Last morning in Helsinki
Another late morning today, as we got a lazy start after a good night’s sleep. No construction noise this morning either. The temperature has cooled to much more pleasant seasonal averages, and the day was sunny and bright. We had to scramble a bit to get all packed up and checked out by eleven. The long days here make it easy to have late nights out, hence all the late mornings. Actually, Helsinki straddles the 60th parallel, making it the furthest north I’ve travelled to date.
Alex headed off on his own to do some sightseeing, while Catherine and I set out for a stroll around the design district. We browsed in a few galleries and then had breakfast in a cute little cafe, caught up on some emails and sipped cappuccino. One thing I should mention is that the WiFi in most cafes and public spots tends to use long Finnish words with lots of vowels as passwords, which is kind of amusing when you ask for the code.
We then walked up to the Temppeliaukio Church, which is a really cool church carved entirely out of a rock face. I’ve seen an awful lot of churches in my travels, and though some of them are quite spectacular, usually it’s a case of same old, same old. This one was really different, though. It’s a fairly modern design, built entirely out of solid rock, and light comes in via skylights. The acoustics are amazing due to the way it was designed, so there are often concerts and musical events held there. There was an organist who sat down and played Moonlight Sonata while we were there, and it just made for a really cool moment to sit and listen to. Of course, the ubiquitous Japanese tour group showed up, which spoiled the mood a bit, though it made for some amusing moments especially when we saw the latest invention — the selfie stick. Basically a stick that you attach your phone to, which allows you to hold it out at arm’s length and take better selfies. 2014, folks, how far we’ve come.
Go West
Early afternoon, we met back up at the hostel to collect our bags and head to the bus station to catch our bus to Turku. We got cheap tickets with Onnibus, which means Happy Bus in Finnish and is the local discount Megabus-esque line. The trip took just over two hours, and the bus was comfy and had free WiFi. We had a quiet relaxing ride west, through landscapes that look an awful lot like Canada — rocks and trees and trees and rocks and water. Yep, Finland’s got ’em too.
We pulled into the bus station in Turku a little after 5pm, and after a couple of mishaps with broken luggage handles and misplaced (but not lost) knapsacks, we found our inn a few kilometers outside of the main town. And what a charming little place it is! It’s a guesthouse as opposed to a backpacker hostel, with a large sitting room, a sauna for guests, and a country feel to the area. Every room is decorated differently — ours is entirely in white, for instance, while another room is green with a forest motif, and yet another is full-on playboy, looking like Hugh Hefner put it together. Really amusing.
Town by the river
Turku is Finland’s third largest city and is on the southwest coast, near Sweden. The city used to be part of Sweden, and was actually Finland’s capital in those days. It’s very charming, set on the Aura river with restaurants and cafes and boats lining the riverfront. Very pretty all lit up at night. We walked into town, stopping at an R-Kioski for candy, and wandered around a bit, snapping photos and just taking it in. Then we strolled by the river and people-watched for a while.
One thing I noticed straight away about Turku is that everyone seems to be exceptionally good looking here. Men and women alike are tall and fit. Lots of blond hair. Also, everyone seems to ride bikes, jog, or engage in other sorts of active sports. I’m not sure whether it’s motivational or not, but it’s certainly fun to look at.
For dinner, we went to a little Italian restaurant near the river that had amazing food and excellent wine. We made friends with a local couple at the next table and spent most of dinner chatting with them about things to see and do in the area, our lives, and anything and everything. The degree of friendliness of the Finns cannot be overstated. They have a reputation for being quite reserved, but if you ask people for help anywhere else in the world they might smile and point you on your way. If you ask a Finn, they’ll insist on walking you miles out of their way to your destination, making friends with you in the process. Really lovely people here.
By that point, we were getting a bit tired, and we opted to catch the last bus back from the market square to the inn rather than go out for drinks. I think we all felt like we could use a quiet night in for a change. So we watched random stuff on TV, I updated some blogs, and we made it a relatively early night for a change.