Finagling Finland

 

This little tugboat carried me & a thousand companions from Tallinn to Helsinki

Hello again, Blogonauts!

Oh, the headlines I considered for this post!

   Beginning With A Big "Finnish"

   Hell not floatie, Hell sinkie!

   This Is Another Finn Mess I've Gotten Myself Into!

So you can thank me that I spared you the pain of those puns (...or did I?).

At noon on Monday the bedazzled barge "Finlandia" embarked across the Baltic, baring me and bundles of vagabonds bound for the cloudy, windswept harbor known as Helsinki.

I had worried a bit about becoming seasick, but that was never a threat. Instead I whiled away the time planning my 3-day Finnish foray while pretending I was eating at the cafe in IKEA.

I'm sure I've eaten something similar in IKEA's cafeteria.

 

I trammed & toddled my way to my hotel. But then, time and daylight were wasting! After quickly stowing my luggage in my room, it was my moment to orient myself to the city.

Unlike Tallinn, Helsinki missed out on medieval importance. Heck, it was barely a village before the 1800s. But for all the lack of knights & castles (and any other chess ideas running through your head), the city has its own art deco and neo-classical character. Check these out!

Stone Sentinels guarding the train station

The Prime Minister's Office Building (Old Senate Building) on Senate Square

Sitting high above Senate Square is the Helsinki (Lutheran) Cathedral.

Helsinki's Lutheran Cathedral

When I tried to step inside, the doorman said they had an art exhibit about the planet Mars, so I would need to purchase a 5€ ticket. That left me a bit miffed. Lutheran churches aren't usually the showplaces of their pontified counterparts. But I shrugged and gamboled off to the ticket office, returned to show him my entrance badge, and entered to see ... THIS:

An enormous model of the planet Mars was rotating above the transept.

 OK... That was worth a few euros to see. Along with an enormous planetary model of Mars rotating above the transept, there was audio playing, sometimes music, sometimes commentary about Mars or the interplanetary missions to the red planet, or just sounds of wind (which may be the recordings of wind captured by one of the rovers).

I made a few other stops I'll describe later, but soon the daylight started to dwindle, and my tummy started grumble. So I made my way to the Old Market Hall in time to sup on salmon soup.

The Old Market Hall's Interior

 

Salmon Soup in the Old Market Hall

 

After that, I wandered around my temporary neighborhood, which seems like a shoppers heaven. (I bought a mug...admittedly a very pretty mug, and it was on sale. 😜)

For now you get one final photo. Across from my hotel, there is a cafe with the following sign posted: 

Note the English translation: CASH PAYMENT NO LONGER POSSIBLE

I traveled to Europe with about 50 euros in my wallet. I've spent 10 (to tip the Tallinn tour guide). For everything else, I've used my phone's ApplePay feature. There are clearly down sides for folks whose luck means they have trouble banking, but perhaps that too will eventually be solved with electronic transactions we can carry out with their phones.

There's more exploring ahead! And if you decide to leave a comment on the blog, please lower your digital mask long enough that I can recognize who you are. 

Blog to you later!

Larry