Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki, Finland - October 10-11, 1999

Okay, so it has taken me over a year to write about Helsinki. I wasn't actually there all that long - about 24 hours tops - but it seemed to be a nice place. A kind of city through which people go onto other places. We did twice - once from New York to Warsaw and this time from Prague to New York.

Helsinki

We flew out of the Prague airport to Helsinki sometime late in the morning of the tenth. The flight took about 2 hours I believe (it's been a while so my memory isn't all that good). I spent most of the flight with my nose and face towards the window as the man seated next to me was quite fragrant. In case you didn't know, Europeans have a different idea about bathing that we do. This man quite frankly smelled. He needed a bath, some deodorant, something. I had the air on high as well. Anything to make the smell better.

Lutheran Church We were met at the Helsinki airport by our new tourguide. I don't remember her name and she was only with us to the hotel. Since we had no luggage to collect, it took no time at all to get out of the airport and onto the bus. (Our luggage had been checked through to New York. All we needed was supposed to have been put in a carry-on.) Then off to the hotel. After a quick city tour, of course.

We only stopped twice on the tour I believe. The first was at this church. The main Lutheran church in Helsinki. It's a nice looking building. The square was also pretty nice. Helsinki in general is just a "nice" place. Very clean, no grafitti, no litter. People are very "nice". It's just "nice".

The second place we stopped was at the rock church. The rock church, the denomination of which I do not know, is kind of like a cave. The outside is build of rocks, literally, hence its name. The inside is a bit more modern, and the acoustics are great. Since it was Saturday, no one was there but us tourists. I did go back the next day on my walk about the immediate area, and it was much busier. And there were more tourists. Apparently the rock church is one of the places to be in Helsinki.

Helsinki in October is not exactly warm. In fact, if it got up to 50° it was pretty warm. Let's just say I was wearing a lot of clothes. I went out that evening for a walk about the downtown area with another member of the tour. If seemed pretty cold. Thankfully, I had brought mittens for just such an eventuality. Everyone was very well behaved (there is that "niceness" again.) Since it was Saturday night, and on Saturday nights in Europe everyone closes early (if they even open at all), nothing was open but restaurants. Since we'd already eaten at the hotel (nice Salmon dinner with potato croquettes), I was not hungry.

The next morning I got up early and went out for another walk. Sunday mornings nothing is open. Well, pretty much. The small shop near the rock church was open, so I bought my sister a souvenir. This walk went through a much more residential area than the previous night's walk. Hardly saw any people. Didn't get lost either - I can read a map.

Rock Church

The excitement for the day came when we were to get back on the bus to go to the airport. The bus got there and then wouldn't start. Just wouldn't start. Here were 25-30 people who needed to make a flight in about 2 hours at an airport 45 minutes away. Panic is a good word for what we were feeling. Some of the group took taxis (I was lucky and got in one as well) so we got to the airport on time for the flight. (Actually, so did everyone else as a backup bus was called but we got there much earlier and I wasn't nearly as worried as I could have been.)

The flight back lasted about 9 hours. Again, much free flowing alcohol on the flight. And why not - it's free. The man next to me was either Russian or from Russia or just spoke Russian. In any event, once we landed at JFK, he want through the US part of the passport control. I didn't get much sleep on the flight. I wasn't tired and it was still afternoon and evening for me. After a short wait at JFK for my flight to LAX, I tried to sleep on the flight. Tried being the operative word. The flight was crowded, I had kids sitting behind me that kept kicking my chair or pulling on it when they stood up. It was very hot and noisy. Ergo, I didn't sleep at all and was very grouchy when my mother and Paul picked me up at the airport. I think I slept most of the way back to San Diego. I was glad to be home.