My Year in Lyon: Finland: Helsinki

To get from Russia to Finland, I booked a 3 hour train ride to Helsinki. The scenery isn’t great – not a very prosperous region on the Russian side. Much of the Russian territory I travelled through used to be part of Finland, captured in the Second World War. I had about a day and a half, and in addition to visiting the Finnish capital I was planning on visiting my friend Jordan, on exchange to the Hanken School of Economics, who I met my first day at Queen’s. Finland has a wealth of natural resources, and is known for its unblemished forests, lakes, and vast expanses of tundra in Lappland, the northern part of the country (also the home of Santa Claus!) Plenty of granite buildings and functional architecture. They even have crosswalks in white granite instead of painting them!

Helsinki Central Station. Lots of granite buildings in this city!

Interior of the train station. Very simple, yet beautiful designs.

Granite buildings in Rautatientori Square, opposite the train station.

Rautatientori Square. One of my first discoveries upon arriving in Helsinki was that they have free outdoor wifi in the downtown area!

Downtown Helsinki.

Modern architecture in Downtown Helsinki.

Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art.

Until the 19^th century, Helsinki was just a rocky fishing harbor, and Finland didn’t gain its independence until WWI. It was named the European Design Capital for 2012, and there are several beautiful new glass buildings. Particularly stunning Is the glass, copper and granite Temppeliaukio Church.

The church rises up out of a granite hill.

Temppeliaukio Church.

The harbor area is quite lovely, lots of small fishing boasts and large cruise boats heading to Tallinn, Stockholm and St. Petersburg. A round trip to Tallinn is about 40E and takes about 2 hours each way. Jordan was telling me some of his classmates make the trip every few weeks for low-cost alcohol, as the prices in Helsinki are sky-high (at least 10E for a glass of beer). The savings pay for the cost of the ticket! Everything in Finland is expensive, but this is because of the high tax rates and the high standard of living. Jordan told me that in Finland university education is free, they even pay students a stipend of about 230 E a month! 70% of adults have a university degree. Canadian students often bemoan the difficulties of getting a job after graduation with a B.A., but in Finland that will get you as far as a job at a restaurant. If you have a MBA you can make restaurant manager! Most Finns speak English, Finnish and Swedish fluently. Finnish is quite difficult to understand – it’s in the same family as Hungarian and Estonian so there are virtually no words in common with English. We tried watching Finnish TV for a while – it sounds quite exotic! Very, very long words.

In the summer months there is a lively market on the harbor front. Farmers will bring their produce by boat, and there are many traditional goods for sale, such as reindeer-fur hats. It started raining while we were there, apparently it rains at least once a day. The temperature was about 15 C, apparently that is normal for the end of August! This is a bit chilly but their winters are not as cold as they are in Canada.

Helsinki Harbour.

Helsinki Harbour. There are lots of inlets in the city, so there are small harbours all over as well.

Uspenski Cathedral (Russian Orthodox) in the background.

Helsinki Harbour. Lots of cruise ships to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg.

Bridge of Love - couples will put a lock here engraved with their initials on their wedding day, similar to what they do in the Baltics.

My favorite experience in Helsinki was when Jordan and I took the short ferry ride to Suomenlinna, an island fortress in the Baltic within view of the city. Constructed by the Swedes in the 18^th century, it is the largest island fortress in Scandinavia and was used to defend Finland (part of Sweden from the 13^th century) against the advances of the Russian Empire. In the 19^th century Finland was annexed by Russia, and the fortress was used in defense against the Swedes! Today it is a charming relic of the past, and there is also a lovely residential district on the island. Until the 19^th century, the island actually had a larger population than Helsinki! Beautiful views of the small islands off the mainland, a nice break from being in the city.

Church on Suomenlinna island.

The old garrison on Suomenlinna.

Exploring the underground tunnels beneath the fortifications. Should have brought rain boots!

Lots of natural beauty on Suomenlinna.

Wildflowers - I wish I knew what they were called! Although if it has a finnish name I wouldn't be able to pronounce it anyway...

Jordan and I on Suomenlinna (Photo cred. J.M.).

There are still many symbols of the Russian occupation in Helsinki, including the statue of Tsar Alexander II in Senate Square, which lies at the base of the monumental Helsinki Cathedral. It’s Lutheran simplicity contrasts with the exuberance of the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral.

Helsinki Cathedral (Lutheran). See those black clouds? Monumental rain storm. Thank goodness I had Helsinki's free wifi to play with while I waited under the church porch for 2 hours until it passed. It rains everyday in Helsinki.

Uspenski Cathedral (Russian Orthodox).

Senate Square, seen from the porch of the Helsinki Cathedral. Statue of Tsar Alexander II in the centre.

There are many beautiful parks in Helsinki, which remind me of the Canadian shield with the pine trees clinging to the austere mounds of granite. There is an interesting in many opportunities to get creative with the camera! There was a beautiful monument to Jan Sibelius, Finland's most famous composer (one of his pieces was called Finlandia).

Monument to Jan Sibelius.

Lots of fun with the camera!

The national museum was an interesting insight into Finnish history. A little known fact was that in WW2, the USSR tried to invade Finland to reclaim it, as it had declared independence during the Russian Revolution. A small Finnish Army, vastly outnumbered by the Soviets, managed to repel the Red Army during the Winter War of 1939-1940 and found with the Germans against them in the War of Continuation (1941-44). Hence Finland was considered part of the axis of evil by the allies during the war.

The National Museum. There is a bullet hole in the front door from WW1. This is an example of early 20th century Finnish National-Romantic architecture.

This type of tiled stove was used across northeastern europe to provide heat. Some of them are pretty big!

Skylight in the National Museum.

The last destination on my trip before heading to Lyon was Stockholm. I found a passage on a cruise ship from Helsinki for 20E, which is the going fate for this kind of thing and cheaper than either a flight to Stockholm or a night in a hostel! Really enjoyed the scenery, there are many small islands in the archipelagos near Finland and Stockholm that make the passage quite scenic. Also my first cruise, so it was fun to see what that was like. Good timing as well, the ship departed at 530 and got in to Stockholm at 930.