Helsinki (engl. edition) 🇫🇮

Finland Fun Fact #1:

It is the most northernly of continental European capitals.

Hei!

Dora and I spent a whole day in Helsinki yesterday (that's the capital of Finland, for anybody who's not that familiar with geography).

After a lot of troubles with the booking of the ferry tickets, we caught an early ferry at 7:30 to Helsinki. Funny story, all the ferries leave 15 minutes earlier than they are scheduled to leave. Eirini (Sarinas and my roommate) told us on the very first day that she missed a ferry not one but two times because it left earlier. So, Dora and I woke up at 5:30 and Dora made her way to me and we both made our way to the Terminal. We arrived with only a few minutes to spare, so lucky us didn't waste any worthy minutes of sleep.

Finland Fun Fact #2:

Helsinki was established as a trading town by King Gustav I of Sweden in 1550 as the town of Helsingfors, which he intended to be a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval (today known as Tallinn).

(pic by Dora)

On the ferry, we looked up the sights we wanted to visit and and noticed that there isn't really a lot to see in Helsinki. We made our way to the famous "white cathedral" first, since our Free Walking Tour was scheduled to start there. First impression of Helsinki: Sunny, not many garbage cans and not a lot of people on the streets. The white cathedral was impressive. In front of it is a huge, open square (with only a monument of a guy on it, but seriously, who pays attention to that?) that basically paves the way for the imposing and massive cathedral. It is seriously remarkable, and I dare to say that I'd count it to the most beautiful churches I have seen in my life (and I have seen many).

ILLUMINATI IS REAAAL

We waited on the steps in front of the cathedral for the tour to start and were soon overwhelmed by the masses of people that seemed to swarm to the guides from everywhere. Thankfully, they divided us into a spanish tour (held by a british guy) and two english tours (ours was held by a girl from Barcelona). I don't know if there was a mix up in the languages, but obviously hosting tours for tourists is a good way to brush up one's language skills. We started walking around town and we soon learned that almost every building was built by the same guy: Carl Friedrich Engel. The tour guide basically said that whenever we see a yellowish building in Helsinki thats about three to four stories high, the probability of it being build by Engel lies by 99%. We soon found that to be true.

inside of the public library (pic by Dora)

typical Engel-building, Trump and Putin met here last year

the unimportant monument on the square from behind

Since all the major sights were in walking distance, we finished the tour after two hours at the "Champs-Élysèes" of Helsinki - the esplanade. We were told to leave a recommendation on TripAdvisor for the Green Cap Tours and our guide Sara, if we had a good time. However, we should forget her name, if we thought that the tour sucked. Reminder for myself: Forget her name as soon as possible. Just kidding, the tour was fun and the TripAdvisor recommendation is still on my To-Do list. Dora and I hurried to grab a bite at Hesburger (which struck us as the cheapest option for lunch in a capital that is just f**** expensive) and power-strolled through the market hall and the market square, where we purchased some souvenirs. (Mostly for ourselves, so don't get too excited).

inside of the market hall

Happy Selfie in front of the cathedral

view of Helsinkis skyline

Finland Fun Fact #3:

Finns are the unquestioned champions of sauna - they have over 3 million of them, which is more than one sauna for every other citizen.

We made our way to the Uspenski-Cathedral, which is an orthodox church and the "main" sight for all the Russian visitors. Sure enough, we crossed paths with some Russian visitors on the way there.

After that, we planned on casually strolling to the Central Library Oodi and were rudely delayed by a protest happening on the square in front of the white cathedral. Where just hours before only a few tourists ran about taking pictures, but mostly selfies, three huge posters were stretched out over almost the entire length of the steps. Hundreds of people were gathered on the square and even more were headed towards the protest. Dora and I watched for a little while but as our Finnish is a little bit rusty, and we had heard enough strange sounds, we decided to continue our quest to the library (which was recommended to me by Rebecca in awe, by the way).

So we arrived at the library, which was only opened in December 2018 and wow. This is not a library, but some kind of general meeting place for Finns and tourists alike. Personally however, I wouldn't be able to study there because the noise level is far from library-appropriate and there are just too many people walking around staring at everything (yeah, Dora and I enthusiastically took part in the staring). Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures inside because I felt uncomfortable with taking pictures of so many people, but you guys should definitely google it! Our tour guide told us that she thinks that the reason why Finns put so much effort in building recreational spaces is that the winters in Finland can be really long and harsh, and in order to prevent Finns from staying holed up at home not talking to anybody, they try to provide spaces where Finns can socialize and spend time with others (which is a great idea in my opinion!).

The stairs inside (picture by Dora)

Corner on the right (pic by Dora)

We then headed to the Temppeliaukion Kirkko, a famous church that is build in stone. It is very beautiful inside, but our faith in humanity was destroyed a little bit as we beheld the guy that took pictures of his (supposedly) girlfriend in front of the organ (dt. Orgel). What the hell?!?!?! 

Anyways, we enjoyed our time and headed to a cute café called "Andante" that offered Vienna-priced coffee.

I have to mention at this point - proudly - that my orientation skills were outstanding during this day! I knew where we were and which direction the terminal, churches etc. were at any time during the day (in contrast to Pärnu, where we were basically standing in front of the hostel and I would've still walked straight and turned left after two blocks). After leaving the café however, my orientation lacked a little but Dora took over with her google maps and we safely arrived at the Ferry Terminal.

Finland Fun Fact #4:

As one if the hardest languages to learn, Finnish uses compound words, meaning words which are combined into one rather whan written out individually. This has given birth to one of the longest words in the world at 61 letters, lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas, which means 'airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officers student'. It is not used very often!

The ride back was relatively quiet, except for Dora kicking my butt when we played Schnapsen (don't know the English word lol). Mom, you taught me well, but I am very, very sorry to tell you that I forgot a lot. I need all the tactical tips again... (Be prepared for a rematch Dora!!)

Overall statistics (according to my phone, so I don't know how trustworthy these numbers are):
32.700 steps
23, 5 kilometres
Here an accurate overview of our route:

And, important information: I kind of forgot to bring sunscreen again and I lived in constant fear of the sun the whole day. I am happy to report though, that I made it through the day and my face is as pale as it can be!😁

See you soon,
Verena 👋


Sources:
Fun Facts 1 and 2: http://justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-helsinki/
Fun Facts 3 and 4: https://www.nordicexperience.com/city-guide-post/know-10-interesting-facts-helsinki-finland/