Day 7 Helsinki Finland
Last night we had to set our clocks ahead one hour because Helsinki would be in the next time zone. That means we are now 8 hours ahead of home. Tonight we will set our clocks ahead another hour, since St. Petersburg is again in the next time zone, being 9 hours from home (math genius). Today, we couldn't disembark until 10am and had no tour plans, so we set the alarm for 8:45, but shut it off and slept a bit more. We did some better last night as far as sleeping. I had to read for awhile to fall asleep, but when I finally did...it was an all-nighter. Guy let me sleep in a bit more and he went on a hunt for breakfast, returning with breakfast crepes and an Italian crepe (Nutella and bananas) which we split. With full bellies we headed for town. Dave had told us that Helsinki wasn't going to be anything amazing, so with our lower expectations in check, we headed for the bus.
Entering into town, we were dumped at a bus stop and with our map we planned our strategy. Not really much to see; the Presidential Palace, a pretty garden area and some churches being top on the list. Once we got headed in the right direction we began to explore the city. It is actually quite clean and lovely. In a way, it is the same old same old, as far as buildings and church architecture from the surrounding cities we've seen so far. But still very very pretty. Also pretty are the fair skinned, blue eyed blondes and one lady we passed on the street must have been a model. Everyone pretty much speaks perfect English and is really friendly. One lady (yes blonde, but with long dreads) saw us staring at the map and stopped to ask if we needed help, which as a matter of fact we did! So that is always a bonus...when people are nice. :)
So lets get to the good part of the day...the MARKET! At first I thought it was just a fish market and little tiny attached restaurants (more like a small version of the tents in front of T street at the fair). Then the further in we got, the good stuff started to appear. Local artisians and their works. Ugh...my weakness. My first stop was a blacksmith who had a great big black cat on his table. We talked for a bit and he explained he was from Egypt and was in the military during the first Gulf War and had feared he would be pulled into the second war. Finland was the only country that "would take him" so he came there to live and fell in love, so he stayed. He explained business is bad and Finland is in a recession, so he has a harder time because Finland is not real fond of foreigners coming to live there and possibly taking their jobs, so a friend suggested he come to the markets and sell to tourists. He had been featured in a magazine (which he showed me a copy of) and his work was beautiful. I wished him well and moved on. My next stop was a poor looking fellow who did beautiful bronze work. More on the side of mythical characters and creatures, but I was drawn to one piece that was just a really unique design. This was my first purchase. I took a picture of him holding the necklace. He was a bit shy but his English was perfect. He told me he sketches all his ideas before beginning, then begins his metalworking. He was cool. Then I came across a young girl who studied photography for 4 years, now she creates jewelry with her photography. We talked for a long time. Her dad was from New York and her mother was from Germany, so she ended up in Finland creating art. She said her mother attends a university in Finland and studies glass work. She says she certainly isn't rich, but her life is good and she is self supporting by her work. She said the winters are hard. People are very grouchy and the long dark days are depressing. She works alone, so she says she doesn't have to interact with a lot of people, but when the first spring flowers come up, she said the people completely change and are smiling and happy again. From her I bought a pair of earrings. Definitely a minimalistic piece, but is from a photograph in a park in Finland, close to the Russian border. On the back of the earrings is written the exact location. She gave me her Facebook page and email so we can chat in the future.
I picked up a few other trinkets in the market and didn't mind the rain coming down, but I had been gone for some time and went to find Guy. Our meeting place was this huge monument in the middle of the market. He called it the monument of the waiting husbands. ROTFL. Together we picked out a few trinkets and headed out for more sight seeing. The rain was just heavy sprinkles, really, but we decided to get a snack and something warm to drink while the rain passed. We went into a building called the Stockman and it was this crazy huge department store/grocery store/bakery/coffee house/sushi bar/everything you'd ever want and more kind of place. We got a fresh item from the bakery, a water, and a hot chocolate and grabbed a bar stool along the window that overlooked the street. We warmed up and put a little something in our stomachs. There wasn't really a lot left to see, except just exploring around a bit more. This town reminds me of someplace I've been before...I just can't put my finger on it. Maybe Innsbruck, Austria minus the mountains due to the ornate squarish buildings and streets lined with trolly wires overhead - everywhere. Anyhoo, it was really much more enjoyable than I was expecting. With nothing really left to see and a few minutes to spare, we spun back by the market for one more item and headed for the bus.
I started to panic because IF I had forgotten to set my watch forward, we were potentially going to miss the ship! I knew I had set it forward the night before, but was still relieved when we saw about 60 people at the designated bus pick-up spot. Whew. Of course, if you miss the ship, you have to find your own transportation to the next stop to get back on. Bad thing is if we had missed this one, the next stop is St. Petersburg and my guess is they weren't going to let us in, because we have no visa and the only way you can enter the country is with a visa or with someone with a visa (like our tour guides tomorrow). So that would have not been good. Speaking of tomorrow in St. Petersburg, Charles and some of his group (who we went to the Vasa museum with) are going off with a tour company (not recommended by Dave and the ship people) that is going to fly them to Moscow and then they are going to train back to the ship about midnight. To me, that is a bit c-r-a-z-y, but that group likes to live a bit on the edge. No thanks. But I'm sure they'll have some stories to tell.
Back on the ship we grabbed a quick snack and set up top outside until it got a bit too chilly. We came down one level to the bar with the big panoramic view so I could type today's notes and Guy is finishing up one of his books. But before we came down, we counted 8 big ships (including us) leaving Helsinki. As we've said before, cruising isn't necessarily for everyone, and is a horrible/impossible way to really see a country, but knowing that we would probably never fly to Finland for an extended vacation, it was a great way to get just a small taste of what the area and people are like. Probably not on our list of places to come again, but feel really blessed to have been able to see a small part of it. Plus I have an email address of a fabulous young photographer/artist I look forward to talking to again. So to me...today was a great success.
Tonight will be dinner in the main dining room. For me I'll be having veal cordon-bleu and Guy is eyeballing the Tilapia fixed mediterranean style. It's nice when your only concern about dinner is what to wear. xoxoxoxox
P.S. We just got back in from dinner. It is 10pm (my watch says 11pm because I'm ready for tomorrow. I took a picture. The sun hasn't set yet. Check it out.
