May 30 – Explore Helsinki | The Escapades of Pookie and Allan

May 30 – Exploring Helsinki •

Accommodations: Klaus K Hotel

After breakfast we had a Welcome Meeting to introduce ourselves and to tell a little about ourselves to Heidi, our Experience Leader, as well as to the two new travelers that flew in yesterday. Heidi told us what to expect during the next few weeks as we travel through Finland, Sweden, and Norway and she answered any questions we might have had.

She told us a few things about the Finnish people. They do not like to make small talk, and when you are in a bus or a tram, it’s considered rude to sit next to someone if there is a vacant seat available elsewhere. Sometimes, Finnish people will stand on a tram rather than sit next to another person.

After the meeting, a local guide met us and we did a walking tour of Helsinki.

Helsinki is the capital of Finland and Finnish and Swedish are the official languages. Helsinki was ranked the 4th-friendliest city in Europe. An interesting fact – Helsinki residents drink more coffee per capita than in many other countries. Coffee is always offered if you visit someone and it is considered part of the Finnish culture of social interaction.

We visited an amazing library…the central library of Helsinki called Oodi. Specially designed robots transport books to the third floor that has 185,000 sq ft designated for books. The building uses a passive solar building design and uses almost no energy. There is a double-helix staircase to the second floor, and what a second floor it is!!

From the library website: “The second floor is dedicated to work, learning by doing, interaction and sharing time with others, and has studios, game rooms, urban workshops, work and meeting rooms, and group work facilities. 3D-printers, laser cutter, uv-printer, large image printer, vinyl cutter, electronic workstations, heat press, sewing machines, badge makers, a Recording studio, Synthesizer studio and drums / percussion (studio 5), DJ and karaoke studio (studio 6), Acoustic instruments studio, Photograph and video studio (studio 7), Group rooms and working spaces, Immersive space Kuutio, and a Group kitchen (Learning space 4)”. WOW!!!!

We saw people sewing at the sewing machines, people waiting for their 3D masterpiece to be completed, folks were in the recording studio, beautiful photographs were being printed on heavy vinyl, kids in glass game rooms playing video games, and on and on. Amazing!

The third floor has a children’s section, a playground, a cafe, 100,000 books, sheet music, games, films, and magazines. The floor is filled with light and is so cheery. We could have spent hours there and if I were a citizen of Helsinki, I would have.

We toured The Sibelius Academy, the organizer of the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition that takes place every five years. The academy was founded in 1882 by Martin Wegekius and later renamed to honor former student and Finland’s most renown composer, Jean Sibelius.

Our local guide was very interesting and gave a great background of Helsinki, but soon it was time to say goodbye and we all walked over to the ferry pier to see the sights. Heidi gave us all a little fish called vendace, (muikku in Finnish). This is a popular dish in Finland. Muikku are small silvery fish that are coated in rye flour and then pan-fried until crispy. It was very tasty.

We found a cafeteria for lunch, and they had a bread area. I asked if they sold pulla bread, the Finnish coffee bread with cardamom that I make each Easter. The lady had no idea what I was talking about and Heidi had never heard of it either. Heidi said something similar is sold in Sweden so I guess I’ll try and see if I can get a taste there.

Some of the folks went on the ferry to visit the fortress, but Allan and I opted for the Helsinki museum which was very interesting to visit.

On the way back to the hotel, Allan tried a reindeer meat hotdog with fried onions and pickles, which he said was pretty good.

We had our Welcome Dinner… delicious salad and then the entree of salmon and potatoes. The fish here is so fresh and delicious. Tomorrow will be another busy day.