We never thought of going to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It’s too far and never gets hot. It seems like there is no reason to pay a visit. (sorry, Moomin doesn’t count.)
2 months back, an opportunity opened up. There was a flight from Düsseldorf to New Delhi, where we could have an overnight transit at Helsinki for about 18 hours.
To me, Finland always offers some fantasy. Marimekko, Santa Claus village, and most importantly, Finnish, are the happiest people in the world. Sounds amazing! Doesn’t it?
So? We decided to go.
The first impression of Helsinki was given by the pilot during the flight: ‘Right now Helsinki is 5ºC, rainy and windy.’ We arrived at 10 o’clock at night, followed by heavy rain drops hitting me on the face, and the umbrella could barely opened.
Luckily, the hotel gave us a warm welcome despite the rough weather outside.
The one we stayed in is called AX Hotel, which focuses on artistic design and is newly opened in 2022. Like the other European hotels, the hotel room wasn’t spacious but compact, clean and stylish, nothing to complain about.
And the breakfast was great too!
The next day, the weather became better, but we still needed to put the scarfs on, tighten our jackets, while others tried the traditional Finnish style cold and hot special sauna.
We wandered around, then bumped into an indoor food hall and found a popular soup restaurant called SOUP+MORE. Surprisingly, it’s quite delicious! Many Asians were eating there too! We all love hot soup I guess. 🙂
Loads of salmon and veggies, creamy and hearty, but not heavy. The bread is unlimited and self-serve. All very tasty.
Just a piece of advice: Many restaurants are closed on Mondays, if you want to avoid that.
Helsinki is not that big, and tourist attractions are quite centralised, so sightseeing by foot is possible. We had a short visit to the Helsinki Cathedral. It was okay, not in a gorgeous style. Personally, I think many cathedrals in Europe are better than it.
Then we roamed around some shops, saw a lot of wood-made stuff and reindeer-related products. Since there was not much time left, we headed to our final destination, a library, Oodi.
Oodi is the central library in Helsinki, which opened in 2018. I can say, the design is just stunning and impressive! The outlook speaks for itself, ‘Wow! it’s a library?’
Inside the library is very spacious, full of natural light, lots of space allows you to sit and read, more than 30 baby strollers could be spotted near the playground.
Besides, it’s not only about books, you can sew, you can play music, you can play chess, you can play video games, you can let the kids take off their shoes and jump around. You can have a great meal there also!
Who says a library has to be so silent?
Oodi is such a fantastic facility. Definitely it is worth a place in these 30 most beautiful libraries in the world.
I hope there is one like Oodi nearby where I live. I also wish I understand their language.
Then I started to ponder: ‘Finland is so cold in winter, always raining and snowing, and the day is so short! Sunrise at 9, sunset at 3. Yet, the Finnish are the happiest people in the world.’
What makes you happy?
I guess weather doesn’t really matter. Perhaps, something else can compensate for that part in your life.
Speaking of weather, interestingly, when people hear that we’re moving to the UK, ‘The weather in the UK is not good’ –the often the response. (Even though people who never stepped into the UK!)
Why do they say so?
Because on Facebook everybody says the same; because somebody who lived in the UK(years ago!) also had the same statement. That’s how an image is formed and words are spread out.
Anyway, we will find out soon.
‘So, will we visit Helsinki again?’ I asked Curry Boy.
‘Maybe. Life is long.’ 😉
