Advertisement
So, I just finished cleaning seagull excrement from my hair. Apparently it’s good luck. Still not convinced about that one, but I’ll get back to that later.
Today we decided to leave Estonia on a speedboat for the 90 minute journey to the capital of Finland, Helsinki. I can’t really say I had many expectations prior to going. In fact, it was just kind of one of those side-trips you feel that you should take because of curiosity, because it’s so close, and because you never know if you’ll have the chance again.
Suffice to say, I planned for this outing about as poorly as ever. I booked the tickets’ arrival/departure info backwards. I remembered our passports as we were walking out the door, forgetting we were leaving the country (only to be reminded we were still within EU confines and did not need them). I never really looked up a list of things to see and do once we arrived or brought a map.
As we only had 5.5 hours on Finnish soil, we set off in the direction of some important looking cathedrals in the historic centre; one Orthodox, the other Lutheran. Aside from those two
buildings, the rest of the architecture (in the historic centre, at least) is rather non-descript; at least as older European capitals go.
So we decided to head back to the market square where vendors peddle handicrafts, souvenirs, and serve up some typical local fare. After snacking on a plate of salmon paella and salmon chowder (catching a theme here?), we just relaxed with a couple Finnish beers and people watched. It’s a bizarre scene there in the harbor area. Every couple of minutes, someone searches in the trash cans for something to recycle, or maybe comes up to you asking for your beer bottle (finished or not). Seagulls relentlessly attempt to poach food from unsuspecting diners or worse, attack them from above with their post-processed snacks. I found out the hard way when I got up to toss our empty plates and got tagged in the forehead/sunglasses/shirt. Awesome. I thought I had cleaned up sufficiently until several hours later when I looked in a mirror and noticed my hair was similar to the “Something About Mary” style. And that wasn’t hair gel.
Anyways, after that, we took a cruise around the archipelago to explore a bit more of
Helsinki, but honestly, I was hoping for more. That left us with about an hour before departure, so we wandered down to an esplanade where the locals were basking in the warm summer sun, listening to music, and taking life a much slower pace. We found a place on a park bench and pulled out our books. In no time, I found myself nodding off, completely content to do absolutely nothing.
For me, that served as a nice reminder that 1) you don’t always need a solid game plan when traveling, and 2) not every location is going to be an amazing new discovery. If in doubt on what to do, check out the ‘must-sees’, force yourself away from tourist traps, and look for the locals and what they like to do. It’s not rocket science, but on a quick visit like ours or a cruise stop, I think this is a solid approach.
But now, I’m back in Estonia, with a clean head of hair and looking forward to celebrating Uncle Sam’s birthday tomorrow with Tallinn’s finest. (BTW, will comment on Estonia after we leave later this week).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0489s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb