We woke up early from our nice airport hotel, and were even able to get a full breakfast in that morning. From the Hilton Terminal 4 Heathrow, you were able to walk across a pedestrian tunnel and reach Terminal 4, where you could take a free train to the other terminals. It only left every 30 minutes, so it was somewhat of a pain. Our FinnAir flight was really good… we marveled at the good service we had onboard. The FinnAir business class section was like most European carriers – the middle seat was unoccupied –but they were still the same seats as coach, only we had linen and meal service. The flight was short, so we had our meal pretty quickly. Later, Christy would see the exact same mystery meat from her salad in the Helsinki Market Hall, which was labeled as …. reindeer!
We heard Finland was supposed to be the standard for above par European excellence; however, we disagree. Getting through immigration was ridiculous - it took us about 45 minutes. The next sign that Finland was not up quite to those standards was that the airport bus was perpetually delayed! We did note a curious thing though, many of the men looked like they belonged in the band the Proclaimers, a popular act in the 90’s. We kept singing “dadaadadadadadad umdiddlydiddlydiddly dadadadadaadadada. I would walk 500 miles....” A lot of the men also had facial hair (not the Proclaimers ones) – we guessed since it was always so cold up there!
One morning, we were up earlier than normal to work out and caught an amazing sunrise – we have not seen such a picturesque sunrise in months. With the approaching seasonal changes, w
e also noticed that the sun rose later and set earlier – making it hard for us since we like to rise with the sun and get up early. The same sun also had a different angle in the sky that really gave daylight a different spin – no matter what the time of day the sun always seemed to be an afternoon light. It was gorgeous, but the sunny days we were there, it made us feel tired!
Helsinki was a nice sized city, and from our hotel, we were able to walk everywhere. The first day we walked to the Market area, where they had both food (salmon paellas and sandwiches) and tourist items for sale. Finland sports many winter and wooden items (specifically juniper wood) for sale – gorgeous woolen scarves, patterned snowflake sweaters, stuffed bears, wooden spoons and beer steins. Christy really liked one cheese slicer made of juniper and metal – which had had the metal port
ion resembling a moose. It was adorable – but not for $18 USD! Everything was priced really high, and we wondered if it was the market itself or just Finland. We also saw the Buddy Bear Exhibit, which was placed in a plaza to promote peace and tolerance worldwide. The exhibit had large polar bears that 190+ countries had decorated, all standing in a large circle – taking up most of the plaza. We thought they were a riot – and they sure drew in the tourists. We sure wanted to also have our pictures taken with our respective country bears!
Our last day there, we woke up to cold and grey, and thus began our “wear everything warm you have” routine for the next few days. Christy wore thicker track pants, gymshoes, a long sleeved shirt, a fleece, a windbreaker, and her new Polish hat. Marcus wore his travel pants, a Tshir
t, a long sleeved travel shirt, a sweatshirt, a windbreaker and scarf. Yes, and we were still freezing, especially with the howling winds. Despite this, we still decided to see more of the city. While walking through the park, we saw an interesting Finnish fashion – ABBA pants are apparently now in style (maybe they never left)! We walked around the city’s two lakes located downtown, and barely saw more than a few brave runners. Helsinki also has several famous wood old houses that resemble version of San Francisco’s “painted ladies” on the lakeshores
’ rocky hills. We walked down the trails near the homes, and really enjoyed seeing all the leaves changing! That afternoon we caved in, and decided to have Subway. It was right across the road from our hotel, and was easy and sounded good. With the sinking dollar, and the high Finnish food prices, it cost us $20 USD to pick up two 6inch sandwiches + the soda and chips meal deal! Crazy!
