On Our Own in Helsinki

While Dennis slept and coughed our first morning in Helsinki, I walked to the Helsinki Cathedral (Lutheran). Then down the hill and around shopping and the tourist areas. I had a chance to shop; Dennis doesn’t shop. I only bought 1 small thing for the granddaughters. It’s SO EXPENSIVE! I discovered Esplanadi Park, with flowers & trees. I learned Fact and Fable became part of a Swedish versus Finnish controversy.

In the afternoon Dennis made it up and out to explore the greenhouses, gardens and paths of the University of Helsinki’s Botanic Garden next to our hotel.

Aside from the flying saucer on the lawn, the gardens and the greenhouses of the botanic garden seemed old and traditional. They are currenty undergoing renovation. The arrangement and information about the plants in the greenhouses was very interesting and in English.

Strobe Talbott should have taken his Olive Tree home

I admit I know nothing about growing olive trees (Oleo europaea.) I’ve been personally responsible for the deaths of a of innumerable houseplants. Still, it looks to my unprofessional eyes like this tree isn’t flourishing. Perhaps it’s being under or over watered by university students who never heard of Strobe Talbott, George Papandreo or the war in Kosovo. Shouldn’t the tree be bigger after 27 years? I’m wondering if Strobe Talbott should have taken this tree home.

The grounds and the arboretum are currently being renovated.

Museum of Architecture and Design

The following day we walked to the Museum of Architecture and Design. We walked around the block looking for a modern building we thought would be the museum of Finnish architecture and design. Finally we realized we were there. It’s not a modern building but a new one is planned.

We spent most of our day in the Architecture and Design Museum learning about a children’s character named Moomin, Craft Punk clothing, and the Aalto philosophy of tuberculosis hospital design, my head was exploding!

Ferry Ride to a Fort

I wonder how many forts we have been to in our lifetime. Lots, Michigan, North Dakota, Florida, Texas “Remember the Alamo!” Never was there a harder one to spell. Suomenlinna on  Sveaborg. It’s a World Heritage site and an island.

An awfully complicated story: 1748 built by Sweden, 1808 taken by Russia, 1918 owned by Finland

Monday we took the 15 minute ferry ride and walked around. It was the most beautiful sunny morning we’d had in Finland.

After our short ferry ride back to the Helsinki waterfront we managed to find the stop for a Rick Steve’s suggested self-guided tram tour. Lucky us! It poured down rain while we were in the tram.

We ate an early dinner at Zetor  https://www.raflaamo.fi/fi/ravintola/helsinki/zetor  a restaurant Grundela took our group to the last night of our tour. On the weekend it’s jammed full of Finns doing line dancing dressed like Texans. It’s very quiet on a Monday at 5pm.

Dennis couldn’t hear. I had very sore throat, and we both had the kind of cough I would expect to hear from a tuberculosis patient.

Sought out the neighborhood Apteeki after our early dinner. She greeted me at the door in English and asked what I needed. I got throat lozenges & strong cough syrup. I lost the measuring cup the pharmacist gave me. It took me forever to translate the Swedish/Finnish dose directions and then convert from milliliters. I think I may have converted milliliters to tablespoons instead of teaspoons. We both slept well. 😄.

Last Day

In spite of our colds we had places on our list to see our last day. Finlandia Hall, Toolonlahti Bay (park) was on our way to Finlandia. Then if we were still upright, we would walk to the Sibelius Monument. Finlandia designed by Alver Aatto. We had seen an exhibit of Aatto and his first and second wife at the Museum of Architecture & Design. Finlandia had a much more extensive exhibit. Houses, libraries, hospitals, chairs, stacking stools, the Aatto firm  was inflenial and successful. Aatto’s philosophy of design reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright. Sure enough there was a sign.

Finlandia had a series of pictures explaining the history of Finland with a parallel exhibit explaining the music of Finland and Sibilius. The theme Finlandia was continuously played by different orchestras, musicians, and choirs on a loop as we looked at ALL the displays. We were very thorough, realizing we probably were never going to do this again. I don’t need to hear the musical theme of Finlandia again, at least not for a long while.

It was quite a walk to the Sibelius monument but a very nice one. Four tourists buses were parked by the monument but hardly anyone in the rest of the park.

We managed 2 more side trips before we found a place to have fika. It was our last chance to see two round churches. It was interesting to wander through different neighborhoods but unlike the central tourist area there aren’t coffee shops every block.

Apparently the rock two brothers built their Lutheran church Temppeliaukio or Rock Church in was not located on a major street. It was in the middle of a residential area with typical oldstyle large stone apartment buildings. So typical I decided not to take a picture. Now I wish I had.

Next we made our way back to central Helsinki to Kamppi Chapel.

“The Chapel is meant to be used for moments of silence and solitude. There are no services or masses on Sundays. Occasionally, the Chapel is used for concerts.”

After paying the entrance fee we walked in to the chapel to find we were the only ones there. The Chapel of Silence certainly was. I found this surprising because the Rock Chapel was full of people. Kappi is located off a busy central square.

I grabbed a couple of pillows to get comfortable and rest in the hard wooden pew.

I just got settled trying to get in a meditative mood and Dennis was ready to go. Hardly worth the 5 Euro ($6.00 each) entrance fee but I figured this was my best chance to have a fika break. Long day! I think it was about 4:00pm.

We left, easily found a coffee shop where we watched Finns happily soaking up sun on the roofs of a modern art gallery.

We had our first and I suspect only reindeer and cranberry pizza for dinner and headed back to our hotel to pack and probably overdose on cough medicine.

We set our alarms for 3:45am and walked downhill to the train station. After only a few minutes of panic and confusion we managed to find which track had the 4:30am train to the Helsinki airport and home.