Travel to Finland

I have been on a three-week hiatus which found us over in Finland. I had been looking at air fare to travel to the lower Midwest when I found that we could travel roundtrip to Helsinki for a lower price. This was too good an opportunity to pass up, especially since I had fallen short of seeing all the places and people I had planned to see when I was in Finland to do the Border to Border Ski in 2023. While this will not be coverage of the Keweenaw, coverage of Finland is relevant as roughly thirty percent of us in the region claim Finnish heritage. My recap of our trip may be insightful as to why this region was attractive to Finnish immigrants and the culture brought here.

In order to not take any chances on missing important connections, we chose to fly out of Minneapolis. ParkSleepFly.com offers outstanding deals that combine a night’s stay with parking at hotels with a short shuttle ride to the airport. On February 22nd we would drive the 6+ hours to suburban Minneapolis and fly out the next day on the first leg of our journey which would take us to Amsterdam. After a three-hour layover we would complete the final leg into Helsinki. Once there we would take the train from beneath the airport to the central railway station in downtown Helsinki.

We would then take a tram from the train station to the central bus station called Kamppi. A shopping mall sits atop the bus station and from the lower level we would pick up the bus that would take us out to where our friend Kayleigh lives. Traveling within 90 minutes, we only needed to buy one ticket each to cover these two final links to arrive at our final destination.

We met Kayleigh on our last visit to Finland. She is a cheer coach and came to stay with us a short time on her way to Finn Fest the following summer. She was also in the process of studying the Finnish language as it is currently being spoken in the United States. We helped her get in contact with local Finnish speakers in our area. The Finnish spoken in the Keweenaw today is a blend of 19th century Finnish with Finglish words woven into it.

After getting us situated, Kayleigh would leave for cheer practice and we would walk to the local K Market which seemed like a Whole Foods on steroids.

We were impressed by how affordable the groceries were as many items were lower priced than what we could get them for back home.

After enjoying dinner and getting some seriously needed sleep, our first full day in Helsinki would turn into an 8.85-mile walking tour which would be both self-guided and, serendipitously, partially tour guided. Our first objective for the day would be to walk to the Temppeliaukio Church, aka the Church of the Rock. This architectural marvel was designed by Timo and Tuomo Suomailainen and opened in 1969. Having seen it back in 1973, I was sure Julie would enjoy seeing it.

Our next stop would be at the Helsinki Art Museum where an exhibit was taking place featuring the works of Finnish artist Tove Jansson who is famous for creating the Moomins.

While in the art museum we were extremely impressed how quiet and dialed-in young school children were to the tour guides who were leading the several groups we saw.

Upon leaving the museum, we then walked past Finland’s Parliament House and the bronze equestrian statue of Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim.

After grabbing a quick lunch we would make our way down to the waterfront to see the Havis Amanda mermaid statue and fountain.

At the nearby outdoor market Julie would find a really nice knit cap before we would move on to the Senate Square below the Helsinki Cathedral and the statue of Alexander II.

Alexander II granted Finland significant autonomy while Czar and was held in high regard by the Finns. While walking the square we would happen upon a walking tour that was about to get underway which we jumped onto and had the opportunity to learn more history and to visit the Eastern Orthodox cathedral, Uspenski.

The biggest highlight for me on the tour would be the visit we would make to the Helsinki Central Library.

3-D printers, recording studios, instruments, and coding class for kids were among the amazing things we would see here.

Since we would be catching the early morning train to Rovaniemi the following day, we said our goodbyes to Kayleigh after a late dinner that evening.

Check out my two videos from our day in Helsinki on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at these links:

https://youtube.com/shorts/COmCaCJjxfk?si=DUyO4KDLrPSCTT8r

Check in next time as we continue our journey above the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland!