Finnish Whistles

Well, I’ve officially broken the trip record for the number of steps taken in one day – today I clocked in at 33,273 according to me slightly inaccurate phone’s count.  It’s funny because it didn’t feel particularly walking-heavy, at least compared to other days.  I think that’s because Helsinki is so small so I did a lot of walking but never got very far.  Once again today was a series of adventures in which I set out for great hikes only to discover that the thing I was planning to see was only a couple blocks away.  It meant that by 3pm I was out of itinerary items, but that led to the best surprise discovery so far so I’m okay with it.

Because today is Saturday, there was lots going on.  Esplanadi, the main street, had a street fair featuring a lot of ethic foods from Asia and the Middle East.  Over at the market square (Kauppatori) the vendors were out in full force, including many selling various fried herring dishes and other smelly fare.  The vegetable stands, like in Sweden, were filled with mushrooms and lingonberries (they claim these foods are Finnish, Sweden considers them local fare as well).

All of this took me only three blocks from my hotel, so within seconds I had conquered one of the main tourist sites.  I decided to walk by their giant ferris wheel thing (kind of like a smaller London Eye) and I headed up to the Uspenskin Katedraali (one of the iconic cathedrals in town – a very Russian-looking contraption), which was on my list of 1000000 churches to visit.  It’s quite striking in person because it sits so high up on a rock.

I wandered a bit past a marina with some pretty sailboats and a fun row of neoclassical buildings with a touch of Oriental/Russian influence, then across a bridge filled with inscribed locks (such a funny tradition!) until I saw yet another church I’d planned on visiting in the distance, the Helsinki Cathedral that sits waaaaay up on a hill above Senate Square.  Outside that Cathedral was where I met up with all the tourbuses (one Asian group, one Russian group, one group of indeterminate provenance) for the first time, though it would not be our last-run in.

There’s a reason this Cathedral is such a popular site.  The horizontal-ness of the placement and larger-than-life staircase in front of it really is pretty astonishing and bizarre.  (Note my tourbus-approved selfie.)  Inside, the Cathedral has that light-filled, non-gloomy, non-stained glass quality I’ve been raving about.  It’s really nice, though it looks more like an American colonial era civic building to me than a church.  I felt like I should have convened Congress while I was there.

I walked west out of the square, intending to ultimately wind up at ANOTHER famous church (a modernist wonder, I promise I’m not becoming religious!) but first found myself passing the national theater and winding up at at yet another international food fair outside the train station.  This one seemed like a special Saturday event.  There were stands from various countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Holland, etc, and they were all selling either specialty foods or street-fair style leather and woven goods.  Big day for international  food here in Helsinki!

I don’t have a picture of the train station, but it’s a pretty impression art nouveau building that I went into a few times just to make sure I saw every part of it I could.  This time  I walked through it and wound up outside Kiasma, which is Helsinki’s contemporary art museum.  I didn’t want to pay admission – I’ve seen enough contemporary art on this trip – but I did want to see the building because it’s notable in and of itself.  I checked out the lobby, which is probably the most oft-photographed part of the building, then left to head up towards Temppeliaukion Church (the church build into a rock).

Then, a plot twist!  As I was leaving Kiasma I noticed people handing out balloons with doves on them and I followed the ballon-wielders into a park behind the museum that was filled with thousands of people cheering and blowing into cork whistles.  It took my a while to figure to what was going on – a guy in a roving van with a microphone was speaking in Finnish and the crowd was going wild.  It was mostly younger people with children, trendy older folks, seasoned activists, and teens, so I figured it was probably a demonstration over something I could get behind.  Finally I inserted myself along a walkway that had a view of the rest of the demonstrators and started seeing peace signs.  The guy eventually gave his spiel in English – it was an anti-racism, anti-fascism protest – so I decided to stick around.  I’m still not sure if it was inspired by something locally or a more general statement.  I initially, just sort of subconscious, assumed it was because of what’s been happening in the states, but I had to remind myself that I am in Europe and they have their own political life complete with rampant prejudice and a history of inventing fascism as we know it.  For all I know there was a very specific issue of racial violence in Finland that I never heard about.  Either way, I figured there’s no wrong way to be against racism and fascism so I was handed a cork whistle and hung out.  After about an hour they began to march (a hilariously short distance – oh, Helsinki) so I marched briefly, then continued on my way.  After all, it’s my last day here.  I did, however, assume that anybody else I saw in the streets, where it was extremely quiet, was an uncool sort.  I stand by my assessment.

Leaving a protest always makes me feel guilty, but I’m pretty happy I left when I did because Temppeliaukion Church was awesome and closed pretty soon after I got there.  It’s built directly into a giant rock and ringed my skylights and this crazy copper-colored domed ceiling.  It’s somehow both very dated (built in the 1960s) and also about as futuristic as I can imagine anything being.  The scale of it is very hard to depict in photos, but it’s impressive in person.  Judging from the number of selfies being taken, my Asian tour group friends, who re-joined me for this chapter after what I can imagine was a slightly less political lunch hour, agreed.

After giving directions to two British girls who were wandering around near the roof and couldn’t find the door (they JUST missed seeing the inside because a wedding was starting!) I returned to my hotel via a street I’d never taken and a candy store that I should have known better than to go into.

When I emerged from my hotel again, I walked to Finlandia Hall, another famous modernist building that was only one block from where I had turned off to see the church, thinking I’d never hit both in the same day.  There’s a nice park and lake next to it.  Then I wandered back through town, passing by the train station again and noticing an anti-violence vigil that had not been there when I last passed.  It must have been from the protest, which was now dispersed.

After retracing my steps from earlier in the day, past the international food market, through the shopping district (I stopped in a design store), and back to the Market Square, I noticed a building in the Helsinki distance (i.e. around the corner) that I’d seen in online guides.  It was a food market where I got myself a snack (cured white fish!) and another knockout hot chocolate.  In case you’re wondering, there was a stall there selling reindeer kebabs.  Fusion food!

I briefly returned to my hotel and found a guidebook on the shelf that’s apparently been here the whole time.  I looked up the architecture and design section to make sure I hadn’t missed anything and wouldn’t you know it, I had!  The neighborhood of Katajannoka (or some spelling…why even have names at that point?), which was built up around the turn of the century, is apparently one of the most consistent and unspoiled art nouveau neighborhoods in the world.  It’s right by the port and as Helsinki urbanized became a testing group for young architects working in the art nouveau movement.  I went over immediately (it was maybe five blocks away, a veritable hike by Helsinki standards) and checked it out.  The light was starting to fade so my photos aren’t great but it was very cool!  I’m so glad I thought to check it out.  A whole neighborhood of art nouveau is about as great as it gets.  There’s actually a lot of it here – it seems like Finland urbanized fairly quickly and all of a sudden – but this was something special.

Then it was back to the hotel for a shower, a quick run out to get some thai food (the weather had been making be crave Thai soup, so what if I’m in Finland!).  I leave pretty early tomorrow morning so I think that’s it for my Helsinki sightseeing.  It was dreary and overcast for my whole time here and it’s already a fairly muted city but I found it really charming anyway.  It’s cute!  Back to Sweden tomorrow for a couple of nights in Uppsala.  Should be a nice relaxing reprieve before I head back on Tuesday.