After extending my stay twice, it was time to leave Oktoberfest. The unlimited beer for €5 a day at the campsite was taking it’s toll. While I was chatting with 2 Canadian girls doing their laundry, I received a whatsApp message from Henna: “So when will u visit me in cold Helsinki?”. I didn’t reply straight away, as to not be too keen. My cameras coming from Australia weren’t arriving in Venice anytime soon (they were meant to be there a week ago) and everything around Germany and Austria was either really expensive or booked out because the world was in town for Oktoberfest. I wanted to go to Portugal for the sun and surf, but I wasn’t leaving without my cameras… if and when they finally arrive… so I decided to go on a little holiday to Finland, I arrived 27hrs later!
The flight cost me about €250 and was very last minute. The website I wanted to book it on said the flight left within 10hrs so I had to ring up and book. This is great, except I’m in Germany and don’t speak German. After 3 attempts, I finally was able to speak with a lady who spoke English reasonably well. I booked the ticket at 11am and took off at around 5pm from Munich. Munich airport is great! I didn’t take any pictures, as I was in a rush. But it’s new age and modern! My flight had a stopover at Copenhagen airport, which was ok. At 11pm I arrived in Helsinki, half an hour late, to a smiling Henna; “I didn’t actually think you’d come”. haha
From the moment I arrived in Helsinki, I could tell I was going to like it. The skies had opened up and it was bucketing with rain. Henna kept saying I’d come at the wrong time, but I didn’t care. “I’m from Melbourne,” I kept saying… “I’m used to this weather”. As much as it would have been great in the summer time, temperatures between 10° - 15° didn’t worry me. I’ve seen the summer for the last 3 months; a cold week wasn’t going to kill me.
After she finished work Friday, Henna and I took the bus to Porvoo, where she goes to uni. Porvoo is a lovely small town on the coast, around 30 minutes from Helsinki. I had a coffee and bought some clothes while she did what she needed. As I left my ski jacket in a bar in Munich (that’s Oktoberfest for you) I needed one in Helsinki. In the first men’s shop I walked into I bought a jacket for €90 ($112). I reckon this would have cost around $150 in Australia. I also bought some boxer shorts, and they were cheaper than in Australia too. Afterwards Henna showed me around Porvoo old town and it was lovely. I took some really colorful photos as it is autumn and the leaves are all colours of red, orange and yellow.
Saturday we visited Henna’s parents in Järvenpää. We had traditional food and I ate Reindeer for the first time. It was cured like Jerky and tasted lovely. It reminded me of something, but I couldn’t remember what. We went out to her friends’ house that night and then to a couple of bars. It was great. The locals in Helsinki speak excellent English. Numerous times I’d ask somebody on the street a question and they’d answer as if they were native English speaking, and in shops there was never an issue. On Sunday we looked around at some churches and the local market where they sell local foods. We ate muikku (which are like sardines) and another time I had lovely grilled salmon and reindeer meatballs. We walked the track around the park and home. Her place is around 5km from the city.
Throughout the week I looked around the city and visited the island of Suomenlinna. Suomenlinna stands for Finnish Castle, and is the old fortress for when invading ships would come to Finland from 1788 onwards. Looking around this island was fantastic. As much as I would have loved company, there weren’t many people there so my photos don’t have many tourists in them. I took lots of pictures and I could really feel the vibe of what it was like 200 years ago. Since 1991 it’s been a UNESCO world heritage site. If anybody visits Helsinki, I’d highly recommend visiting this island for a full day. Make sure it isn’t raining, as there is limited cover, and you can get there on the local metro day ticket, which is €7 for the day! Ferries run every hour till around 2am, because there are people who live on the island, it’s great! Friday we visited the Museum in the city and it was boring. We were both unimpressed with the exhibition on offer and it took us an hour to walk the whole museum. Henna’s sister used to work there, so she’s seen lots of cool things throughout her visits, but not this time, at least when we went it was free!!
I took the cruise ship to Tallinn, Estonia (see other blog) on Wednesday. Wednesday night we went out to Molly Malones Irish Pub with Melina, Henna’s mate. We drank and danced and celebrated my 27th birthday after midnight, which was Thursday. The next day Melina and I were hung over and ate Pizza. Henna had to work. Haha. For my birthday night Henna and I went to a couple of bars in her area, which were relaxing. We found this really cool wine bar, where I drank beer because they had an Oktoberfest special. It wasn’t busy on Thursday night, but we enjoyed chilling out for a couple of drinks. Friday night Henna cooked a Finnish meal of Meatballs and mash for my birthday. It was delicious!
Melina turned 25 on Saturday & had a house party. It was really fun to meet the locals. They all spoke fantastic English and were very welcoming. Most of them have travelled somewhere other than Europe and a lot have been to Australia. We had a great time comparing stories about Australia and NZ, we even had Google maps up… it was fun. I enjoyed their company. The women in Finland seem to be classy, but not in a snobbish way. There isn’t anywhere near as many blonde women as people say, maybe 1 in 3, but they are all natural blondes. All in all the women in Finland are pretty, and seem to like the foreign guys. I can’t say I met many guys, apparently they are a little shy and the women get bored with that.
After an “Oktoberfest” beer at a local pub on the water, we had dinner in a Mexican restaurant on Sunday night. Iguana is a chain restaurant and was yum and filling! Great food and not too expensive: 2 serves of chicken Fajitas, a beer for me and a coke for Henna was only €36 or $45AUD. If that were Australia, I think it’d be roughly the same. Finland isn’t expensive compared to Australia. I think some things are a little cheaper, some a little more expensive, but on average I think it’s about the same as home. So if people say Finland is expensive, I’d say it’s the same as Australia.
On my last day in Helsinki I had a fantastic sleep-in untill after midday, packed my gear, and left for the city centre. Henna and I met at my favorite cafe and we went to the market for my last serving of grilled salmon for €7. The cruise ship I took to Stockholm cost €60. It was a 3-bed room cabin with no toilet, but it’s a night’s accommodation and transport to Sweden, pretty cheap really.
Moi Moi Finland, I’ll be back soon!!
A MASSIVE Thank you to HENNA for hosting me in Helsinki. I had an amazing time. I experienced the local life: the local café’s, Bars and Clubs (Aussie Bar & Aussie Club), The local cuisine (Thanks for the birthday dinner and thanks to your mum), I met the locals (thanks guys for speaking in English the whole time), visited the sights (cheers for booking them online for me), learnt the local customs (sorry for embarrassing you while being too loud in public), drank the local drinks and had a blast!!!!
See you in the world soon, and you are welcome in my home anytime!!
- Helsinki has a population of around 600 000 people.
- 6 months in the military is compulsory for men.
- A 1hr ticket for the metro area is €2.70 or €7 for the day.
- A Doctors appointment cost €44.
- Movies on TV start at 9pm.
- Fosters beer is sold everywhere.
- The bottle shop closes at 8pm weekdays & 6pm Saturday.
- You can buy beer from the supermarket until 9pm nightly.
- Finland use the Euro currency