Tallin, Estonia
Estonia – which we freely admit we had to look at a map to figure out where it is – is located on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea, or about 60 km away from Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland. It’s also the smallest of the Baltic states, and borders Russia and Latvia. Apparently the country only has a population of 1.3 m
illion – mainly ethic Estonians, although the country claims to have 26% of a Russian population. We were surprised to find out that forest covers about 40% of the country, and apparently (at least in two sources we read), wildlife is abundant, including wolves, bears, lynxes, boar, elk and otters. From our hotel, we walked to the Linda Lines terminal – and it was empty. This was a peculiar thing, since we were told to check in 1 hour early – and we were only 1:08 minutes out from the ferry departure time. We found the only agent on duty, who told us that the ferry was cancelled. She told us that we could catch the Viking Line; but that it left half an hour earlier at 11:30am, and that we only had 20 minutes to get to the other side of the bay to check in before they closed the gates. She said to take a cab – which was challenging since we barely had any euros left! So, off we ran/walked as fast as we could. No matter how light our packs were (we left our cases at the hotel and only took small backpacks each), it was hard work, especially as we had worked out earlier. Eventually we made it into the terminal with a few minutes to spare for check-in --- but we were sweat drenched. Luckily, we made it! Almost 30 minutes outside of Helsinki the sky became black with rain clouds. Luckily we did not feel the large waves that we saw overboard…we sat on the top "sun deck," but we guessed the large waves were the reason for the cancellation of the other ferry! Once we got a little closer to port, we took a walk through the boat to see what was happening. There seemed to be a lot of drunk Russians and other tourists around. Many people were dancing in one bar to a lounge singer, and others were listening to really bad karaoke.
Tallin’s claim to fame is the UNESCO World Heritage Status that it has been afforded (and yes, we realize that we have written about many of these lately). The city has taken steps to preserve their culture, and n
o building in Old Town is permitted to be taller than the St. Olav’s steeple. The city only has 400,000 people, but it feels quite big, although most of the activity seems to be centered in the Medieval Old Town Quarter. The city will also be the European Capital of Culture in 2011; we can vouch that the city does have a lot happening – ballets, concerts, opera – with a lot seeming to happen out of doors in the summer. Skype was also created in Tallin, or so the tout goes. We had also heard from some in Helsinki that the citizens of Helsinki actually take the ferries over to Tallin and have dinner and return – and it was still cheaper than dining out in Helsinki! Some of our reading also talked about the marauding that is done here – apparently it is cheaper for some country’s residents to come and sauna party here, giving the city a little bit of an unseemly reputation. We can say that there was a group of grey-haired Finns staying on our hotel floor having a very merry time - after we went to bed - and who were up for breakfast before we even were. Think the 80's movie Cocoon!
e also noticed that the sun rose later and set earlier – making it hard for us since we like to rise with the sun and get up early. The same sun also had a different angle in the sky that really gave daylight a different spin – no matter what the time of day the sun always seemed to be an afternoon light. It was gorgeous, but the sunny days we were there, it made us feel tired!Helsinki was a nice sized city, and from our hotel, we were able to walk everywhere. The first day we walked to the Market area, where they had both food (salmon paellas and sandwiches) and tourist items for sale. Finland sports many winter and wooden items (specifically juniper wood) for sale – gorgeous woolen scarves, patterned snowflake sweaters, stuffed bears, wooden spoons and beer steins. Christy really liked one cheese slicer made of juniper and metal – which had had the metal port
ion resembling a moose. It was adorable – but not for $18 USD! Everything was priced really high, and we wondered if it was the market itself or just Finland. We also saw the Buddy Bear Exhibit, which was placed in a plaza to promote peace and tolerance worldwide. The exhibit had large polar bears that 190+ countries had decorated, all standing in a large circle – taking up most of the plaza. We thought they were a riot – and they sure drew in the tourists. We sure wanted to also have our pictures taken with our respective country bears!Our last day there, we woke up to cold and grey, and thus began our “wear everything warm you have” routine for the next few days. Christy wore thicker track pants, gymshoes, a long sleeved shirt, a fleece, a windbreaker, and her new Polish hat. Marcus wore his travel pants, a Tshir
