After Boston's lack of winter we decided to go somewhere we could be sure of finding snow, ice and a temperature a lot lower than what is normal for us. Arriving in Helsinki in the dark was a whole new experience and challenge, not only did we need to navigate the unknown streets in the dark, we had to remain upright on the VERY slippery and icy streets! Having made it to our hotel in one piece, we decided to risk the streets once more without any luggage to see what was around us and find somewhere to have supper, this outing did not last too long before we decided that the hotel restaurant was a really good idea. |
Daylight and time to start the real exploration and adventure and what better place to start than the most important square with the most imposing buildings. Senate Square, with its design based on St Petersburg's Square, is said to be the centre of the entire nation and is surrounded by a number of government buildings. Most impressive of all is the Helsinki Cathedral, built in the early 1800's. We spent quite some time looking at it from every angle, climbing the stairs to its entrance, walking around it and generally being really impressed by it.
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From there we wandered through some of the slippery side streets and along snowy paths making our way to another very impressive building, the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral.
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Then it was off to the harbour to the local ferry and our biggest treat of all, a ferry ride to the fortress island of Suomenlinna on a frozen sea!!! Regardless of the fact that it was FREEZING cold on the top outdoor deck, the only thing that got us down was arrival at the island. We spent a few hours wandering and slipping around the island roads and paths and Annie even got to ride a rocking horse in a snow park. Amazingly enough, even in this weather, the Finn's still ride their bicycles around the city and island, didn't know there were cycle-ice-chains! |
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The ferry ride back to Helsinki was equally impressive and cold but still spent on the open top deck admiring the views of the approaching city with the crisp blue sky as a backdrop. After all this excitement it was time for coffee which we found in a really interesting indoor market alongside the harbour. Housed in this market was every type of food from fish to liquorice and everything in between accompanied by the wonderful aromas that they produced.
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The next day was a day of rain, sleet and snow so we decided to take in some indoor sights. We started off with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art and then moved on to the "Museums" of Finnish Design, sometimes known as shops. Helsinki has a few different areas of shopping so we bought a day travel-card for the trams and visited a few of them. Something we found quite intriguing and amusing was that no matter what sort of a food shop, whether a coffee-shop, fast-food outlet, shopping centre or supermarket, you could always buy beer and pick-n-mix sweets! The Finnish seem to have a strange need for both of these and yet we did not see any obese or many drunk people while we were there! The most upmarket area is that surrounding the luxurious Hotel Kamp so we visited a few of the design shops in this area and were VERY careful not to touch anything for fear of breaking any of these masterpieces, it really was like being in a design museum. We spent the rest of the day taking tram-rides to different areas to explore and then spent some time on a circular ride of the entire city. We ended the day by taking the short ferry ride back to Suomenlinna Island to have a beer in the brewery-pub with views of the snow, ice and sea outside.
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Our last day was another gloriously sunny crisply-cold day so we left our bags at the hotel and went off on another adventure. This time we went to the area around the impressive Olympic Stadium. The stadium was built to hold the 1940 Olympic Games but these were cancelled due to World War II breaking out the previous year. Helsinki was later awarded the 1952 Olympic Games when the legendry Finnish runner, Paavo Nurmentie, carried the Olympic Torch into the stadium. We went up to the top of the 72 metre high tower to admire the views of the stadium and of Helsinki and then went for a walk in the forest behind the stadium. What fun, we got to play in fresh snow and threw a few snowballs at each other.
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As with all holidays, the time came to go home. We left Helsinki all the richer for our experiences and hopefully not the last time we will see this city. I have remarked a number of times since how, even in the rain, sleet, snow and ice, all of the transport still manages to work and be on time, a lot of other cities could learn a lot from Helsinki!
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Then it was off to the harbour to the local ferry and our biggest treat of all, a ferry ride to the fortress island of Suomenlinna on a frozen sea!!! Regardless of the fact that it was FREEZING cold on the top outdoor deck, the only thing that got us down was arrival at the island. We spent a few hours wandering and slipping around the island roads and paths and Annie even got to ride a rocking horse in a snow park. Amazingly enough, even in this weather, the Finn's still ride their bicycles around the city and island, didn't know there were cycle-ice-chains!
