The land of snow, churches, ice-hockey and VODKA

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A few people told me that you only really visit Helsinki if you know people there. I don't know why they say this, I found it to be a beautiful city! Especially as it was still covered in snow, I feel it adds beauty and romance to it 😊
I love that they have trams (much like the green and yellow Melbourne trams), you can walk everywhere, there aren't herds of people getting in your way and they have the best lollies/sweets/candy EVER!!

Monja and Linn (and Monja's lil bro who picked us up) met me at the airport around 8pm (when I had told them I was flying in at 6pm, whoops! luckily they checked the times, and didn't wait around all that time) and we headed to Monja's cosy lil flat right near the centre of town. It was SOOOOOOOOOOO good to see them both! It's been over a year since the three of us (amongst other amazing friends) met in Montezuma, Costa Rica, it was so wonderful to be reunited again! We headed to a bar for a couple of beers and a catch up, but were soon all ready for bed...

The next morning we headed to breakfast with Monja's flatmate, Salla (who is a super star, so much fun) and her sister Henna, and boyf Simon (aka Trippa, who is actually from Jan Juc, and knows some cats I know, such a small world). We filled up on all you can eat delicious fresh produce and then did a lil sight seeing. Funny thing was Simon, who had only lived there for a year, knew more about the city/country than the three girls who lived there their whole lives!! We visited three churches which were all very unique (they are described in the photos) and drove around town, while Simon pointed out this and that.
It was a beautiful day and according to Simon and Salla perfect for snowboarding... Arhhhhhhhhhhh, snowboarding in Europe!! You can imagine how excited I was?! The rest of the crew were all too tired, so the three of us hit up Talma, about an hours drive out of the city! We rode for about 2hrs. So much fun! I haven't ridden for a couple of yrs, but managed to pick it back up pretty quickly, though I struggled with the pommper 😊 My boots were a bit tight so I sat a couple of times and just enjoyed watching people mastering their tricks.
When I got back to the flat I had about 10mins to change before Linn, Monja and I booted off to an ice-hockey game with her bro and one of his friends. I just LOVE watching ice-hockey. It's my fave sport to watch live (though to be honest the game we saw had nothing on the game I saw with Blair in Canada a few yrs ago). The whole atmosphere is so exciting; the music, cheerleaders, cheer squads, it's a buzz!!
We then went out for some pretty serious Finish drinking!! Arhhhhh the vodka! mmmmmmmmm!! Was such a FAB first day/night in Finland!

The next morning poor Monja had to work, Linn and I felt a bit shabby, but we eventually got moving and walked around town. Checking out record stores, lolly shops and the main town. We dropped into the bar we were at the night b4 as I thought I had lost my glasses there... we ended up finding them hiding behind Monja's laptop at her flat (which btw we had been using that morning, ha!!).

When Monja came home from work we had a few rum n dry gingers (for old time sake, was our fave drink in Monte) and then did some bar hopping, starting at an Aussie bar of all places. We met lots of Monja's friends who were just lovely and lots of fun!

Our time together was so super special! It really is amazing the friendships you make travelling. We have such wonderful memories and will remain friends forever!!

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Photos

Temppeliaukio
The Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church) is a thrilling work of modern architecture in Helsinki. Completed in 1952, it is built entirely underground and has a ceiling made of copper wire.

Temppeliaukio
Just amazing!

Salla and Simon (aka Trippa)
Making my board goofy