TO BE IN FINLAND ON THE LONGEST DAY!

Welcome to Helsinki! A breathtakingly beautiful city! I travelled 8 hours from Chicago and as always, I couldn’t get even a wink of sleep! Let me tell you a bit about me and flying. I have flown lots and lots all over India and the world. However, I have never got out of the fear of flying.!! It just doesn’t go away. I guess there are some things one can’t “out think” or get used to!

My flight out from Chicago to Europe was different from my flight into it. While flying into Chicago we had flown over and across Greenland, the Artic Ocean, Labrador, over Canada and into Chicago. On our way back we flew right across the Atlantic – there was not much to see except the vast expanse of waters of the Atlantic. Like the flight coming into Chicago, it was a flight in sunshine. Thankfully I was seated next to a very garrulous Belarusian lady and we talked through the flight. She kept taking swigs from a wine bottle and talked about everything – from Lenin, Stalin, the Ukraine war, Mahatma Gandhi, to the role of religion. For someone so informed, I was surprised that she hadn’t heard of Modi ji.

Helsinki was almost cold when we landed. Sangeeta bid us goodbye at the airport and me and my son got down to putting into practice what we had researched for travelling and staying connected in Finland. We bought a prepaid local sim card (DNA) for 9 euros each, (approximately 800 rupees), and when I asked the young lady selling it as to how much data I would get on the deal she replied

“Unlimited, for 10 days.”

I asked her again,

“Unlimited data? For 10 days in Finland?”

She replied with a smile,

“Yes unlimited data AND A talktime, not ONLY in Finland, but all over Europe”. Welcome to Finland – not only Europe’s happiest country, but also most computer savvy (the mother of Nokia phones)! Everything happens via the computer and online.

Helsinki is beautiful. It has cobbled streets, trams, market squares, cafes. And it has old legendary places. I had coffee at the oldest cafe in Helsinki – Fazer Cafe which dates back to 1890 !!!. The coffee was ordinary – but it made me feel special that I was having coffee at a place where Presidents, heads of States, celebrities and many others must have also sipped it.

And if you combine that with the fact that you are sipping coffee in a cafe that old and with your son – its got to be historic as well.!

We did a quick round of Helsinki. Its a beautiful and neat town and very sparsely populated. We saw the Uspenski Cathedral, the Senate Square, the National Library and had lunch at the market square – pizza with beer and a glass of champagne!

The National Library of Finland may seem like an odd attraction but it is a stunning example of neoclassical architecture.

The current main building was designed by renowned architect Carl Ludvig Engel and completed in 1844. In the library, there are beautifully carved wooden galleries and ornate balconies that overlook expansive reading rooms, filled with antique furniture and lined with tall, arched windows.

The Senate Square has been Helsinki’s main square since the 17th century. The present square was built in 1808 by the Russians when they took charge of Finland. It has a lone statue of the legendary Russian Czar – Alexander II.

Uspenski Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox cathedral and main cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Finland, dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary). Its name comes from the Old Church Slavonic word “uspenie”, which denotes the Dormition. It is the largest Greek Orthodox church in Northern Europe. It’s beautiful as you can see in the photograph. We went in and as I do everytime I go to a church abroad – I lit a candle for peace and well being of our beautiful planet.

It was a coincidence that I was there for “Juhannus”. Juhannus or Midsummer is the biggest celebration in these parts. It is celebrated because of the summer solstice (between the 20th and 26th of June). It’s a national holiday in Finland signifying the celebration of light and leaving the darkness behind. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Juhannus celebration, especially for tourists like me, is simply the ”magic” that the nightless nights of the whole midsummer festivity period brings- when the sun does not set below the horizon for several weeks. These are called “white nights”. This event officially starts the summer season.

Some spend Juhannus in the cities, many celebrate it with family and friends in their summer cottages in suburbs, usually near forests and lakes. The most typical Juhannus celebrations include making the bonfires (kokko), and going to sauna, while younger people would have lots of fun in open air dances in traditional folk music and other songs.

This tradition is held throughout Finland.

We also travelled out of Helsinki to Poorvo. It is the second oldest town in Finland – and its prettiest.

The Old Town and the Porvoonjoki River Valley are recognized as one of the National landscapes of Finland.

Porvoo is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish people and its the most gorgeous looking town – picture postcard kind. It has red old wooden houses flanking the river, old restaurants and cobbled streets.

There is lots and lots to see and do in Finland. The transportation system is excellent. Food is not expensive- you get the food you want. We ate Vietnamese food as dinner on our last night!

We bid goodbye to Finland and took a cruise liner across the Gulf of Finland which is the eastern part of the Baltic Sea. It took us 3 hrs to get to Tallinn. I had never been so long on the sea, though it was very nice and comfortable!. The weather was gorgeous – bright, sunny and without a speck of cloud in the sky.

Its been a back breaking schedule for me. On this trip, I have travelled a lot by air, by train, by bus, and now by ship. At times the body complains! 5 years ago I could have gone on and on without breaking sweat or breath. Not now -or so I thought.! The moment I entered Tallinn, I was transformed into a greenhorn. The city is heavenly.