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Published: April 11th 2007
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Railway Station
Rear of the railway station in Helsinki... very old looking and Russian 10c, fine
No expectations and no plans - Finland was an open book from the beginning. I knew little about Helsinki and my first encounter of a Finnish person was the Finnair hostesses saying ‘hey’ as I boarded the plane. Wow.. That’s really casual for an airline welcome, I was expecting a “welcome aboard.. blah blah blah”. Even the pilot came on the intercom and was like “hey…”. I thought Finnish people were just extremely laid back until I learnt that “hei” (pronounced: “hey”) means hello in Finnish. Wow.. Finland was cool and home to the ‘original’ hey - it was slightly weird having people say “hey” to you in a way that assumed you knew them.
Anyhow.. enough hey!
I was happy to be reunited with my bag at Helsinki airport. It spend a week in the south of Spain without me and smelt strangely like mildew.. in fact.. all my clothes in the bag did. Either I'd funny before I lost my bag or it had been sitting in the rain somewhere. I had it back and had the added hassle of a massive backpack and a wheelie bag (read: annoying as hell on public transport).
Great Leader
Massive horse tribute to a great leader of Finland who died in battle I caught the bus into Helsinki at 10pm where I met Marjut at the central railway station. I’d spoken to her on the web and she’d kindly offered to put me up at her shared apartment in downtown Helsinki. I didn’t know what to expect but I found Helsinki to be extremely friendly, safe and welcoming. I fumbled with my bags getting off the bus and had several people give me a hand. Marjut explained all things Finnish walking back to the apartment and told me how everyone felt extremely safe in Helsinki any time of day - even at 2am in the morning she said people would feel happy walking home. I didn’t believe it at first but was a true believer after a few days. Maybe it was just the very foreign looking buildings (half Swedish / half Russian kind of feel) that looked unfamilair at first. Marjut explained Finland was very independent, partly a result of Russia occupying Finland several times before being shoved out with help from Germany. Finland was very different to neighbour Sweden as well - the country had seen tough times in the past but Nokia had shown everyone that the Finns
Main Street
One of the main streets in Helsinki.. complete with trams (that's a plural for people from Adelaide!..haha) mean business. I didn't even know Nokia was Finnish?!?
I spent three days in Helsinki exploring by myself during the day and socialising with Finns at night. The apartment where I was staying was in the trendy ‘diplomat area’ where lots of embassy staff lived. There were 5 rooms and the apartment was like a giant house 4 levels above the ground, with an underground sauna for use of residents. Everyone in the apartment had their own alotted times where they could get their gear off and steam up the room. haha.. I was welcome though because I was a male. Ohh well.. Everyone seemed to live very well in Finland and I didn’t see any homeless people at all - completely different to Russia which is a few hours away. I thought someone was asking me for money and almost told them to get lost, until they switched to english and asked if I needed directions.. oppss.. No thanks. I did get harassed by WWF people dressed as pandas in the city centre (nothing changes).
I’ve learnt the best way to experience culture is through a local. Finland was no exception and asking a locals opinion on
Hmmm.. Could be Finnish for all I care
The guess game ends here.. I had no idea what that said but kept walking activities / dining is the best thing you can do. I wanted to experience a typical ‘Finnish spa’. Marjut told me there was one in town and explained the process of swimming without clothes. I didn't wanna go "eewww naked" but I wasn't keen on swimming in my birthday suit. The sessions were seperate male / female, it's all very very above board but in my highly ‘British’ based values you swim with clothes on! I was assured by Marjut that in Finland it happens all the time and ‘normal people’ do it on a regular basis.. after all.. who’s looking?!? Not me that’s for sure, I found the idea of wearing speedos off putting!! I decided to wear my boardshorts and 'test the water', after all it wasn't a rule you had to be naked. I surveyed the surrounds - yep, NO ONE was wearing shorts. I couldn't back out after paying now but I wanted to run away. Damn. Uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.. I did what any self respecting Aussie would do: I strategically walked around and went for a swim…. Quickly.. very quickly.. Strangely there was no ‘relaxing nature’ of a traditional spa as Lonely Planet
Welcome to HEL
My bag is going to HEL (that's short for Helsinki) had described. I’d experienced enough culture and felt it unfair that girls “usually never get naked in spas, it’s just for guys” according to Marjut. Talk about sexist.
After Fear Factor - Helsinki Spa, I visited the local modern art gallery and realised why I don’t visit art galleries. I’m sure some people are inspired by paintings that resemble the bathroom floor after a big night out, but sadly I’m not one of them. I took my cultural awareness activities to a more comfortable surrounding - the local bar. Marjut had invited her friends and flat mate to party with the ‘crazy aussie’. After my unusual first day I expected the Finnish nightlife to be the same, but it was surprisingly better. We spent the night chatting about all things Finnish and Australia (that’s me) ended up being beat by Finland in pool.. d’oh! Finland is the only country I’ve been to where you can rent a pool table for $2 an hour.. Strangely every country also has different rules for pool, it’s hard to get used to anything travelling…Bars in Finland are very cheap and most have massive lounge chairs that are perfect for falling asleep if you’ve
Reunion
Reunited with my bag that smells strangely odd.. yes mum.. I checked!! I'm not going to jail like Schapelle Corby (there are no drugs). had too much to drink. Marjut’s friend Anna was doing a thesis on how Finnish humour is most similar to Aussie humour, Finnish people laugh at themselves and make jokes about themselves.. as opposed to most European nations where ‘paying yourself out’ just isn’t cool. Wow.. Australia and Finland do have something in common. I met a lot of cool people in Helsinki and once again was getting frustrated with getting to know people and than leaving..
I enjoyed walking around Helsinki, it was an easy city to navigate and felt different to anywhere I’d been. Finnish people were always welcoming and felt happy you’d decided to visit their part of the world. They also have their own version of Aussie Meat pies, except they are a little different in shape and have rice included (along with the meat). It was cool walking around saying ‘hey’ to everyone. The culture was very very different but at the same time very similar, Finnish people seemed to ‘get’ Australians and my stupid jokes made some sense (they never make full sense anyway). Like Denmark there were a lot of bikes getting around and they had dedicated bike lanes - I thought
Main Square
A building near the main square in Finland they were pedestrian lanes until someone said ‘H-E-Y!’ (an angry version) on their bike and almost ran over me.
I had no idea of what to expect in Finland but I was pleasantly surprised. It was great to get tips from a local and better to be shown the local attractions / hang outs. Thanks Marjut and friends!
On to Amsterdam where the ‘attractions’ are well know…..
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Mikko
non-member comment
about photos 1 & 4
Hi, nice to hear that you had a pleasant visit in Finland. I just want to point out that the first picture is not the Helsinki railway station. The building is actually the main building of the national theatre of Finland (they're quite close to each other). This is a picture of the railway station http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Helsinki_Railway_Station_20050604.jpg And on picture 4 there's a "no parking zone" except for diplomats