Finsatsea: Hello from Helsinki

Last night around 11 PM we arrived in Helsinki. We were already in bed but we could feel the vibrations from the maneuvering and then the lack of motion. This morning we awoke to a cold, rainy day. We had a tour booked so we dressed, had some breakfast and made our way down to the gangway. When we got there the Finnish port person told us the bus wasn’t here yet and we would probably prefer to wait on the ship. Good thinking! She did ask if we were on the speed boat tour. Thankfully not. Whoever was booked on that one this morning must have had a fun trip.

At the designated time we boarded the bus and were off for a tour to see the best of Helsinki and to hear a Sibelius concert. Our first stop was to see the Sibelius Monument in the park of the same name. The monument consists of more than 600 steel pipes in a wave-like pattern which is supposed to represent the composer’s music. Our guide told us that people have said that on a very windy day the sculpture sounds like it’s making some music.

Sibelius Monument

Our next stop was the Rock Church. That’s not the real name but it’s easier than the actual name, Temppeliaukio Church. It’s a Lutheran church built into the solid rock. The walls are the natural rock and light comes from the skylight around the solid copper dome roof. The organ has 3000 pipes.

Organ in the Rock Church

Altar with the rock wall behind

Copper dome of the church

After leaving the church we drove to Senate Square. The square and the area around it represent the oldest part of Helsinki. On one side is the main building of the University of Helsinki. Opposite is the Government Palace and on a third side is Helsinki Cathedral. In the center is a statue of Czar Alexander II who evidently issued some decrees giving Finland more autonomy in the second half of the 19^th century. Finland was part of Russia from 1809 to 1917. Before that it belonged to Sweden. This year the Finns are celebrating 100 years of independence! Our guide told us that during WWII the Soviet Union attacked Finland but didn’t conquer it. In addition to resisting, the Finns evidently struck a deal with the Russians and agreed to pay them off. They finished paying whatever it was they had agreed upon in 1952. While that evidently put a tremendous strain on the Finnish economy it did allow them to avoid becoming annexed to the Soviet Union as their Baltic neighbors Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were.

Helsinki Cathedral

Czar Alexander II

We had a few minutes of free time in the square and Al was talking to the bus driver. There were a couple of parked cars that had tickets under the windshield wipers. The driver said the tickets would cost the drivers 120 €. If the car hasn’t moved by the time the traffic cop comes back, the fine goes up to 300€.

A 120 € ticket!

We took a short walk to the National Hall where we were treated to a concert by two talented young Finnish women, one a violinist and the other a pianist. They performed several compositions by Jean Sibelius, considered to be Finland’s national composer. His work Finlandia symbolizes the country’s struggle to achieve independence from Russia during the years of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. The violinist was a young woman only 18 years old. She truly made her instrument sing. It was a wonderful interlude. When we came out from the concert, the skies had cleared and the sun was out.

After a short ride we were back at the ship. In our brief time here we have some impressions of Helsinki. For a city of 1.25 million people it is very clean and it looks pretty prosperous. The buildings are an interesting combination of late 19^th century European and Finnish modern. The people are extraordinarily friendly, and I wish I could understand their language. Fortunately for us tourists, most of them speak English. I had heard some people on the ship say that this was a boring place, but I would have to disagree; I think we could have easily spent more time here.