Why Not Helsinki?
 

After three months in London earlier this year (monster trip report here somewhere!) we had five nights in Helsinki. I've been finishing up my blog posts on London but I've just started blogging about Helsinki so it seems like time to cobble together even the smallest Trip Report.

We really enjoyed the trip, though Helsinki isn't an obviously lovely city and most people would probably see it in a shorter time. Some friends who know us well were there for a week last year and though we would like it which was enough for us to give it a go. We stayed right in the center of town in what's called the design district and the hotel (Klaus K) worked out well for us. It's one of those design hotels with strange things hanging in odd places and young but attractive looking staff, you know the kind of place? But it was very reasonably priced (under $120 for an upgraded room) so the drawbacks didn't bother us too much.

July is a strange time to be in Helsinki because you have the wonderful light, bright nights but it isn't too busy as many Finns leave town to spend a month at they chalet or cabin in the country or on one of the small islands that seem to be everywhere. Apparently it's quite common to have an out of town place on an island. Can't say we know many people with that here in California, lucky Finns. Though I'm not sure I'd think they were as lucky if I visited in December. Because a lot of people have left town some of the restaurants were closed but overall we ate well, lots of fresh fish etc. My first blog post is on the food, which is always a good place to start.

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...nki-food-scene.

As usually, despite staying longer than most visitors, we managed to miss the major attraction. In this case the UNESCO World Heritage Fortress of Suomenlinna on an island in Helsinki harbor. It's meant to be lovely and perhaps we would have seen it if we'd stayed longer. So what were we doing with ourselves? Well for us the attraction was design and Helsinki was named the world capital of design in 2012.

We were really happy to see a number of Alvar Aalto's buildings including the Olympic Stadium, Finlandia Hall and of course his home which is now a museum. The museum was very much worth seeing and we enjoyed the guided tour as well as using the trams to find our way out there. You would probably recognize many of Aalto's designs and I very much enjoyed visiting his design shop Artek.

On the design side of things there are lots of things to see including the Design Museum which does a good job of tracing the history of Finnish Design, highly recommended for people like myself for whom Finish Design is very exciting, I realize this maybe a small subset of a subset! There are also lots of design shops including small less well known ones and larger ones from the famous Finnish designers like Marimekko and the glass manufacturer Ittala.

Lets be clear we liked Helsinki but I'm not sure it would be the fist place you'd head if you hadn't been to lots of other places in Europe. NO buildings in the city are more than 200 years old because a large fire destroyed the town in the early 19th century. However. there are a lot of very interesting Art Nouveau buildings though they're more in the German Jungendstil vein, more restrained and more masculine. We were fascinated in the number of buildings from this period, entire neighborhoods or apartment buildings.

We did a lot of walking, round town and out along the waterfront. There are quite a number of interesting restored indoor markets which have some good food and crafts shops too. There's one that appeals to tourists down on the harbor but we liked the Hakaniemi Market Hall which I'd recommend. they often have soup places which seemed very popular at lunchtime. I also very much liked the Chapel of Silnce a beautiful modern Lutheran chapel which looks like an egg that descended from outer space into the middle of a shopping mall in Kaapmi!

WE did a lot of roaming around and we loved the trams which were easy to navigate. There's a lot of new building in the city and we went out to one suburb on a walk around a new mixed uses development. The tourist office promotes design tourism and they had an interesting self guided walk through the Arabia neighborhood which is north of the downtown.
It was interesting to see the ways in which they're incorporated public art and also how they have student accommodations right in there with buildings for families. It was really well done with beautiful walking paths along the waterfront and it seemed very livable, with places for your bikes and a community garden - the scale of everything seemed very nice. These Finn really value design and you could see the importance that's placed on sustainability and livability in these new developments.
I'd recommend the slim Wallpaper Guide. normally I find these a little too precious but for Helsinki it was great. Lots of good restaurants, neighborhoods, shops etc.

We were there on a Sunday and I visited the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, which is a lovely house museum that gives you a good sense for the Russian merchant class in the mid to late 19th century. The museum was near another of the restored markets where they had a flea market which was fun and right behind the museum was a park where people just bing there old things and sell or swap them. Apparently it's a very popular Sunday activity and there were lots of people there. For the most part it really was regular people with a few things, books, clothes, shoes, hanging out and chatting.

We enjoyed our five days in Helsinki and for design pilgrims it's a good destination. We took things at a quiet pace which was a contrast to Berlin which we headed to afterwards for eight days...,

I'll add some more of the blog posts as I write them
http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/search/label/Finland

Hey W,

Don't encourage too many people to visit Helsinki.

We don't want to spoil it with tourists, do we?

Did you get to visit a sauna?

((I))

Hey Ira - I was so glad to see someone replied, I guess helsinki it's too popular but as you suggest perhaps that's a good thing!

Ira, I had intended to make it to a sauna but it was one of the many things we didn't manage to do in our five days. Disappointingly our hotel did not have a sauna but this way we have yet another things on our list for our next trip.

Next time we'd like to visit the Aalto Museum Jyväskylä and take the train to St Petersburg.

Loving this and completely with you on Scandinavian design.

