A day in Helsinki

After a decent buffet breakfast at our hotel we walked along Esplanadi (‘the Esplanade’), a long thin park bordered by streets of elegant buildings. There was some interesting art on display for the Helsinki Biennial, including some ‘bug rugs’ wood carvings inspired by traditional Finnish and Kurdish rug designs and incorporating insect hotels.

I also spotted some colourful utility boxes along the way (and was to see many more during the day).

City tour

We arrived at Senaatintori, Senate Square, dominated by the cathedral which was unfortunately partly shrouded in scaffolding. I had booked a free city walking tour with Red Umbrella Tours and we were to meet our guide by the statue of Alexander II there. But before he turned up, we instead met Gillian and Sandra, two of our fellow passengers on the Ocean Explorer, who had booked the same tour!

Our guide was a young student called Stefan, and he started by promising that he wouldn't be telling us a lot of history, then spent 20 minutes doing just that! But it was interesting to learn how Finland had been part of Sweden for hundreds of years and later the Russian Empire. It had been granted some autonomy under Tsar Alexander II (hence the statue here). He had mandated that the capital be moved closer to the Russian capital, which in those days was St Petersburg, and that it be built in a similar architectural style. As I'd already likened the buildings in this square to that city I was pleased to have my first impressions confirmed. It was only in 1917 that the country gained its independence.

Stefan then set quite a fast pace, making it difficult to take photos other than at his stopping points. We saw the former Russian Orthodox cathedral, now Finnish Orthodox

Stefan also pointed out the controversial 1960s building nicknamed the Sugar Cube by locals. This was designed by Alvar Aalto and built from white Carrara marble, completed in 1962.

We learned about the Winter War during the winter of 1939/40, when the Soviet Union tried to reclaim Finland, leading to the latter sending all the babies in the country to safety in Sweden, some never to return. We also learned how, short of weapons, the Finns invented the Molotov Cocktail to fight back, which they did successfully. Stefan told us too how today there are thousands of shelters across the country, built to protect people from a nuclear attack. They have sports facilities (currently used in the winter) and enough space for everyone in the country including visitors.

We stopped at the edge of the Art Nouveau district. I would like to have seen more of it, but Stefan did at least point out a building decorated by artist Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins. I discovered with some later research that this was her childhood home. It’s possible Stefan mentioned this; he talked so much I’m sure I missed some things!

We walked past the harbour and through a fairly touristy-looking market, selling crafts and street food.

From there Stefan led us to the rather grand station, designed by Eliel Saarinen and opened in 1919. According to Wikipedia this was chosen as one of the world’s most beautiful railway stations by the BBC in 2013. The granite statues on either side of the main entrance are named Lyhdynkantajat (‘The Lantern Bearers’). They were designed by the sculptor Emil Wikström. Also according to Wikipedia, ‘the head of each of the statues weighs about 1500 kilograms, the chest weighs about 6000 kilograms, and each arm weighs about 2000 kilograms’.

Our final stop was at the very modern library, Oodi, opened in 2017. Stefan took us inside and explained about the wide range of resources and activities here. The tour then broke up and we tipped him for his time, as is the norm on such tours.

The library has a couple of refreshment options. Chris and I went to the café on the top floor where we got coffees and a snack. We then went out on the terrace to take photos of the view towards the parliament building.

We also spent a little time exploring the library, photographing some of the details and videoing the robot book carriers. I wouldn't have minded having one of them in my library assistant days!

Finlandiapuisto

We had decided to visit the Church of the Rock in the afternoon, as Gillian and Sandra had recommended. So we walked from the library through a park area, Finlandiapuisto, where lots of barnacle geese were grazing, and past some very pretty flowerbeds. The flowers had attracted lots of bees and butterflies which were lovely to see (and photograph!)

We passed a statue of Kyösti Kallio, the fourth president of Finland (1937 to 1940), who led the country through the Winter War described to us earlier by Stefan.

Our route took us through some quieter streets with elegant old buildings and some more colourful utility boxes.

Temppeliaukio

The Church of the Rock (Temppeliaukio) is set into the granite on which Helsinki is built. The entrance cost €8 each and was worth paying to see such an interesting building.

Again according to Wikipedia, ‘the interior was excavated and built directly out of solid rock and is bathed in natural light which enters through the skylight surrounding the centre copper dome’.

Kamppi

From the church we started to walk back towards the hotel. We passed the Natural History Museum with a large bear sculpture waving at us from the balcony!

We walked through the Kamppi district with its large modern shopping centre and rather beautiful Kamppi Chapel, also known as the Chapel of Silence. I was also struck by the Lasipalatsi Clock Tower and the surrounding dome-like area which seemed to be a popular spot for sitting and relaxing on this sunny day.

We stopped for a rather delicious berry smoothie in a pavement café near here. We had timed it well, as there was a very brief heavy shower as we sat under one of the café’s umbrellas.

We'd considered finding a restaurant serving Finnish food for dinner but there were none close to our hotel and rain was forecast so we didn’t feel we wanted to walk too far. Besides, we'd enjoyed last night’s meal at next-door Toscanini so much that a second one there seemed a good idea. It was busier tonight, but we got a table on the terrace. The temperature was quite pleasant for most of the evening though it got a bit cool later; however the promised rain didn't materialise. I had a lovely fresh mixed tomato salad with mozzarella and a creamy pesto dressing, nicely cooked sea bass, and tiramisu.

Tomato and mozzarella salad

When we got back to our room we did the bulk of our packing, ready for a prompt start for home in the morning.

Time to go home

The next morning we took a Bolt to the airport which we quite quiet, although we had a delay at security where they seemed to be pulling every other bag aside for manual checking, including Chris’s.

We got breakfast at a nice coffee shop and then went through passport control (also quiet) to sit at our gate for a bit. The memories of our previous departure from here all came back - the Christmas shop, Moomin cafe and more. But unlike that one, this flight left on time.

We had again pre-ordered meals and my reindeer and brie roll was excellent. The flight passed quite quickly and we landed at Heathrow twenty minutes early.

Everything went smoothly, the Piccadilly line was running (unlike on departure day) and we were home within an hour or so of touching down! Another fantastic trip was over, all too soon, but what special memories we had.