t, a long sleeved travel shirt, a sweatshirt, a windbreaker and scarf. Yes, and we were still freezing, especially with the howling winds. Despite this, we still decided to see more of the city. While walking through the park, we saw an interesting Finnish fashion – ABBA pants are apparently now in style (maybe they never left)! We walked around the city’s two lakes located downtown, and barely saw more than a few brave runners. Helsinki also has several famous wood old houses that resemble version of San Francisco’s “painted ladies” on the lakeshores
’ rocky hills. We walked down the trails near the homes, and really enjoyed seeing all the leaves changing! That afternoon we caved in, and decided to have Subway. It was right across the road from our hotel, and was easy and sounded good. With the sinking dollar, and the high Finnish food prices, it cost us $20 USD to pick up two 6inch sandwiches + the soda and chips meal deal! Crazy!Tallin, Estonia
Estonia – which we freely admit we had to look at a map to figure out where it is – is located on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea, or about 60 km away from Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland. It’s also the smallest of the Baltic states, and borders Russia and Latvia. Apparently the country only has a population of 1.3 m
illion – mainly ethic Estonians, although the country claims to have 26% of a Russian population. We were surprised to find out that forest covers about 40% of the country, and apparently (at least in two sources we read), wildlife is abundant, including wolves, bears, lynxes, boar, elk and otters. From our hotel, we walked to the Linda Lines terminal – and it was empty. This was a peculiar thing, since we were told to check in 1 hour early – and we were only 1:08 minutes out from the ferry departure time. We found the only agent on duty, who told us that the ferry was cancelled. She told us that we could catch the Viking Line; but that it left half an hour earlier at 11:30am, and that we only had 20 minutes to get to the other side of the bay to check in before they closed the gates. She said to take a cab – which was challenging since we barely had any euros left! So, off we ran/walked as fast as we could. No matter how light our packs were (we left our cases at the hotel and only took small backpacks each), it was hard work, especially as we had worked out earlier. Eventually we made it into the terminal with a few minutes to spare for check-in --- but we were sweat drenched. Luckily, we made it! Almost 30 minutes outside of Helsinki the sky became black with rain clouds. Luckily we did not feel the large waves that we saw overboard…we sat on the top "sun deck," but we guessed the large waves were the reason for the cancellation of the other ferry! Once we got a little closer to port, we took a walk through the boat to see what was happening. There seemed to be a lot of drunk Russians and other tourists around. Many people were dancing in one bar to a lounge singer, and others were listening to really bad karaoke.Tallin’s claim to fame is the UNESCO World Heritage Status that it has been afforded (and yes, we realize that we have written about many of these lately). The city has taken steps to preserve their culture, and n
o building in Old Town is permitted to be taller than the St. Olav’s steeple. The city only has 400,000 people, but it feels quite big, although most of the activity seems to be centered in the Medieval Old Town Quarter. The city will also be the European Capital of Culture in 2011; we can vouch that the city does have a lot happening – ballets, concerts, opera – with a lot seeming to happen out of doors in the summer. Skype was also created in Tallin, or so the tout goes. We had also heard from some in Helsinki that the citizens of Helsinki actually take the ferries over to Tallin and have dinner and return – and it was still cheaper than dining out in Helsinki! Some of our reading also talked about the marauding that is done here – apparently it is cheaper for some country’s residents to come and sauna party here, giving the city a little bit of an unseemly reputation. We can say that there was a group of grey-haired Finns staying on our hotel floor having a very merry time - after we went to bed - and who were up for breakfast before we even were. Think the 80's movie Cocoon! Tallin has some interesting slights, although you probably do not need 3 nights to see them like we had! We spent 2 1/2 days freezing on our walks around town, along with the few other tourists. We saw one large group of Russians, they were all huddled together – so it was not just us whining how cold it was! Tallin had a plethora of churches, including the Holy Spirit church and the St. Olav’s church, where the church was made of white stone and had the lowest chandeliers in a church we have seen! There was also the Cathedral of St. Mary (a Roman Catholic Church) that was oddly closed during the week, and