Day 2 Diversions
Glo Art Hotel puts out a top notch breakfast spread, something we always take advantage of since we’re never sure when and where lunch will fit in. Thus fortified, we made our way to the Design district, a little south of the Esplanadi. I goggled at all the art nouveau, art deco, neoclassical, and Nordic classical buildings. Lots of design studios for clothing and home design in this area too.
We visited the Design Museum, which held permanent exhibits about such famous Finnish design houses as Marimekko, Franck and Saarinen as well as a current exhibit by textile artist Kustaa Saski, who creates jacquard woven tapestries, some inspired by his own history with migraines, and some exploring various challenges of the modern age.
I was particularly taken by his work, A World in Waiting about a possible scenario set in the year 4017, long after the end of humanity. It depicts a place near the Arctic Circle, where seeds from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, have sprouted to create lush fields, and Saski has used actual seeds like those in the vault in his tapestry.
Canal Cruising
Climbing to the upper deck of a canal boat, we embarked on a sometimes breezy cruise-by tour of some of the archipelago islands around Helsinki, including Suomenlinna. This is a larger fortress island and UNESCO World Heritage site, and popular day trip for visitors to Helsinki, with hiking trails and picnic spots as well as museums, cannons, dockyards, etc. Later we went under low bridges and discovered where many Finns have vacation and weekend homes surrounded by nature, but still close to town.
We were sitting just behind a couple from Seattle that had been in Buenos Aires during the World Cup Final so our cruise went by in a flash with this interesting juxtaposition of Finnish scenery and Argentine futbol mania. We disembarked dying for some more of that incredible soup from yesterday, but alas, our cafe was just closing at 4pm. They did, however point us to very good, more traditional salmon soup just across from their cafe at Scandinavian Cafe. It was packed, because it was a very soup kind of day, so we sat with two very nice Finnish women to eat.
Walk to the Rock Church
Next on our agenda was the Temppeliaukio Church, a bit of a hike through town. We could have taken a bus or tram, but we’re sometimes suckers for just walking, so as not to miss anything. This enabled me to make a quick stop at a Marimekko store for just a little something to remember Finland by. Our walk took us past the Central Station and it’s fabulous Saarinen design.
Just a wonderful town for architecture. Then there’s the Rock Church. Such an intriguing, grounded place to sit and contemplate. Very popular for weddings and concerts. Two brothers designed it in the 1960’s, winning a competition to design the best Lutheran church to respect the neighborhood and the rock it was built on itself.
Sibelius Monument
Even though our dogs were barking at this point, we soldiered on further north, on foot, about 20 minutes to our last must see in Helsinki, for this trip, anyway. We finally made it to the Sibelius Monument, located in a lovely, harbor front park. The modern, open sculpture dedicated to one of Finland’s favorite sons and the composer who helped Finland establish its own identity, distinct from Russia, stands on a small outcropping of rock. We saw families having formal portraits taken in front of it, and I’ll bet it features in plenty of wedding photos.
Nearby, is a small institution of sorts, the Regatta Cafe, where you can have an excellent coffee (actually you can have excellent coffee anywhere you go in Helsinki). You can also grill a sausage over an open flame overlooking the water. We took a well deserved break here, then had the proprietress call us a taxi. Our feet thanked us.
Is it Fleet Week? What’s with all the White Caps?
After some feet resting hotel time, we went in search of excellent Japanese food, finding it just around the corner from our place at Shinobi, an izakaya. Much revived, we were ready to stroll a bit on our last evening in Helsinki, a Saturday night at that. Shinobi was on a pretty happening street, lined with bars and restaurants. Many had lines waiting to get in.
We started to notice that there were tons of young people wearing sailor hats. We wondered if it was something like Fleet Week. They were all nicely dressed but a little too glam to be military. And really young. And we realized we’d been seeing them all day. Dan finally stopped a group walking through the Esplanadi and asked. Turns out they were freshly graduated university students. All their families were in town and it started to make sense why it was so hard to get reservations and such. In Finland, and Sweden too, maybe all of Scandinavia, graduates wear white caps that look kind of like sailor hats instead of mortarboards. Loved this bit of local color! And the exuberance of it all. Much partying was had.
