Helsinki

Well its been a while since I posted anything, having spent some time in England with our son and his wife and our nearly two year old granddaughter, as well as our daughter , who lives in Canberra. It was wonderful to all be together again and a nice change, as it happened, to be there in Spring rather than Autumn. It was very green and pretty, with bluebells and other meadow flowers and the birds nesting.

And why Helsinki, you might well ask.

Some of you may remember that the round the world ticket we bought is a Finnair airfare and Helsinki therefore had to be in the itinerary. We certainly had no objection to taking a look at the most northern city in Europe, but decided to stop there on the way out of Europe in May, rather than on the way in in March. As it turned out, the lovely spring they were having turned very cold just as we arrived, so we got to experience some proper northern weather, like 2 degrees and snowing!

It was actually fine when it wasn’t raining, though the first day my eyes did not like the cold and wept mercilessly in spite of my specs. It was a nuisance having to cope with so many layers, plus gloves and tissues! I’m glad I got to use my beanie though…………

Helsinki was a stark contrast to Italy. It is very clean , monochromatic (at least at this time of the year and in this weather) orderly and expensive, so opposite in almost every way!

I enjoyed finding my way around, which is not difficult, and managed to see a lot of the city while Jock rested to try to finally shake off the cold and cough that has been hanging round. We were in a fantastic location in an apartment near the city centre. I walked everywhere and we were able to find restaurants very close by so Jock did not have to walk too far in the cold when we wanted to go out. We enjoyed a really good Nepalese meal there. We miss Australia’s amazing multicultural cuisine, and were so glad to have a good curry!

We noticed that wherever you go there are more than ample coat hooks and racks , for obvious reasons, and some places have brushes at the door for your shoes. It is also common to take shoes off at the door in private homes, not surprising for such a snowy country.

The architecture is quite stark, certainly austere, with very large solid buildings, some of granite, very few made of timber. Interiors were also simple and minimalistic. There is plenty of space and not too many people. In fact there are only five million in the whole country.

I walked by one of the lakes where there were separate bike lanes and walking lanes. That was a sunny day and very pleasant. I walked between the Music Centre, which is a large performing space and the Opera House, through park land. There is an abundance of open space and bike lanes everywhere, including through the city centre where they have a dedicated lane. Pedestrians are very well catered for with crosswalks and cross lights on just about every intersection. Cars certainly do not seem to dominate as there are also trams and buses galore. It is perhaps the least congested city I have visited.

I went to many of the landmarks and the markets (salmon, reindeer, salmon, rye bread, salmon) and took a walk with a local on the UNESCO world heritage site of the Island of Suomenlinna, which was a fortress island.

It was a great afternoon, positively balmy at eight degrees and our guide Miina was very interesting. She has two jobs, working in winter as a carpenter at the dry dock on the island. Yes, winter, as in summer all the boats are in service, with repairs and improvements being done only in winter. For her other job she is a meteorologist and I assume she does the guided walks ( through Airbnb experiences) because she loves it! I have certainly never met a person with such a diverse skill set!

Miina lives on the island and took us to her home (a tiny apartment) as well as walking us round the island and giving a great potted history as well as a fabulous local perspective.

Their history is of Swedish and then Russian rule with Finland only gaining independence one hundred years ago. Even though only five percent of the population speak Swedish, it is one of the two official languages. But schoolchildren also learn English from early primary school.

It was a low key time, but interesting, and we were very comfortable in our apartment. It was a good transition between family time and the last leg of our trip, the U.S. and far flung national parks, which is going to be a pretty full on time with a road trip and shorter stays than we have done to date.

I am writing this on the plane, currently flying over Greenland (spectacular ice and snow) and looking forward to San Francisco, in spite of being told by a Californian, who was on the island walk, that it has become a dirty and dangerous place…………..

See you on the other side.