Helsinki, Suomi

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Dec 21, 2005
Helsinki temp: -13C to -4C
Winter solstice… it all gets brighter from here on in.

Helsinki was COLD and it flurried a wee bit on the last day which pleased me! I spent the first day walking around the city with the highlight being Suomenlinna. Suomenlinna is an island fortress that also now houses approximately 800 Helsinki residents. One needs to take a 15 minute ferry to access the islands which are pedestrian friendly, quite interesting and lovely. As you can see from the photos it was a very frosty day as the temperature hovered around -11C. It was beautifully serene and quiet as there were less than 2 dozen tourists milling about the islands. I can imagine it being packed in the summer and it was nice to have the place to myself.
The Fins (incidentally Finland is known as Suomi to the Fins) are quite closed and difficult to engage in conversation. Once chatting however, they are friendly and helpful. I found the Scandinavians to be a lot like Canadians in many ways. The Fins are of course proud of their invention of the sauna and take the whole experience quite seriously. They are also ‘advertise’ that Santa lives in Lapland which is the northern part of the country. I pointed out to no avail that we’re quite sure he makes his home at the North Pole!
Helsinki houses almost 20% of Finland’s 5.5 million citizens and is a bit of a hodge podge of newer and older buildings. The centre, much like most European cities, is small with no buildings higher than a dozen stories. There is an efficient public transit system of trams, buses, trains and 1 metro line. Finland has two official languages… Finnish which is a derivative of Hungarian and Swedish which only 5% of the population counts as their mother tongue. Finland was ruled by Sweden for over 600 years which explains Swedish finding its way into the ‘official’ language status. It was then ruled by Russia until they successfully declared their independence in 1917 after the Russian revolution. There was a well documented war between the Fins and the Russians in 1939/1940 (commonly referred to as the ‘Winter War’) as Lenin sought to take over Finland. Finland, comparatively MUCH smaller than Russia was able to fend them off during the 105 day war. The Fins themselves refer to this as a 'miracle'!
I certainly do not regret my decision to visit Helsinki but I think a future visit must certainly include other parts of the country. So it’s off to St. Petersburg on the 7:42am train. The train station is a short walk from the hostel which is highly convenient. I am looking forward to busting through the iron curtain (ok, maybe it’s a cloth curtain now!) into mother Russia. Enjoy the week, Jason.

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Photos

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Ahhhhh, cold at last

Suomellina Island Fortress
Church the Russians built in late 1800s.

Suomellina Fortress
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming... just kidding.

Nokia thanks you for using your phone
Throw rocks here if you don't like your Nokia... otherwise, headquarters of most famous Finnish company

Silja 'Ferry'
This boat was huge and good fun

Comments

[magdalena]

say hello...
to my people...they are just a hop, skip and jump away...stay warm!

[Heli]

Alright, fair enough =)
Mercy! You know, we're hibernating! But, to make up for the dark times, we shine with the Sun the whole the summer ;) You better believe me, otherwise you have no choise but to see it for yourself =) Merry Christmas!

[m & p]

your mumma loves your photography. Now that you are in "somewhere completely new" we would strongly encourage you to try to remit your commentary on a more regular basis. I am finding myself searching the blog site on a daily basis and being disappointed on the days that its blank and positively jolted and thrilled when there is a new addition. Please give us a perspective on the cultural activities that you are attending. Great work j