The Finns Were Not Vikings -- But They Should Have Been

 The Finns are not to be fooled with.  They have had hundreds, if not thousands, of years to practice war against the  Russians with the odd  fight  with the Swedes, Danish. Germans  etc.  They are not strictly termed Vikings for some reason too boring to recount here.  However, they sure do know how to be merciless and resist  invaders.

At one point Germany and Russia thought they'd split the difference and divide Finland between them.  Then the heady days of WWII occurred and Russia invaded all of Finland because the Finns were letting (did they have a choice?) Germans transit through the country to fight the Russians.  With the invasion of 1939 the Finns got really over the top mad.  In the following battles the Russians lost over 125,000 soldiers while the Finns lost 25,000.  The Finns had a huge advantage in both knowing how to ski, and shoot and looking very smart in their striking white outfits.  There have been too many treaties, accords and resolutions of peace between Russia and Finland to even catalog. but it doesn't matter because neither of them believe any of it anyway.  Joining NATO has been the latest wrinkle in their fraught relationship.  Not to mention Ukraine.

During World War II Finland got busy building very large and very numerous bomb shelters.  At the cessation of hostilities the Finns converted these into gyms and other things more fun than hiding from bombs.  While we were visiting we were told numerous times that they were being renovated into their original purpose ASAP.  Finland "shares" a 830 mile border with Russia.  Enough said.

Michael and I had a couple of days on our own before joining a tour which featured the Baltic nations and Poland.  I was still feeling poorly but managed to drag myself around and, at times enjoy myself.  Strangely it was colder and more rainy in Helsinki than it was at the Arctic Circle so we pulled out the colder weather gear and off we went.

I feel the need to describe our first hotel room in Helsinki and Michael will provide photos.  This was no budgetyhostel-like lodging.  It was a Radisson Blue which have sprung up like mushrooms across Norse lands.  This room set new low marks for Scandinavian hospitality.  Really, who needs more than 3 pegs to handle the clothes one would bring on a six week trip?  I'll stop moaning but take a look at these pictures and make a note of where not to stay in Scandinavia.  

The following photos will show the strange peg arrangement for hanging clothes and other things and the small size of the room. This photo also shows the mostly monochromatic color scheme we encountered in the Scandinavian countries.

The only smaller room we have ever encountered was in Tokyo.

So enough carping and loose translation of history.   How did we spend our free time pre tour?  We spent a fair amount of time near and at the Helsinki Harbor drawn as we always are to the water.  Adjacent to the harbor are two markets -- one open air and the other under roof.  We started with the open air market which was definitely interesting and of which PETA would not approve.  There were skins and furs of all form of beasts in a variety of hats, coats scarves and practically everything but placemats.  We found a booth selling minerals and were captivated by a mineral called spectrolite which is only found in Finland.  Our friend Peggy is an ardent collector of all things rock like and we knew she'd love this.  If you look it up you'll see that it includes a rainbow of colors -- the more colors the better.

The fruit in the middle is called a donut peach.

The fruit in the middle in this photo are lingonberries.

They also had an assortment of vegetables at the outdoor market...

in addition to salmon soup and coffee (as Deirdre mentions in the paragraph below).

Fur pelts were also available in the market...

as well as the spectrolite stone that is only available in Finland.

There was an amazing variety of different wares on sale at the market.

The covered market was one of the prettiest we have ever been to.  Built in 1889 it has functioned continuously even when the country was being dysfunctional.  The assortment of delicacies ran the gamut from canned bear meat, through seemingly every chunk of meat and organ of reindeer.  The least appealing combo to me (excluding the aforementioned) was fish soup and coffee.  Just seems like an unappealing taste clash.

The entrance to the market.

The translation for this sweets shop is Gourmet Mansion.

Flamed salmon, arctic char and even cloudberry jelly were on offer at this stall.

Reindeer antlers and reindeer pelt...

as well as air dried reindeer heart (which is quite expensive)...

and even elk paté and canned bear meat were on offer at the market.

The halls allowed for easy access to all of the vendors in the market, including restaurants.

Detail of the exterior of the market with the crown showing Finland was under the control of Russia at the time the market was built.

As we left the market we came upon this creature advertising The Goodwin Steak House with genuine Australian beef.

