Helsinki, Finland

Sunday, September 14, 2008
Helsinki, Finland
09/12/2008 Helsinki, Finland…it must be Friday. We caught a Hop On-Hop Off bus at the dock, $37.00 each ( the weak dollar is killing us). It was a two hour, 10 stop trip around Helsinki, a city of 1.3 million, 25% of the of Finland’s population (94% Finish, 6% Russian).



Helsinki was founded in 1550 as a rival city of Tallinn by King Gustav I of Sweden. The cities growth was stifled by the Plague of 1710 which took the lives of 2/3 of the cities residents. Today Helsinki has eight universities and 6 technology parks. It is the center of the new world Finland. The highlight of our bus trip was the stop at the city market; here we found many fruits and berries that we didn’t recognize, hot food (lot of sardines) and many Finland made arts and crafts. It was a Friday morning and the market was crawling with people, the harbor bordered the market so the fisherman pulled their boats up to the pier and sold their catch off the back of their boats.



We made our way on foot two blockd from the market and went to the Temppeliaukio Church, a Lutheran church, designed by Carl Ludvic Engal and known as The Cathedral, that was stark but inviting relative to the Russian Orthodox churches of the prior days. It sits in the center of the downtown area and within Senate Square.

Back on the bus through a clean, busy city and off at the Sibelius Monument, dedicated to Finland’s greatest composer. This was a striking arrangement of stainless steel pipes and tubes possibly providing music in the strong winter winds.



Then we crossed the park and made our way to the site of the 1952 Summer Olympics. Helsinki was to host the 1940 Olympics but the games were canceled due to WWII and pushed back to 1952. This was the first Olympics which the Soviet Union participated in and was the depute of Israel. Bob Mathias, of Wheaties Box fame, was able to successfully defend his decathlon title and the USA and Russia won the most metals followed by Hungry with 42 metals.





Our visit to Helsinki ended with a snack at a sidewalk café and a walk through a combination shopping mall and bus station; the cleanest and most organized bus station I have ever seen. If we ever recognize the value of train travel in the United States we could learn a lot from the Helsinki train station. We found it expensive getting around and buying in Helsinki and were told it will get more expensive as we get to Stockholm and Oslo.



“These are very highly taxed countries, they provide well for their citizens and they have no hesitation in subsidizing their coffers from visiting tourists.” None-the-less I would recommend a visit to Helsinki it’s only 150 sea miles from Saint Petersburg, but decades apart in feel, look, and color. Helsinki is green, blue, white, and violet, Helsinki is comfortable.