the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is the largest Russian Orthodox Church in western Europe. The old city used to be walled, so there are plenty of sights to see involving the wall, including the Great Coastal gate and Fat Margaret’s Tower (we never did get the naming reason there?), Tall Hermann’s tower, and the long walls of the tower, which still had several of the defense towers intact. We also saw the House of Parliament, which is perched up on a massive hill, and is in the middle of old town – what a view it must have! We were amazed that you could walk straight up to the gate – there was no security there (that we saw, that is). This neighborhood also had many of the ambassador residences and offices there, all in the open, also with no security fences. There was also a scenic overlook near here called the Troompea Castle Wall, which gave us a scenic panorama of the old town and the church spires, all the way o
ut to the churning white capped sea. BRRRR. There were also the tourist stores in town, of which there were plenty, selling amber (not technically found in Estonia, but in other Baltic states), painted Russian dolls, linens, gorgeous alpine sweaters, juniper wood goods, viking hats, and some miniatures of houses and soldiers. We found it all to be incredibly overpriced and only bought two small things. We did enjoy the variety of liquor stores, however, (Helsinki only had the state-run stores) and were able to try a local specialty called Tallin Liquor, which was delicious! The town hall and square were really medieval looki
ng – although there were the "Disney" themed restaurants on the perimeter that had the costumed staff in medieval outfits, Russian soldiers, etc. We skipped those. The remainder of the restaurants also seemed to be way overpriced and very empty since we were there on a weekday, not the weekend, and also at the very tail end of the tourist season. Main entrees cost upwards of $20 USD! We were floored, as even Rick Steves says Tallin is cheap on his online guide! We also found a few restaurants with interesting names, and one Depeche Mode themed bar.Our return to Helsinki was a little nerve-wracking. Since we had confirmed that the Linda Line cancelled our first trip because the winds and storms, we were nervous about what
to expect on our scheduled ride back. But we were re-assured once we walked in the early morning light to the Linda Line terminal. There were plenty of staff around, and a good amount of transiting passengers. Lucky for us, we were able to catch the sun rise through the clouds and picked up some gorgeous shots before the sun disappeared for the day in Tallin, a seemingly endless ROUTINE. The ferry ride return to Helsinki took us less than 80 minutes, there were no winds, and the boat even left on time!Helsinki, Finland
Upon our arrival at 9:30am in Helsinki, we proceeded straight to our hotel. We were able to get a room at 9:40am, and we dropped off our bags, relaxed and went to the Market Hall for lunch. After a lot of deliberation, we went to a kebabs restaurant stall, where we ordered bread sandwiches stuffed with feta and beef gyros. We sat outside on the pier overlooking the bay to enjoy them, only to find out that the specialty Finnish bread was fried – like an American Indian fry bread. It was really greasy and one of the worst meals we'd had in a long time.
Following lunch, we
went on a long walk around the bays to see the park and islands we had spotted from our ferry ride in. The sun was spectacular, and the foliage was breathtaking. We took a lot of great pictures with the fall sunlight and the trees in their full color glory. It was one of those days where we really liked being where we were. We were really happy to have seen Helsinki with two really pretty sunny days - th
e city really seemed to sparkle with the good weather. We imagine it would be a great country to visit when the weather was warm. Exploring more of the country via car would also be quite cool, we imagined. Estonia was interesting, but expensive in Tallin and we wondered what the rest of the country held. We liked the breakfasts in both countries though - we had amazing lox every morning! We'll miss that. In the end, the cold weather was starting to get to us, and we both had colds from the chill. We left our cold weather clothing there, as we did not need it for the next trip legs!
e city really seemed to sparkle with the good weather. We imagine it would be a great country to visit when the weather was warm. Exploring more of the country via car would also be quite cool, we imagined. Estonia was interesting, but expensive in Tallin and we wondered what the rest of the country held. We liked the breakfasts in both countries though - we had amazing lox every morning! We'll miss that. In the end, the cold weather was starting to get to us, and we both had colds from the chill. We left our cold weather clothing there, as we did not need it for the next trip legs! Next Up: Tokyo, Japan!
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