The fountain was by the tram stop and across from the outdoor market.

A close up of the statue at the top of the fountain, known as Havis Amanda, and is a symbol of the rebirth of Helsinki when it was created in 1908.

After spending a few hours browsing and lunching we boarded a tourist cruise boat to take a look at the Helsinki archipelago.  I guess you can't qualify as Scandinavia if you don't have an archipelago.  It was pleasant and cozy after several hours walking in the somewhat raw (we are SO spoiled by Mexico) weather.

The Upenski Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox church consecrated on October 25, 1868 when Finland was an autonomic Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire.

This was another one of the many cruise ships we encountered in our travels, many of which resembled small towns in their capacity.

On our cruise in the archipelago we saw buildings on Suomenlinna, which was a sea fortress consisting of eight islands, six of which have been fortified. The Swedes began construction of  the fortress in 1748.

Another of the buildings on one of the islands.

These islands are only 4 kilometers from the Helsinki city center and have became a popular place to picnic.

Despite guns like this, during the Finnish War, the fortress was besieged by the Russians and surrendered after only two months. This was when Finland became a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire.

The stone walls looked impressive...

as did the stone walls at the entrance to the Fortress, but were not sufficient to hold off the Russians.

This submarine was on display out of the water on one of the islands.

A view from the boat back towards Helsinki with the Lutheran Cathedral built in 1852 presiding over Senate Square.

We also saw this icebreaker on our cruise,

At a restaurant close to our new hotel, where we moved when the tour began, was this very impressive and obviously quite old olive tree. Apparently olive trees can survive frost and cold, but they must do something to protect this tree during the very cold Helsinki winters.

So now it was time to join the tour.  At the welcome dinner everyone says where they are from and how many trips they've done with the tour agency.  One woman had been to 140 countries which was fairly impressive.  We always get a reaction when we say we live in Mexico so we were not surprised when a couple approached us at dinner and asked where we lived in Mexico.  We WERE surprised to learn that Loreen was the sister of one of our very good friends in Ajijic .  We enjoyed hanging around with them and once again reflected on what a small world it is sometimes. 

Honestly, by this point I was just putting one foot in front of the other and can't actually cogently reflect what we did since it remains a blur to me to this day.   I'll let Michael's photos and captions do the work for a while.

 I DO remember the Oodi library however.  This is truly what the future of libraries can be.  First, the architecture is stunning and even on a somewhat rainy day it was filled with light.  And the place was bustling -- full of people of all ages doing all sorts of things.  Three dimension printing, sewing and quilting, doing podcasts, recording music and... oh yes.. reading and working remotely.  Robots roam the floors replacing books and just being charming in a non-threatening way.  America needs another Carnegie who will go back to all the libraries built by the philanthropist and modernize them based on the Oodi model.  Come on, step up Elon. Oh, I forgot. Empathy and doing social good are for the weak.....

The Olympic Stadium when Finland hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics.

This monument to Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), the famous Finnish composer is regarded as the country's greatest composer and is credited with helping Finland to develop a stronger national identity.

These Barnacle geese enjoyed the park at the Sibelius monument. They are migratory and spend the warmer months in the Arctic region and winter in Scotland and Ireland.

This strange metal sculpture was outside of the Helsinki library.

This 3D printer was the first sign that the Oodi Ode library was not your ordinary library,...

which contained UV printers,...

sewing machines and and area for fashion design,...

and even this large format printer, all of which are available to the public.

The library also featured this robot book delivery vehicle.

Our tour guide trying out one of the "egg" chairs in the library.

Two view of the circular staircase in the library.

The exterior of the library also attests to its uniqueness.

The library name in the window with the view opposite reflected, including Deirdre and me.

The famous Finnish saunas by the waterfront.

Another view of the Helsinki Cathedral with statues of the twelve Apostles on the roof of the church. The scaffolding also attests to the repairs being made to the church.

The tour only spent a relatively short time in Helsinki and the next day we were off on the ferry to Tallinn in Estonia.  I found the Baltics to be fascinating in a number of ways but that will have to wait for the next blog.  In the interim, if we don't blog again before, have a wonderful Christmas or holiday of your choice and let's all fervently hope for a better 2026.

The ferry which we took from Helsinki to Talinn, Estonia.