December 9-11, 2008 (Tuesday – Thursday)
On December 9, we took off from Stockholm to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. This was the first time I booked the flight through blue1.com, which turned out ot be a good airline in Northern Europe. I have a nice one-hour flight (at 9:10a.m.) to Helsinki!
From the moment I arrived at Finland Airport, the first thing I felt instantly was the difference of weather between Finland and Stockholm! Layers of snows are formed in Finland. It was generally a little bit colder than Stockholm.
Helsinki's symbol, the Lutheran Cathedral (Tuomiokirkko)
We took the airport bus 615 (at 3.8 Euros) to the city center, which was about an hour ride. Since Finland was annexed by Russia during a war in 1809, there were lots of Russian style-buildings. Roughly 90% of the residents in Helsinki are native Finnish speakers, with most of the rest being Swedish-speaking. And most important of all, nearly everybody in Finland speaks English, which is a good new for a foreign traveller, like me.
The bus stopped in front of the Central Railway Station, which was quite near to the hotel we were staying – the Hotel Kämp, It is really located in the heart of Helsinki, with lots of shopping malls – like the Stockmann nearby. I liked this historic grand continental-style hotel alot, even though it was built back in 1887! Rooms were large – and as genuine and elegant as in the past!
After a light lunch in the cafe, we went to St. Thomas Christmas Market located at Esplanade Park, which was just opposite to the hotel. After a year of travel so far, I found that Christmas markets were different across Europe. To me, Christmas markets in U.K. and Germany were quite similar, which fills with Christmas food – hotdogs, beers, and my favourite mulled wine, while in Northern Europe, such as Finland, it mainly filled with Finnish festive treats, gifts and handicrafts.
We spent the rest of the afternoon touring around central Helsinki. While we were fighting against the cold weather, we enjoyed alot the beautiful snowy scenery at the Helsinki Cathedral - the most prominent building and symbol of the city, Senate Square and Government Palace.
We ended our Day 1 of Helsinki trip by a delicious Japanese dinner set at Hotel Kämp. We were surprised to see so many locals like to eat sushi in such a cold weather. There were lots of Japanese restaurants in the neighbourhood, yet none of them served hot food such Japanese noodles!
On the next day, we had another adventure in Suomenlinna - the greatest sea fortress on the Baltic, which Sweden ignominiously surrendered without a fight to Russia, ceding Finland as a result. It was built on islands just off the coast of Helsinki, which took us 15 mins to get there by ferry (3.8 euros by HKL ferry) in the Market Square. Today, there are 900 residents still living in its own time with only old buildings, few cars, and lots of old fortifications, catacombs and cast iron cannons. Probably because it was in the winter period, when we went there, it was like an isolated island! Nearly all the shops were closed. We only found 1 supermarket, tourist center and a restaurant opened.
We followed the main path on the island (which was nicely indicated in the blue signage), touring around the historial events, forts, ramparts and the fortress courtyard and the King’s Gate. It was like an adventure exploring this quiet UNESCO World Heritage listed island. While we were fighting the coldness in the middle of nowhere, we finally found the only cafe opened - Cafe Chapman. With its 10.5 euros lunch buffet, we were like finding the treasure enjoying the lunch in this super cold weather, even though there was only one dish that was delicious - the hot meat soup!
A glimpse of the Suomenlinna fortress
The Helsinki trip is ended by a wonderful dinner at Kamp Cafe … with a wonderful lobster and chocolate fondante dessert!
Hopefully my next stop in Finland will be the Naantali for Moomin’s Museum and Santa Claus Office - Joulupukki - Rovaniemi – Lapland.
More photos in Photo Gallery http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569409851UkHqrl
————————-
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts and beer.” – by Abraham Lincoin
Reference:
- WikiTravel – http://wikitravel.org/en/Helsinki
