Under A Finnish Sky

The two hour crossing to Finland on the Tallink ferry was very civilised: free WiFi, a good supermarket and a clean, well-provisioned area for children to play.

We spent most of the crossing talking to a very nice Estonian woman, so the time flew by. Before we knew it, we were docked in Helsinki harbour and driving off the boat.

Even with wrong turns and having to go around the block a couple of times, today’s drive was still under 10 km. Not bad, considering we started in one European capital and finished in another.

Check-in at the hotel took a little longer than usual. The deluxe room we’d booked wasn’t yet ready, so we were “upgraded” to a suite. The layout of the suite was so bad, however, that it made me wonder whether we ought not to insist on being downgraded again.

In the end, that’s exactly what we did, and we’re now in a lovely, spacious room that looks out onto Kluuvikatu. The hotel is modern and stylish (with jet black toilet paper, no less), and the staff have been very helpful to us.

It’s been about a decade since I was last in Helsinki. Some of it seems familiar, such as Kappeli, where we partook of a late lunch that had Sarah baulking at the prices after having had three weeks to become accustomed to the Baltic cost of living. Yes, we’re in Finland all right.

Most of Helsinki, though (or at least the parts we’ve seen today), seem scarcely familiar. Even Tuomiokirkko, the Lutheran cathedral on Senaatintori (Senate Square), majestic though it may be, rings only a dim and distant bell. Such is my bad memory.

Dinner was at Café Engel on Aleksanterinkatu. Although it’s just a café (albeit a lovely one), our meal there immediately became the most expensive one of the trip so far. In common with the other Nordic countries, Finland is no place for the cash-strapped, but it is a good place to rapidly acquire that status.

It’s been raining all evening, but the forecast is for clearer skies tomorrow. One can but hope.

Coming after Tallinn, Helsinki is almost bound to disappoint, but we’ll look for the good, ignore the bad, and judge the place on its own merit. We’re spending four nights here, so there will be ample time to get (re)acquainted with the city.