Rampant in Helsinki

It really takes some getting used to. When you head to bed late at night, the sky is bright. When you toss and turn in the middle of your sleep, opening an eye, the sky still kinda seems lit up. And when you finally wake up early in the morning, the sky is already sunny. It’s pretty amazing.

So this is Finland - land of a thousand lakes, land of Nokia, and land of cool Nordic blondes. I’m in Helsinki right now, in the week leading up to the summer solstice, when the days are at their longest of the year. And with this city being so far north, the sun hardly sets. It makes for a rather pleasant experience in this most pleasant and agreeable of cities. Nice, clean, bustling, obviously prosperous, and, after Estonia, with perfect weather.

Finland’s history resembles that its immediate southern neighbour, with tales of foreign occupation – first by the Swedes, and later by the Russians. In fact, many of us may know of Finland and of Finnish nationalism because of one tune, and one person – Finlandia, that stirring work by Jean Sibelius, who was born, ironically, into a Swedish-speaking family. Today, only about six percent of Finnish citizens are Swedes, but both languages have official status, with road signs and official names rendered in both Finnish – a totally inscrutable language related only to Estonian and more distantly, to Hungarian – and Swedish, which bears greater resemblance to English.

And so we ventured to the Sibelius memorial, located in a picturesque park just slightly north of the city centre. It wasn’t a conventional monument which greeted us. Instead, we found a pipe-like installation, plus a metal cast bust of the great composer’s face, with, well, things sticking out on both sides. What were they? Our guide informed us reliably that they were supposed to represent Sibelius’ thoughts...


Downtown, and sitting at the top of the main Senate Square, above steep steps, was the all-white Lutheran Helsinki Cathedral, which commands a good view of the city. This is probably Helsinki’s most famous icon, built in the shape of a Greek crucifirm, but only one of its many architectural offerings. There were many many others.

We also wandered through other parts of the city, checking out the Market Square by the harbour, walking past the park by the Töölönlathi lake (I have no idea how to pronounce that!), and the incomparable Temppeliaukio Church, carved into solid rock. Throughout our jaunt through the city, there were no communicaition problems at all, with the Finns of Helsinki appearing very conversant in English.

We spent the afternoon at Porvoo – pictured above – a town some 50km east of Helsinki, founded next to a river in the 14th century, with a heavy Swedish presence. Many of the old and narrow streets remain. In the 19th century, Porvoo became a haven for many notable artists and intellectuals, including painter Albert Edelfelt and Finland’s national poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg. Since I can’t read what he wrote, I enjoyed another of his legacies – the Runeberg Tart. Hee. It’s a tasty piece of Finnish pastry, small and cylindrical, with jam and a suger ring on top. Absolutely delectable.


Travel Notes: We managed the sea crossing to Helsinki from Tallinn under two hours in a fast Superseacat ferry. Accommodation at the extremely agreeable Hotel Sokos Presidentti, which offers free wireless Internet surfing. It’s located next to the new Kamppi shopping centre, where we had a very good time dining at the Empire Plaza and at Minos.