Before I start, I decided to try some Finnish treats. I bought something at the grocery store that I thought was an Easter treat, but I fell a little short.
Tippaleipä is not served at Easter, but is a May Day treat. Also, it's a version of a funnel cake. Little more compact, a little crispier, but your average funnel cake. It was good (notice one is missing) but not exactly exotic.
So, headed out around lunchtime planning to try the Russian boat at South Harbor that I saw yesterday. Alas, Nickolai II was not open today either. So, it was Plan B.
The long orange tents you see along the waterfront are small, portable restaurants. I remembered seeing signs for creamy salmon soup with bread and coffee for 7.50 Euro and it sounded yummy.
Everything has an orange glow as I was inside one of those tents. The bread is crispbread, which was cool because it makes for good dipping in hot soup. The soup was blazing hot and topped with fresh dill. I am gonna learn how to make that shit because it ROCKS! Everything comes with coffee here and much of it is mediocre...like this coffee. But the soup was amazing enough to make it not matter at all.
After lunch, I headed over to the ticket machine and got a day ticket for public transport, which ended up being unnecessary. I should have just gotten the 2 hour ticket, but I thought I'd be getting off the tram once or twice. However, the things I thought about seeing close up were either closed (Hakaniemem Market and Rock Church) or not as interesting as I thought they would be (Olympic Park), so I stayed on the tram the whole time. I'm glad I did it so I have a good handle on where things are that I want to see later.
I got off of the 2/3 tram (it starts out as 2 but switches to 3 halfway through) after doing a full circuit (it's kind of a figure 8) and was back at the market. So I decided to just wander around and check out the sights. First stop:
Helsinki Cathedral. First Lutheran cathedral I've ever visited. As you can see, it's high, high up on a hill with a very steep set of stairs facing Senate Square.
More of a side view. There was a wedding going on today. The bride was outside getting photos taken in her strapless gown. God bless her, the temps were in the 20's...
More detail on the distinctive green domes and statues of the apostles.
Statue of Alexander II in front of the Cathedral in the middle of Senate Square. 'Cuz you know...this place was once a part of Russia. On and off...
This was a cute little orthodox church next to Helsinki Cathedral. There are bunches of churches here.
Headed back to the shopping district to find the most famous sculpture in Helsinki
The Three Blacksmiths (or just Smiths), by Felix Nylund. Apparently, it is a tribute to hard work.
Um...does anyone else have a problem with the fact that they're doing black-smithy things naked and without the proper protective clothing? That is some artistic license my friends...
This is the awesome Helsinki Train Station. Designed by Eliel Saarinen it's in the National Romanticist design (considered to be a form of Art Nouveau). It's pretty spectacular and was chosen by the BBC in 2013 as one of the World's most beautiful railway stations.
The entrance is flanked on each side by a pair of these Granite Men. Apparently, they are often parodied by the Finns, but I think they're lovely. Hopefully, I'll get over there one evening when it's all lit up.
Next to the station is this statue of Aleksis Kivi, who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish Language. "The Seven Brothers" was originally panned by many critics as unfortunate Aleksis had the bad luck to be a realist when romanticism was in vogue. Poor guy died a penniless alcoholic, the fate of many literary greats.
If I can figure out the damn ferry time table, I may go to Tallinn tomorrow...we'll see.
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