I doubt the Finns would be pleased that their designs (or them for that matter) would be referred to as Scandinavian.

Sounds like a good visit. Don't worry about missing Suomenlinna, I thought the best part was the boat ride (but I like my castles medieval). Interesting that you mention Aalto - I just saw an exhibition of his work, mostly architectural drawings and photos, in the Caixa Forum in Madrid.

I had the same reaction to the Art Nouveau in Helsinki, and it's not really my kind of Art Nouveau. But if you like AN you should go south to Riga next time.

Jesus what a pedant. There's a ton of well-regarded mid century onward furniture, fabric, print and glassware that hails from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Is that better Odin? Thanks for your contribution - scintillating.

The design stuff was really wonderful and makes for a good focus in Helsinki, glad it's interesting to you too RM67. (Apropos of nothing- just saw you're located in Cambridge where I go quite regularly to see my brother!)

Glad to hear Suomenlinna was miss-able Thursdaysd and you are right we really must make it to Riga sometime. We went to Tallinn a while ago but Riga and Vilnius are still on our list. Incidentally do look us up if you find yourself in the Bay Area sometime, I'd enjoy meeting you, after all we seem to be going to so many of the same place ;).

Apropos of Something- There are of course linguistic, cultural and geographic distinctions between Scandinavia and Finland but Finnish Design is often described and sold as Scandinavian Design in other countries. Even the manufactures utilize the words Scandinavian, particularly in reference to the design history when describing it in English. I don't think this would be any shock to the Finns, particularly when it benefits them in relation to marketing!

WTB - would enjoy meeting you too. Not sure when I will make it to the west coast again, might be next year as I feel it's time for Asia but might not. If you come through NC, let me know.

I certainly thought Finland counted as part of Scandinavia... Did find the History Museum in Helsinki very interesting, whole area left out of history at school (in England).

Will let you know if I come through NC, my god son is very interested in UNC Chapel Hill and just going through the application process.

My Britsh education left me woefully ignorant of the breadth of European history. If it wasn't a war, a revolution or a king with 8 wives it didn't feature!

Cool - I live very close to Chapel Hill. Hope your godson is prepared for southern summers.

I managed to "do" the Tudors and Stuarts twice and skip the Victorian era altogether. But we did start all the way back with the Hittites and the Sumerians et al.

Most impressed your history went that far back, we didn't even get as far back as the Magna Carta!

- I've been telling him to go for the summer in NC over the winter in Cornell but perhaps that was a mistake, lol! It all depends on where he gets in the next couple of months are the deciding ones.

Well, if he doesn't stay in town for the summer vacation he'll miss the worst of it, but summer is brutal here. AC is an absolute must, probably from May through sometime in October. Walking outside can be like walking into a Turkish bath.

I suspect I'm older than you - they still had the 11-plus when I was in school.

I'm 47 and we did the 11 plus too!

Wow, I thought they had done away with it before then. I am indeed older, alas. Two decades older.

Thats ok Thursday I won't hold it against you ;)

Frankly you're far more adventurous than most of us here including me. We may both been to Syria but you're the one who did it on your own and on public transport if I remember rightly?!!!

WTB - yes, you're right. I am so sad - although not surprised - by what has happened since. I doubt very much that the sights I enjoyed are still there, and the human cost is appalling.

Here's a blog post with pictures of a number of the art nouveau buildings for anyone who is interested. You can see how different this Finnish style is from the French style work we're all more familiar with, unless of course you're a Jugendstil expert!

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...-helsinki.html

One more blog post for anyone looking for things to do in Helsinki. The Sinebrychoff Art Museum which has a house museum plus an impressive collection. They have temporary exhibits on the ground floor. It's well worth visiting and it's near a flea market on the weekend and an old fashioned covered food market too. It's an easy walk from the center of town.

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...-helsinki.html

I've just posted on two of the most interesting Alvar Aalto buildings we saw in Helsinki; Finlandia Hall and the Olympic Stadium. Lots of pictures for any architecture fans and a description of how the Olympics ended up in Helsinki....

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...-helsinki.html

For anyone who is still following along about Helsinki. Another post, this time on Helsinki as a City of Design....shops, the Design Museum, a description and pictures of many of the buildings we saw including a walk through a new residential district etc

http://www.somuchmoretosee.com/2015/...of-design.html

I was in Helsinki in October 2004, as a wrap-around to visiting Tallinn, where I met some relatives. My parents had been there during their honeymoon in 1964 and they always talked about it as a very striking city. I was there during the annual Herring Festival down at the harbor and I enjoyed practicing my photography on the little booths selling lingonberries and the special herring snack. I had such a good time just walking around. The light was fantastic. I still have the Moomin-shaped cookie cutter I bought there.

A Moomin-shaped cookie cutter what a fabulous momento!

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Finland#

Sorry, this is what I meant to post..All of the photos in this above thread are excellent, so I thought I'd throw in my purely amateur scanned pix of Finland c.1985...mainly countryside and some of the city. We had been in the old SSR for nearly a month and needed a breath of fresh country air, so decided to stop in Finland before heading back to USA.

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...uHk6iIgbSEgAE#

<b>For DANNON</b> This and Finland above I think will be useful for you. Please excuse the hijack.