Helsinki, Finland
And travel homeward
Thursday, June 27, 2024
We checked out of our hotel in Bergen just after breakfast and drove about a half hour to the airport, where we turned in the rental car. We had driven just about 2,000 km in twelve days of driving. The airport terminal was a short walk away.
We flew to Helsinki with a stop in Stockholm. Total time for the air trip was about 3 hours. Helsinki is an hour earlier than Norway; time change!
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, located on the edge of the design district. The trip was about a half hour. After unpacking, we walked about ten minutes to the Finnish Design Museum, which has wonderful exhibits about Finnish design of furniture, clothes and everyday objects, such as chairs, cups, tea kettles and so forth. It has an interesting explanation and video of the Aalto vase. And a few industrial applications. It is very well done. We agreed that we find Finnish Design more appealing than what we had seen in Norway (and Copenhagen last year).
We had trouble taking pictures of many exhibits, but the Pässi figurine above came out.
Another more commonly known Finnish design!
Square between our hotel and the Design Museum.
Today’s temperature was about 80F! The local residents were all wearing shorts and sun dresses while we had on long pants.
On our way to dinner, we had a nice view of the remarkable Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral which was open late that evening. We made the mistake of thinking we would visit the interior later.
Friday, June 28, 2024
From our hotel we walked five minutes or so to Market Square, located along the waterfront, where we saw produce stands, eateries, and a few souvenir stands. Out in the harbor we could see the large ferry boat that had arrived from Stockholm.
One side of the square has large neoclassical buildings and an obelisk with a statue of a Russian Czar.
Typical Finnish food offering at the market.
We then walked a couple of blocks to Senate Square, also lined with large, neoclassical buildings. We were disappointed to see the Lutheran Cathedral had scaffolding on its main dome. There were many such buildings in Helsinki, we found. Lots of restoration going on. We strolled along the esplanade and spent some time in the main shopping district, where we saw several design boutiques and went in the very large department store, Stockmann. We don’t have many stores left like this in the US—it had everything, including hardware, a laundry, and a place that collected worn textiles for recycling.
The scaffold on the cathedral dome to the left;
the nice esplanade above. Take our word for it,
there is a bird on the head of the statue.
We then visited the Central railway station (a Saarinen design), which is also under restoration, and from there walked to the Kamppi Square, which houses a shopping center, an underground transit station and a museum. We visited the peaceful circular wood Kamppi Chapel. No photos were allowed to be taken inside.
Couldn’t avoid the scaffolding. Station interior looks great, below.
Three blacksmiths statue, near Stockmann.
Exterior of Kamppi Chapel, and a work of art in the nearby plaza.
We then walked among more monumental buildings, including the Parliament, the Modern Art Museum (Kiasma) and a fantastic, modern library building (Oodi, the link shows a better view).
We then visited the Helsinki Music Hall, built in 2011, and admired the great hanging sculptures inside. A nice building, but not quite as memorable as the Opera House in Oslo.
The Music Hall, top, and interior to the left.
Oodi Library, just above.
After this, we walked by the famous Finlandia Hall, designed by Alvar Aalto, also undergoing major restoration, and we could only see parts of the building. From there we walked for about fifteen minutes to visit the rock church, Temppeliaukio. We walked around the outside of the dome on the rocks and then admired the dome from below from inside the church, with its large organ.
The little we could see of Finlandia Hall.
Exterior and interior of the Temppeliaukio.
A nice doorway nearby. There
were architectural details like this
all over Helsinki.
We walked a lot, so we took a streetcar back to the city center and had lunch at a cafe in Stockmann’s. From there we took another streetcar and visited the just renovated Sibelius Monument in a nice park.
From there we continued on the same streetcar line to the northwest to a mostly residential district of Helsinki, where we took a tour of architect and designer Alvar Aalto’s house, built in 1936. We learned some interesting information about him and his two wives (both were architects and designers) and how they all differed from other modernist architects. We are still very impressed by Finnish design! Here are photos of the outside and the living room of the Aalto house.
We took a streetcar back towards our hotel, and enjoyed an ice cream ( as it was 81F today), and then retired to our air conditioned hotel. Tonight we had a fantastic tasting menu at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
We slept a bit later on Saturday and wandered through the Market Square again, and then walked to the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral, which all information said (and the sign outside confirmed) opened at ten am. However, when we got to the Cathedral, a service was going on, and tourists were not allowed inside. After waiting for a bit, we decided to stroll around the nearby Katajanokka Island and admire the art nouveau architecture. We returned to the Cathedral and waited until the service concluded to admire the ornate interior and its wonderful painted dome.
Some art nouveau building in the neigborhood.
Since the forecast rain did not appear to be a threat any longer, we went back to the hotel to drop off our coats, before heading to the city center, near the main train station. The tram ride took us past Senate Square, where crowds were amassing for the annual Pride Parade. We were impressed by the many rainbow flags and the enthusiasm of the attendees.
After lunch, we took a taxi to the Open Air Museum on the island of Seurasaari. There we spent about an hour and a half and visited several historic Finnish buildings built in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a few built even earlier. The church and its bell tower plus the Kahiluoto Manor, the elaborate patrician home, were amazing. We thought the interiors here showed more character than those we saw in Oslo. Here are a few samples.
