Helsinki is unique in that the natives have been there four thousands of years, but the Russians and Swedes left their imprint on them fairly recently, so the architecture seems grande and yet new, and the people seem cultured as well as rooted in ancient traditions.
The Finish I had the pleasure of talking to were very open, friendly, and superbly honest from what I could tell. We visited the Museum of Natural History where we asked if it was compulsory to buy tickets. The man said yes, but then no one checked our tickets. Thinking he probably didn't know what I meant I went back to ask him why no one was checking tickets. He just laughed and said that we were in Finland, and here there is no need to do such a thing, because people are honest. I'm not sure he was correct about all the other visitors but I was duly impressed.
The food was also absolutely fabulous and HUGE props to restaurants actually serving you a jar of ice cold tap water as soon as you sit down, with no charge. I wish they did that here. They do however charge a lot for food in general, and there cuisine is quite heavy on the animal products. You can hardly find a salad that is purely vegetarian. Anyway, it was all very yummy.
And lastly let me mention the Sauna which the Fins invented. I have always despised Saunas, mainly because I like neither heat, humidity, great temperature differences, nor the sensation of sweating and when I went to the Sauna as a little girl with my dad he would make inappropriate comments about the naked women in the Sauna, which left me thinking that Saunas were just a way for older men to ogle, judge, and leer at girls. (And I think I watched an 80's murder mystery show where someone locked someone in the sauna and they were saved only at the very last minute, so that kind of freaks me out a bit). However, I realized that having a sauna in your apartment and being able to take moderately cool showers after is actually very nice and quite social. So, my visit to Finland has cured me of my dislike for saunas and I quite enjoy them now. I didn't take any pictures though, just FYI.
This was just a 6 minute walk from our place.
On the Suomenlinna (the maritime fortress)
Looks almost like a scene from City of Ember.
All animals here seem very used to being fed.
Micah's dancing antics.
The kids and I really loved climbing the rocks and watching the waves and the big cruise ships pass.
Micah eating his favorite food for his birthday: Loempias!
Micah is five now. He pretend blew out the candle because we were not allowed to light a fire in the apartment.
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