Fin...almost...land

Our second to last stop on our cruise was Helsinki, Finland, which easily qualifies as the most modern of any city we visited on this trip. In fact, that point actually makes the city rather underwhelming when placed alongside Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and Stockholm. As a significantly more modern city, most of Helsinki was constructed after 1809 when the Russian decided to move the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki in order to be closer to St Petersburg, it’s much easier to get around, yet is far less enigmatic because of its modernity. That’s not to say Helsinki isn’t an attractive or interesting city, it just doesn’t compare well to any of the other destinations on this particular cruise.

When arriving at Helsinki the ship deposited us about a half mile from the city market which is open daily and described as an excellent place to begin the Rick Steve’s self guided walking tour. Along the way to our walking tour we nearly strolled right past the Eastern Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral that is set atop a hill just beyond the city center. We never got all that close to the cathedral but it was certainly an imposing site with its gold plated Russian styled onion domes and deep red brick construction found in many of the protestant churches throughout much of Europe.

Our walking tour kicked off at the open air market which was just opening up for the day. In the parking lot of the market is an obelisk known as the Czarina Stone and commemorates a visit from Czar Nicholas I and Czarina Alexandria. As we waited for the market to open up we contemplated how long the local turtles had been milling about waiting for the fish stands to open up.

Deciding that perhaps we didn't want to wait that long we moved ahead with our walking tour. We didn't make it terribly far before we came across Amanda’s very own Bar & Bistro. Who knew my wife was so entrepreneurial? We would have hung around here as well for tea and sandwich's except that it was a Sunday and they were closed for the Sabbath. Of course, the appearance of a couple more stone turtles not far away may have informed our decision as well.

A few more late arrivals to the market

A short walk down the street from Amanda Bar & Bistro is the fountain from which the restaurant takes its name. Harvis Amanda has become a symbol of Helsinki and as many symbols do, even comes with a bit of controversy. Apparently the risque nature of the fountain offended the more conservative politicians of the town so they refused to pay the sculpture, Ville Vallgren, for many years. To exact his revenge for this slight Vallgren had the statue constructed in 1908 with the lovely lady's posterior facing the city budget office on the opposite side of the square. It has been in that position ever since.

After passing through the Esplanade and doing a bit of window shopping, we thought dad might like the designer men's handbag we found, we came to a statue known as the Three Blacksmiths. A rather stark, if not blatantly austere depiction of manual labor. The Finns claim it portray's their solid character and sense of co-operation yet I get a slightly, okay significantly, different sense when standing in front of it, but then I am obviously from an entirely different cultural background. However, as our guidebook notes, the statue does depict a certain strength and determination that is apparent from the numerous bullet holes that pockmark its base. 

The next few points of interest listed on the tour where the train station, a statue of Mannerheim, (once considered, and quite possibly still is thought to be the greatest Fin in history after serving as Regent of Finland, Commander in Chief of Finnish Defense forces in WWII, Marshall of Finland and finally the 6th President of Finland), a really bizarre sculpture of a giant eal-like fish, Finlandia Hall and the National Museum of Finland. Unfortunately, as it was a Sunday, the only building that was opened was the train station so we made sure to get a few shots of its interior before making our way up to the Church in the Rock.

Having made it the the Church in the Rock, or Temppeliaukio as its called in Finnish, we hoped to make it in for a service as the pictures we'd seen online looked amazing. However, we arrived a good hour and a half before the next service was scheduled to start and rather than wait around in the near freezing temperatures we decided that we'd simply have to come back to Helsinki another time. We did take a picture of the outside and as you can see the church was quite literally hewn out of a rocky hill.  

Rather than walking all the way back towards the town market in the ever increasing cold we made a tactical decision to find the closest tram stop and brave Helsinki's public transit system. Thankfully, Mr. Steve's has included a self guided tram tour for Helsinki in his Scandinavian guide book so Amanda and I purchased our tickets from the driver and found a bench with a heater in the back and watched the sites wiz by while we stayed in relative comfort. The Tram makes a very convenient loop of the entire city in the form of a figure eight with the intersection occurring a few blocks between the Esplanade and the Train Station and right next to a handful of restaurants and cafes. For lunch we chose a small, yet packed cafe that served this

The sandwiches were tomato and brie garnished with a removable leaf of lettuce and a very good pesto dressing. The hot chocolate was rich, smooth and of course hot, and the desserts were chocolate decadence in every sense of the word. I'd return to Helsinki just to eat at this cafe again. 

After polishing off our lunch we had quite a bit of time to kill before the ship left so we ambled over to the four story mall down the street and did a little shopping before making one final tourist stop on our way to the ship.

The Lutheran Cathedral is set on Senate Square and supposedly possesses dominating views of the local area. Closed on Sundays except during services we were unable to test this claim, but given its location at the top of the square and the height of its spire I wouldn't doubt it. The Lutheran Cathedral is probably also the most iconic building in Helsinki as it is considered Carl Ludvig Engel's masterpiece of architectural design. It's also an excellent photo to close this chapter of our trip with. Not to worry though as Amanda will be guiding you through our day in Stockholm with the next post.