After a very nice night of sleeping, we woke up in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. I confess that I didn't know too much about this country, and my assumption was that it was like an Scandinavian country. I was wrong. Helsinki looks more to me like modern city in Germany or in Holland. I thought everyone would be super tall and blonde and that the city work like a Lego town, perfectly. But no. Helsinki is a very functional city, but people here are more relaxed than in Denmark or Sweden, I found.
We stayed at Anna hotel, right downtown. Although it was one of the most expensive hotels we've stayed in this trip (130 euros for a triple room), it is a modest place, but really clean. It also included a simple breakfast. We took the morning to walk around downtown. We had a nice walk through the Esplanadi area - a couple of main streets - and arrived at the Market Square, where there is an open-air farmers market. The place is very beautiful with its port and boats parked everywhere. That's Helsinki's post card. The sun was shinning but it was only 7 degrees Celsius, very cold for my parents, but they managed well.
Next stop was the Uspensky Cathedral at Katajanokka, an Ortodox Church built by the Russians when Finland was under their domain (1809 - 1917). It was like the Russian Ortodox churches we visited in Moscow and St. Petesburg: very illustrated inside and magnificent from outside.
From there we walked to the Senate Square and (Lutheran) Cathedral, another main attractions. Back on the Market Square, we had a delicious Paella prepared by a street vendor. Good job!!!
With our tummies full, we visited the Suomellina Island in the afternoon. I recommend a couple of hours to visit this island. This is where the history of Finland was shaped. Built in by the Swedish as a Fort during the war against Russia, today it is a museum with nice cafes, restaurants, art galleries, a library and a hostel. It is a very cute place and it can be a nice refuge from the city to seat overlooking the Gulf of Finland and listening the sound of the sea waves. The 20 minute boat ride costs only 3. 80 euros round trip.
History
Finland used to be part of Sweden until 1809, when the Russians took over. Only in 1917 (same year as the Russian revolution) Finland became an independent country.
Back in the hotel, I chatted a little bit with the general manager about Finland, world politics and social behaviour. I had the feeling that everybody here is well educated. For example, an old woman we met waiting for the boat to the island in the afternoon, showed incredible knowledge about Brazil when my parents said they are from there. It was with other people and the hotel manager (I forgot to ask his name).
Here are some highlights of our conversation:
- he said that 60% of Finnish people have at least an university degree, and that's a problem: the population is over educated and lots of these people end up working in a hotel reception of driving buses.
- according to him, there is a very small difference between a doctor and a street cleaner, in terms of salary. He said joking: " here everybody is equally poor".
- in his hotel there is only one manager (him), one receptionist, one breakfast person and two cleaners. He said that after the recession of 1993, everybody had to learn how to operate machines and adapt to multitask in their jobs.
- he mentioned that there has been some tension between the locals immigrants. The locals feel that the immigrants don't want to work as hard or integrate in the society. He doesn't like that "they tend to live in ghettos and don't want to learn the local languages".
- Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of the country and everybody speak English as well because "we have to", he says. So, when people say they speak a different language, it is actually a forth language, beside these three.
-Swedish and Finnish are completely different, but you see all the city signs and both languages.
- I asked if he feels Scandinavian, and he could not answer the question. Basically the answer is yes and no, according to the situation. But from my two days experience here, I think they are just Finnish.
- the climate here is a lot like in Canada
- the climate here is a lot like in Canada
- Finland in Finnsih is Suemi
Finland's most famous person is Santa klaus. he lives in Laponia, or Laplant, in English. We HAD to visit a Santa's store, of course!!!
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