Lindsey's Denmark Adventures: A Weekend in FINLAND

Yes, I spent this past weekend in and around Helsinki, Finland. Why? Because it's an out of the ordinary yet beautiful country. My friend Wallis and I wanted to go somewhere unexpected to escape Copenhagen city life, see some beautiful scenery and nature, but also get a feel for another culture and experience something new.

Friday, September 21:

It was a little hectic leaving because I had class until 4:10 at Parliament, had to walk all the way back, but also had to print, sign, and email a lease for housing senior year before I left. Of course, my ID card wasn't working, so I had to find the IT office to fix it. And OF COURSE, they were in a meeting and couldn't help me for another 20 minutes. Long story short, I got it all under control and was back at the house 10 minutes before Wallis and I wanted to leave. Good thing I was already packed and just needed to throw in some last minute necessities. We left home around 5:30 pm, took a 3 zone metro to the airport, printed our boarding passes, and had some time to kill before boarding at 8:00. We walked around a little before getting some pesto pasta salad with tomatoes and mozzarella for dinner. The Copenhagen Airport is so nice! And when I say nice I mean really upscale and fancy. Our flight was a little delayed boarding, but we took off pretty much on time. Finland's time zone is an hour ahead of Denmark's, so after dozing off on the plane, we landed at 11:15 Finnish time. The flight itself was only an hour and 20 minutes. Once we got off the plane, we got a map of Helsinki and the lady at the information desk told us which bus platform would take us to the city center. The bus came around 11:45 and took 40 minutes to get to Helsinki Central Station. From there, we walked another half hour to Eurohostel (along main streets and then through a semi-sketchy area, especially at 1am.) Once we checked into our little double room, we quickly made our beds and fell asleep, knowing tomorrow would be a long day.

PS. The bathroom had bird chirping noises. Threw me off every time.

Saturday, September 22:

We woke up at 7:30 and left the hostel by 8, pretty much just winging it with breakfast and directions (depending on our map and my CityMaps2Go app on my phone.) Since neither of us wanted to withdraw cash, we decided to go to the Tourist Info building when it opens at 9 to get bus tickets with credit card. Just our luck, this weekend the center didn't open until 10 which is after the bus leaves. So we had to find a cash machine and get out some euros. This ended up working in our favor for later use. Good thing we left ourselves plenty of time because we wandered quite a lot trying to find a cash machine, the bus stop, and an open cafe. Apparently a lot of places are closed on Saturday mornings, but we found Cafe Lasipalatsi that opened at 9, got a cresant for breakfast and a sandwich to go for lunch, and found the right bus stop (thankfully) for our bus at 9:30 to........... Haltia Finnish Nature Center right outside Nuuksio National Park. After a 40 minute bus ride, we arrived at the center and asked what would be a good hike for us to take in our 5 hour window. They suggested a trail that was 10 km round trip through Nuuksio to Haukkalampi Lake, then we added another 2 km loop where we ate our packed sandwiched on a rock overlooking the fog-covered lake. The weather was foggy and cloudy, but the spooky feeling in the middle of the woods was surprisingly calming. This park was gorgeous! Exactly the relaxing getaway I was looking for. Some of the hike was steep and a bit of a workout, but for the most part it was really relaxing. Wallis and I talked for hours about literally everything, but also enjoyed the silence of our surroundings. Unfortunately, my hiking boots really hurt my feet, which carried on into Sunday also. But it was so worth it! By the time we got back to the center, it was just after 1, which left us a couple hours to walk around the exhibitions, climb a lookout tower, pet some adorable Huskies, and sit at the cafe just as the sun made guest appearances. The bus back to Helsinki left at 3, and we got back at the hostel just after 4, then showered and changed in 20 minutes for our next round of adventures.

Trail to Nuuksio

Haukkalampi Lake

Lunch Spot View

For the next couple of hours, we planned to go out to dinner at a Russian restaurant (very Finnish thing to do apparently) but the ones we went to were either not as appealing or completely booked for the night. We finally gave up on finding dinner and decided to just get the dinner served on.......... the IHA-Lines Oy Helsinki Evening and Sunset Cruise around the Eastern Archipelago. So instead, we spent those hours wandering the streets and finally ended up at Karl Frazer's Cafe. I got this amazing mint chocolate hot cocoa that definitely hit the spot. At 6:30, we boarded the boat and by 7 we left the dock. The cruise lasted 2 hours and in that time span we got a Finnish beer, salad, Salmon filet with veggies, chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, and many gorgeous sunset pictures within the Archipelago. Getting dinner on the cruise was yet another great life decision. Once we docked again, we got back to the hostel around 10 and planned our itinerary for Sunday via a handy-dandy Helsinki Visitors Guide.

Sunday, September 22:

Today, we stayed in Helsinki and toured the city. We woke up at 8, ate the hostel's buffet breakfast at 8:30, which included granola, yogurt, toast, eggs, watermelon, and tea. We also snuck out sandwiches for lunch we made with tomato, cucumber, cheese, and salami. After packing up our stuff, we checked out (having to walk around the city with our backpacks) and walked to the tram to take us to our farthest destination up North - the Helsinki Olympic Stadium! This was a highlight for me because I just love the Olympics so much. Helsinki hosted the 1952 Summer Games in the stadium that was built in 1938 and considered the world's most beautiful Olympic Stadium. We were the only ones in the whole place which was AWESOME. We had absolutely gorgeous weather today, mostly sunny and decently warm. We walked to the Sibelius Monument in Sibelius Park. This sculpture was so interesting, designed as elevated pipes so visitors can interact with the sounds and echoes. We walked along the water before reaching our next stop at Temppeliaukio Church, which is quarried out of the natural bedrock. We ate our packed sandwiches on the rocks on top of the church. Down the main street, we passed Finlandia Hall, the National Museum of Finland, Parliament House, and the Helsinki Music Center, then made our way to the Kamppi Chapel of Silence. This was awesome how somewhere right in the center of the city could be so calm and quiet. We then headed to the Helsinki Cathedral, a grand white building on top of the hill overlooking Senate Square, the Government Palace, the University of Helsinki, and the National Library of Finland. At this point, we got around the city a lot faster than expected, so decided to head over to the harbor market a bit earlier and spend more time walking around the stalls. We got little trinket souvenirs (I won't write what they are because some include presents!) and then I decided to try a classic Finnish dish of reindeer meatballs and moose meat. When in Finland, right? It was surprisingly delicious. We still had another hour, so we headed over to the free Helsinki City Museum and then the Children's Museum. By 3:45, we were on the bus headed to the airport, got checked in by 4:30, and had 2 hours before boarding at 6:30. As we're walking around the shops, we found the chocolate bars from Karl Frazer's Cafe..... on sale! 3 bars for the price of 2. How can we not get famous Finnish chocolate bars? We chose to split a regular dark bar, a milk with hazelnut, and a dark with pear. All are delicious. Let's see how long they last. We also found free wifi at the gate, which was nice to catch up on emails and friends after being out of touch for the weekend (which was also really awesome to be disconnected for a while.) We bought Finnish cinnamon rolls (so good) and sandwiches to eat on the plane for dinner, landed in Copenhagen at 7:30 Danish time, got the metro back to Nørreport Station, and walked in the rain for 5 minutes before finally reaching home! Good old Copenhagen you were missed. The weekend in Finland was so much fun, but I was glad to be back home.