Finland (and Estonia)

Finland (and Estonia)

Next location: Helsinki! Even though Our trip to Helsinki started in my previous post as we arrived late on Tuesday I decided that this would be the start to the Finland post as these are the days most spent in Finland!

Day 13, Wednesday
After having to switch rooms we headed out to downtown Helsinki to discover the sights.

We stopped by in some tourist shops to first scope out some prices for postcards and gifts.We then stopped at the Forum shopping mall. I found a really cute headband for only a couple Euro which was a steal! We ended up having our lunch here as the selections was pretty decent. We ate a Turkish pizza place which allowed us to split the pizza, half Hawaiian and half just cheese so that me and Amanda could split it.It was only like 3Euros each? Amazing.

We continued walking and although most locals did not seem eager to help us we eventually found out way to the Salu Market... basically their touristy/farmer's market along the harbour. We bought some stuff and tried to go to the Uspenski Cathedral but were apparently too late for it.

We headed back down to the harbour and I convinced Amanda to take the boat to Suomenlinna to visit the UNESCO site. I wasn't going to let this go to chance and not visit it and the far was only a couple Euro for return so I couldn't pass it up. The boat ride was quick and the island was really pretty. There are people who still live there on a regular basis although we figured it is probably annoying with all the tourists who visit... We got to visit two museums for free as it was apparently national museum day so we visited the Suomenlinna visitor centre museum as well as an old military museum.

(overlooking Helsinki from Suomenlinna)

Once we got back we went to Senate Square and took some photos of Helsinki Cathedral. It was closed as well but we got some pretty good snaps of it. On our way back we went to the forum again for dinner. Amanda had pizza again and brought her food to the Golden Rax restaurant where I ate. It was a pizza buffet, kind of like a pizza hut but I was craving chicken and salad so I had both!

We went back to the hostel and didn't stay up too late as we decided that tomorrow we would do a boat trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia and spend a day trip there!

Day 14, Thursday
Today we decided to day trip to Tallinn, Estonia. We had to speed-walk (and run) in order to catch the boat on time, and we literally got our ticket as they were doing the final boarding. We decided the cheapest line to take would be with LindaLine and it was a Catamaran so it only took an hour and a half compared to the other companies that were 2-2.5 hours.

Amanda slept on the ride there but I ended up chatting with a Parisian girl who had been studying in Tampere, Finland. She said I had a really good command of the French language and an accent that was not Quebecois (thankfully) and therefore she could understand me haha.

Once we arrived in Tallinn we walked towards the Old Town. It was a dreary looking day and we had some bouts of drizzle but nothing serious. We first saw the Broken Bridge Monument for the memorial of the boat sinking that happened several years ago. We then found our way into one of the gate entrances to the Old Town. The town was very medieval looking with its cobblestone streets and decorated old doors. We first went into St. Olaf's Church was a beautiful old church (believed to be from the 12th Century). It was really gorgeous and the interior was even better!

While walking along the main street called Pikk I was determined to find the address Pikk 59. This is the address of the former KGB HQ that I had read about in my research. We eventually found it with the sealed windows from the basement which was a former interrogation room.

As we continued down Pikk we did some tourist shopping and stopped for a bite at Cafe Bonaparte which was amazing. I had a mince-meat pastry and saved a lingonberry pastry for later.

We continued down Pikk until we made it to Raekoja Plats(pictured below with me in the centre). This is their main square. It has the town hall and the surrounding buildings are restaurants and souvenirs shops. From here we rushed up to Troompea Castle(we thought we were in a rush but we did not have the correct time). It was really pretty even for the rush job that we had of seeing it. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was closed (as per usual for us on this trip) and we headed back down to finish our souvenir shopping and head towards the boat.

We ended up taking an earlier boat ride home (as we had thought we were in a rush). Before boarding I was able to pick up some sand for my uncle (not the easiest task as we mostly visited capitals and there are no beaches generally) and I was also able to pick up some wild strawberry Estonian liquor for 5Euros.

I slept on the boat ride back but was ridiculously cold. I had to wear mittens. I think sleeping by the window caused this but who knows. On our way back to the hostel we stopped in at the Forum to go to the grocery store and got some apples and yogurts. Our hostel has the worst system ever for the computers(albeit they were free) but seriously the group of girls in our room who were rotating in order to keep it between the 5 of them... was a bit ridiculous. I could go into more detail about how ridiculous the computer situation got but I won't get catty about it.

Day 15, Friday
Today was our final day in Helsinki and later we would be flying out to Stockholm, Sweden.

We checked out of the hostel but kept our luggage in their storage room so that we would not have to lug it around all day. Only because it was free did I actually store it haha.

We first went to some Natural History Museum. I didn't really want to go as it was our last day and I didn't have money either but Amanda didn't have a watch and our meeting point was not the greatest so I ended up waiting inside until Amanda was done. From here we decided to have lunch at another pizza place. The guy was really nice and put our pizzas in tin foil so that we could finish the remainder later.

We walked back to the market and did more browsing. I tried a squid ring, which tasted exactly like an onion ring haha but oh well I can say I tried. From here we walked to the Uspenski Cathedral with our fingers crossed that it was actually open. Thankfully, it was. No photos were allowed to be taken but of course I managed to snap a few without being caught. The inside was very elaborate but beautiful none the less. Once outside we were able to take some good views of the Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square.

From this Cathedral we walked back down and headed towards Senate Square. We were able to go into the Helsinki Cathedral although it was bigger it was not nearly as elaborate. The outside is far more appealing than the inside. From here we decided to eat on the steps, as many of the locals do during the day, and then started to head back so we could catch our bus to the airport.

On our way back we bought our postcards and took a detour in order to see a Church. This church is famous as it is built into the stone and apparently has really great acoustics, but, as per usual with our luck with churches thus far, it was closed for renovations. Obviously. Great. We continued along our way to the hostel, grabbed our stuff and then headed back to the Toolo Bay Park in order to catch our bus.

The airport was horrible. Security took away my spray deodorant. The bottle has less than half in it, probably less than a third but since it said 125ml they took it. I also got body searched at this airport which was a first. I had NO metal on me. I had not gone off at any other airport at this point.

After our quick flight to Stockholm we took the free airport transfer bus to our hostel... Jumbo Stay! This is a recyled airplane that has been turned into a hostel and it is quite the experience! There was a dining area/living area, bathrooms and our room even had tv! It was weird sleeping on a plane but it was an opportunity we could not pass up!We tucked in early for the night as we had to bus into downtown Stockholm early the next morning to move to our next hostel!