Finland, Finland, Finland (and Estonia)

We had a short adventure this past weekend by spending 4 days in Helsinki, Finland which is a conveniently short 1.5 hour flight from Copenhagen. Right away on the train from the airport, we could see the striking differences from Denmark: there are rocky hills and so many pine trees. And Helsinki itself is different because Finland is the only Nordic country that doesn't have any buildings that dates back to medieval times, so buildings look newer and streets are straighter. 

Even though our intriguing hotel had the look of an old castle, it was actually built much more recently.

Our hotel

Right after we dropped off our bags at our hotel, we walked down to the waterfront where we were meeting Emma Gier, her (Finnish) husband Konsta and their 3 month old son Onni.  They had suggested we meet at a well-known sauna/restaurant in case we wanted to schedule a sauna after dinner (but unfortunately there were no time slots available). It was a lovely outdoor restaurant on the water and we had a delicious meal; I had classic Finnish salmon soup and rye bread for dinner and Chuck had white fish.  It was wonderful to see Emma and Konsta (they live in SF but were in Finland so his mom could meet her new grandson) and it was helpful to be able to ask them both about Finland and the unusual Finnish language.

The next day we explored around town, first by taking a tram around to get our bearings and then on foot.  We had lunch in Market Square where we had grilled salmon and vendace (tiny fried fish you eat whole!).  And we had berries!  The market has so many strawberries, blueberries, kiwi berries, cherries, raspberries, lingonberries, etc.

Later we met up with our former exchange student Ella.  She took us to a modern art museum called Kiasma which was quite fascinating, as well as the incredibly modern Oodi Library. She then took us for Shanghai tacos at one of her favorite places.

On Saturday we had tickets to take the 2 hour ferry ride over to Tallinn in Estonia, one of the best preserved Nordic medieval cities. 

The old city wall is nearly intact and includes 26 watchtowers with pointy red roofs.  It is one of the only cities that survived bombing during the war. 

 We didn't have long enough to fully explore the old walled city but we had enough to really appreciate it; with more time, there would have been interesting museums, quaint alleyways, and sidewalk cafes to explore.   

During our final day in Helsinki, we had more time to walk around and explore lots of interesting places, including the Temppelliaukio Church, a modern church built into the rock, and the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral, before catching a later afternoon flight back.