At Finland border control, I was subjected to the usual we-think-you-want-to-illegally-settle-in-our-country questions.
“How many days are you here for?”
“When will you leave Finland?”
“Where do you live?”
“What do you do?”
“Where all are you travelling to?”
When I told her, her reaction was a suspicious “Are you travelling alone?” as if to say that no person in their right mind should be travelling without company.
Anyway, since my visa was in order (more about that in my Lithuania post), she let me in.
Despite the fact that I was not expecting too much out of Helsinki, my first impression was a nice one (I’m not talking about the lady at the immigration counter!). Oldish looking trams crisscrossing the town added a certain old-world charm to the city. For those interested in history, Helsinki was established by a Swedish King in the 1550s to rival the city of Tallinn. All signs are in Finnish and Swedish (Helsingfors is the Swedish name of Helsinki).
Unfortunately, I carried Scottish weather with me and the first evening I was there, I had to endure heavy rainfall and spend the evening in my hotel room sulking. There was another reason for my sulking - on the way from the Airport I could see the Helsinkians heading somewhere en masse. After a few enquiries, I found out that U2 was playing a gig that evening. I cursed myself for not having been pucca in my “What’s on in town?” research.
Dejected I went to bed. Next morning, the sun was out so that cheered me up a bit and after a nice heavy breakfast, I went about exploring the city. In front of a hotel near mine, I noticed cars with darkened windows and a truck being loaded. Most of the stuff being loaded onto the truck had “U2” written on it in large letters. And a crowd was beginning to collect. Not having anything worthwhile to do (apart from exploring Helsinki) I decided to hang on. Ten-fifteen minutes later Adam Clayton casually walked out and started giving autographs. Most of the others seemed to be serious celebrity spotters and had autograph books or concert tickets or CDs to get autographs on. Not wanting to be left out of the autograph hunt, I also took out my notebook and a couple of minutes later I was the proud owner of an Adam Clayton autograph. Suddenly everyone started shrieking and there was Bono! Through his trademark sunglasses (apparently he has some eye condition which makes his eyes sensitive to light) he looked at the crowd and very graciously made a gesture as if to say “Oh you people! You shouldn’t have waited for me”. That floored everyone – he then started to shake hands with everybody. I can proudly report that I was also the recipient of the Bono handshake, albeit a brief one! This more than made up my disappointment at not having attended the concert the previous evening.
With a big grin on my face, I then started my exploration of Helsinki.
Helsinki is a serious mix of parks, water, cathedrals, old trams, and modern design. My first stops were the Helsinki Cathedral (totally awash in white) and the Uspenski Cathedral (with its golden onion domes). I spent a fair bit of time at Kauppatori (Market square) where there were wee stalls selling local delicacies including all sorts of reindeer meat concoctions (ugh?). Esplanadi is another great place to spend one’s time – in summer every evening a concert takes place in the open air pavilion in the park there.
My favourite tourist-trap in the city was the Temppeliaukio (Temple in the Rock), a church carved out of solid rock. There was a very nice piano recital on when I was there - since the rock walls are exposed, the church has excellent acoustics and is a frequent venue for musical concerts. Another place I liked was the Olympic Stadium, where the ’52 Olympics were held (also the location for the U2 concert – grrrrr!). The stadium was built for the 1940 Olympics (which were never held – due to Hitler’s antics) but were finally used in 1952. Outside is a grand statue of Paavo Nurmi (the most famous Finn), who carried the Olympic torch into the stadium.
I had my obligatory Indian meal at Namaskar – I settled for a vegetarian thali, which was not half as good as the Kingfisher beer.
I also took the 15-minute ferry ride from Helsinki to get to the island fortress at Suomenlinna. It was built by the Swedes in the 1840s to scare off the Russians. There are numerous walking and cycling paths that can take up an entire day. There is also a WWI Finnish submarine on display – one can explore the insides of this submarine – I, however, forwent that opportunity to settle for a nice Pizza at the local Pizzeria.
From Helsinki, I also visited the town of Porvoo (apparently, the second oldest town in Finland). It is a nice quaint place alongside a river with medieval wooden houses. The town skyline is dominated by a 13th century Cathedral which was recently renovated as it had burnt down in 2006 thanks to a careless person who left a burning cigarette in the wrong place. Porvoo is famed for its numerous crafts and artisan shops. Not having much shopping to do, I plonked myself in the main square with a nice ice-cream and my book.
That ended my brief sojourn in Helsinki. Next stop: St. Petersburg.
PS: One big change which I noticed from the UK was that pedestrians patiently waited for the traffic lights to turn green before crossing the street.
