Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

Another day to defy the forecasts, today was beautiful and Helsinki bathed in glorious sunshine for the duration of the day.

After breakfast, we took the ferry from Kauppatori to the island of Suomenlinna, the site of a 250 year old fortress and a suburb of Helsinki with some 850 residents.

We purchased only one adult return ticket to the island. Why? Because Sarah’s was allowed to travel for free. How come? Because we had a child buggy with us and the local public transport policy dictates that buggy-pushers travel gratis.

The reason for this unparalleled generosity is that some forms of public transport (presumably buses and trams) require you to board at the back, after which you would have to abandon your buggy and child for a minute in order to walk to the front and purchase a ticket. It’s deemed undesirable for a parent to do this, so buggy-pushers get a free ride; quite literally. Yes, the Finns can certainly teach the rest of us a thing or two about organising civilised society.

Suomenlinna turned out to be better than expected. The ferry journey itself was fun, but the island soon had one imaging oneself at a location far removed from the Finnish capital. It was so calm and peaceful that it seemed as if we really could have been anywhere.

All of us enjoyed the island. There was a nice little park for Eloïse and Lucas, who are both really fond of the swings at the moment.

We made a full tour of the island, had lunch and got back to Helsinki at around 16:00. We then walked to Kaivopuisto park, ate some strange ice-cream (my lemon flavoured scoop looked like a concoction of pus and mustard, and failed to adequately distance itself from the taste that thought suggested) and then chanced upon another really good playground for the children.

What must have been an hour later, we walked back into town for a delicious dinner at Tori on Punavuorenkatu, followed by coffee and cake at Café Engel again.

Today felt like a very full day and I must say, it was nice to get out of the city. Not that Helsinki is hectic; far from it, especially at this time of year. No, it’s high summer and Helsinki is virtually deserted, its legions of residents having fled for more appealing resorts, leaving but a skeleton crew behind to keep the wheels of commerce and government oiled and slowly turning.

We, too, must leave Helsinki behind the day after tomorrow, so Monday is our last chance to take in any final items on the list. There aren’t many, I must say. Helsinki definitely has a charm of its own, but doesn’t entice and enchant me the way that, say, Stockholm does. It’s actually quite reminiscent of the Swedish capital in places, but is missing the historic appeal of Gamla Stan and the older neighbourhoods.

Nevertheless, it’s been well worth the time to come over here. Who knows when we’ll be back this way? Finland’s not exactly en route to many other destinations.

I hope the weather continues to hold up.tomorrow.

We walked a long way today. The weather was gorgeous.

We started at Soviet-proportioned Rautatientori with its pleasant railway station (from where trains depart to destinations all over Finland, as well as to St. Petersburg and Moscow) and traipsed out to Hietaranta Beach. where Eloïse and Lucas played in the sand, swang on the swings and slid on the slides. I was surprised to find that Helsinki even had a beach, but it does and the children liked it, even if it wouldn’t win many awards (except, perhaps, for most fag-ends per square metre)..

From the beach, we continued to Hietaniemi cemetery, which is really beautiful. If you’re going to be dead and buried, it may as well be here. This place was meant to be walked in. One thing that puzzled me, though, was that the vast majority of the names on the headstones were Swedish. I’m not sure why that is.

After a late lunch at Café Ekberg, we wended our way back along Pohjoisesplanadi to Esplanadi, where people were sitting in the grass, picnicking and soaking up the sun. Ubiquitous pan-pipe blowing buskers in full Red Indian regalia attempted to woo the crowds.

We continued down to Kauppatori, beyond to majestic Uspenski Cathedral and across onto the island of Katajanokka, with its relaxed Art Nouveau neighbourhoods and peaceful waterfront views. There, Eloïse and Lucas played in another playground and soon our day was done.

I’m too tired to write much else this tonight. More tomorrow.

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.

Tallink has free wireless Internet access on its Tallinn to Helsinki crossing. How cool is that?

We’re somewhere in the Gulf of Finland at the moment.

Today was our last day in Tallinn. No more breakfasts of champagne and brownie for poor old Sarah. Life is tough.

The sun shone virtually all day long as we crossed the Ts and dotted the Is around Tallinn. Four days was just right for this city and we now feel we’ve seen and done all we wanted to. Of course, there are enough still unpatronised kohviks to keep us sipping coffee and eating cake for the next month, but time is a commodity that is steadily depleting and so we must move on.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll be up bright and early in order to catch the ferry to Helsinki. The drive itself is negligible. Take out the ferry crossing and we’ll scarcely be driving three kilometres from this hotel to the next!

Our meal this evening was modern Estonian cuisine at Kaerajaan. I had the ostrich, which was delicious. From our vantage point on Raekoja plats, we watched life in the Estonian capital wind down for the day, the sun skimming across the rooftops of the Baltic sky.

Tallinn calms down after 16:00, which is when the seas of nylon tracksuit-clad septuagenarians beat a retreat to the cruise-liners that ushered them in, at which point the capital reverts to a tranquil place for a peaceful stroll.

Across the Gulf of Finland we go!