won't miss it". I don't know where she sent them to, but it was a genius way to get them out.
Our food was incredible. When our starter of local Finnish foods came out, they asked if we'd like some schnaps. Without really knowing what it was, we just said "yes". A few minutes later, while conversing across the table, a mini-wooden ski holding two shot glasses slid right in between our noses. Nic immediately fell in love with the ski, particularly its purpose, and will be on the hunt until he finds one of his own. The shots tasted like ice, ice cold vodka, and while it was supposed to accompany and enhance the flavor of our starters...it still just tasted like cold vodka.
After leaving the restaurant, we wandered around the city at night, taking some photos and admiring the bright sky (it never got old that the midnight sky looked like this).
As we did the night before, we went to "our church" with our cameras for another 2am night time photo shoot.
Then we went back to the hotel to finish off the night in the hotel bar with some wine and some very drunken hockey fans. The people watching was amazing.
The next morning, we had no real agenda except to see more of the city. We started with "our church", which I should correctly identify as the Uspenski Cathedral. Unbeknownst to us, behind the church was a large, beautiful tulip garden that we completely missed on all our evening photo shoots.
And here is the cathedral by day. We went inside where they were actually in the middle of mass. I have never been to an Eastern Orthodox mass, but it was fascinating. There were no seats, everyone just stands in the middle of the room and while continuously making the sign of the cross, they make a bowing motion again and again. The inside was incredibly, incredibly ornate. It was so unique.
The rest of the day, we just kept wandering the city.
As we walked, I felt like the European/harbor town feel of Helsinki morphed a bit into the streets of San Francisco.
From a new vantage point on the harbor, we got a view of the Finnish ice breakers, the ships that can take you up to the North Pole.
After our day of wandering, we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head to the airport. On our way, while saying goodbye to this lovely and unique city, we had one more ridiculous experience as we passed another large group of hockey fans chanting away.
It was a whirlwind weekend with less that 48 hours in Helsinki. And it could not have been more perfect. The weather was amazing, the Finnish were incredibly friendly, and I couldn't have had better company.
No comments:
Post a Comment