After completing our visit, we strolled across the white pedestrian bridge back to the mainland and took a bus to the Kamppi Station. The bus went along the coast and we saw lots of people enjoying the sun and beach and many were playing beach volleyball. When we came out of the bus station and walked through Lasipalatsi Square, we saw a big skateboarding competition underway. Apparently skateboarding is very important in Finland.
From there, we walked about ten minutes through the central area to the Ateneum Art Museum, which featured almost exclusively art by Finns. We were not familiar with most of the artists, but found the museum quite interesting.
The Seurasaari bridge on the right, and a painting by
Finish artist Reidar Särestöniemi, left.
From there, we walked back to Senate Square, where the Pride festivities had concluded. We tried to visit the Lutheran Cathedral. It was, however, closed to tourists because of a wedding. Note to others, don’t try to visit Finnish churches on a Saturday!
We then strolled back to our hotel and went out for an early dinner. We had originally planned to visit Tallin by ferry tomorrow, but decided that was more than we could handle, after almost three weeks traveling.
An interesting building façade, above; a nice building on the esplanade, top right; and people
enjoying a warm
Saturday evening,
bottom.
Sunday, June 30, 2024
We slept late, again, and caught the ferry from the pier at Kauppatori that took us to the island of Suomenlinna. The journey took about fifteen minutes. On the way, we saw the outdoor sea pool popular with swimmers and the Viking Ship dock. On the island, we walked through the more modern buildings to the 19th century fortifications on the far shore line. We had nice views of cruise ships and the sea and surrounding islands. The highly recommended church, although still in use, was not open for visits. Our walk back to the ferry terminal completed our stroll of about three miles. All our tour books said this island, a UNESCO site, is a “not miss” sight in Helsinki, but it did not particularly impress us. We still enjoyed being out in the sunshine and fresh air.
Clockwise from upper left: Suomenlinna Island, the fortress, a saltwater pool
and a view back to Helskinki from the ferry.
When we left the return ferry, we took a streetcar to central Helsinki for lunch, and then another streetcar to the Olympic Park. There we walked by sports fields hosting Sunday soccer games, and visited the Olympic Stadium (from the Summer 1952 Games). It did NOT appear to be over seventy years old! We took an elevator up 11 stories in the Stadium Tower and walked two further flights up to the top for a panoramic view of Helsinki. The sky was not quite as clear as it was earlier, but it was still a good view. We could see all of the main city monuments.
We walked down to another streetcar platform and rode a few stops to a neighborhood north of the main part of Helsinki, where we visited the Kallio Church, an early 20th century Art Nouveau structure with a wonderful tower.
We tried to take a streetcar back to our hotel, but none of the lines seem to follow their proper routes this Sunday, so we gave up and walked back to our hotel.
After resting for a bit, we went to an outdoor cafe on a square where we could see St John’s Church (left) and the Design Museum.
Monday, July 1, 2024
After a leisurely breakfast, we took our last streetcar ride to the park that has Helsinki’s “old church,” the oldest standing church in Helsinki. The church was built in the early 19th century out of wood and was meant to be temporary until the cathedral was completed. However, by that time, the population had increased quite a bit and the church remains in use today.
We then took one more stroll through the shopping district to Senate Square. We finally visited the grand Lutheran Cathedral, under restoration through 2025. After viewing the simple interior, we went downstairs to the brick vaulted crypt, which offered a photography exhibit showing slices of Helsinki life.
Here’s a view of Senate Square from
yesterday while they were cleaning
up from Saturday’s Pride celebration.
The sky was better than today.
Next, we visited one of the yellow, neoclassical buildings facing the square, the National Library of Finland. Its main room has lovely columns with ornate capitals and two tiers of book shelves.
Lastly, we walked across the Square to the Helsinki City Museum, one of the few sites on our trip that was free. It is a nice museum, showcasing historic panorama photos of the city and the exhibits give information about some of the favorite tourist spots. There is also a well done exhibit chronicling the developments in Helsinki over the last one hundred fifty years, including some tough times, such as prohibition.
One last photo of a statue with a bird on its head, and a nice piece of public art that is on the Esplanade (artist’s name is shown).
Map of places we visited in Helsinki.
After having lunch near our hotel, we packed up and went to the airport for our flight to Copenhagen, where we spent the night at the airport hotel.
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
It was cool and windy so we elected not to do any sightseeing today, and relaxed before heading to the airport for our flight home. Mid-day, we boarded our non-stop flight from Copenhagen back to SFO, a journey of about ten and a half hours (5,487 miles). Here’s a map of the route, including the flight from Helsinki we took yesterday.
This was a wonderful trip, with amazing scenery and great museums. Everything worked really well. The food in Helsinki was very good (we had two excellent dinners) and was not as challenging as we expected in Norway (where we think pizza is the national food, based on its prevalence). The people were helpful, with English widely spoken. We both agreed that a full three week trip is tiring at our age, but that there was little we would have eliminated.
