Blogs from Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland, Europe

Nous dormirons ici deux nuits... car arrivant en début d'après midi, on préfère se reposer un peu, mettre un peu d'ordre dans Pollux car déménager tous les jours n'est pas de tout repos et tout ne se fait pas toujours dans les règles de l'art à tout point de vue... Il faut aussi penser à se cultiver et donc visiter... Nous avons eu tellement de difficultés à trouver notre route vers le camping à cause des nombreux travaux dans la ville qu'heureusement nous avons à deux pas de la réception du camping un transport en commun qui existe !!! A Helsinki, il est facile de se déplacer en transports en commun. Les tramways, les métros et les bus sont fiables et appréciés par la population et leur réseau s'étend dans toute la ville. Presque les deux ... read more

One of my favourite childhood jokes has always been: Q-Where are people not fat? A-Finland! As we have spent a fair number of days in all the other Scandinavian countries, we thought it was about time to add to the one day that we spent in Finland (which was back in 2008). Having secured ourselves a reasonable deal at a mid-range chain hotel, we will be setting off towards the end of May to spend five days and nights in the Finnish capital, Helsinki. The evenings will be light until 11pm, the language will be unpronounceable, the food will consist of berries and reindeer and should I get enough time after being in the sauna each day, further reports will follow. First impressions. Well, not that many first impressions because we have only been here a ... read more

Does overflowing boulevards and backstreets filled with magnificent architecture, intriguing drinking and dining venues, featuring groundbreaking designs interest you as a visitor to a new location? Then Finland’s capital city of Helsinki should be on your latest bucket list. This is a country famed for its streamlined and functional designs with Helsinki being its creative hub. A Little Bit of History: following the end of the Ice Age, after the ice cover retreated, the first colonizers to this area arrived about 5,000 BC. Their presence has been documented by archeologists, but permanent settlements only appeared at the beginning of the 1st century AD. Vikings plundered these early settlements on a regular basis, closely followed by Christianized colonists from Sweden around the year 1,100 AD. Written chronicles dated 1417 AD mention Koskela village near ... read more

Wednesday 29thMay 2019 Hello from Helsinki After an early breakfast we made our way by taxi to Ferry Terminal D at the docks in Tallinn for the two-hour journey across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki has been on our list since that wonderful mid-summer in 2005 when we entered Finland from Sweden in the north in our motorhome and only managed to get as far south as Oulu. Time was the enemy then as ever and we promised to return one day and visit Helsinki. Getting around Helsinki is remarkably easy. A €3, two-hour ticket, took us by tram directly to our ‘hotel’, The Hellsten Senate, a fairly basic apartment complex with our own suite – lobby, large bedroom and bathroom, kitchen, lounge and diner with TV and really great value in this ... read more

Once we had again explained that to Barbara that this was a Baltic cruise and Helsinki was the capital of Finland and not somewhere in Japan, we headed off. We had planned to take the bus into the city but again at the last minute, madness prevailed and we decided to walk it. The walk was not too bad, only around 3km....it would have been 2 but we got lost. ooooh before we left we saw the Regal Princess pull into a berth alongside us. She is one of the huge Royal class ships in the princess fleet and she has the coolest air horn ever.... if any of you remember LOVEBOAT and the theme tune...she plays that whenever she is near or passing another Princess ship. I managed to catch it on video and it ... read more