Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Finland Diaries - episode I

Exactly a month after my coming back from Finland I finally managed to put the Finland Diaries together and publish them.
Maybe you're not interested at all, maybe you are instead. In this latter case, enjoy your reading. In the first one, feel free to fly away in peace.
Here we go.


September 6th 2012, Thursday

It feels like waking up after a long long sleep but still having the proofs that the beautiful things you've been dreaming about have actually happened. Photos, pieces of paper, some good-smelling wood from the Finnish forest. Everything tells you you 've really been there, somehow, even if you have that melancholic feeling it must have been some kind of dream, ‘cause such a fairytale (with ALL its adventures) cannot be likely to have happened to you.


August 27th 2012, Monday

We woke up at 5 am and after a Nutella filled croissant, a coffee and some apple juice, while the city was still asleep, we entered the motorway and left. Destination: the airport!
We arrived approximately at 10 am. Boarding started at 11 and at 11.50 we were on board of a Norwegian company aircraft. As the engine started running faster and faster, I began to realize one of the biggest dreams of my life was about to come true. After a runway that seemed endless, we finally took off. I had been waiting for six years, but we had finally taken off.



At 4.30 pm we landed in Helsinki, under a gray rainy sky (captain Marcus said: “We arrived in Helsinki. What a lovely weather. I hope you have an umbrella with you. Thank you!”).
First of all, we stopped at Starbucks for a coffee and got our tongues burnt :°) but it was worth it! :3
Then, we took the bus 615 to the city centre. We got off at the Rautatieasematori (Railway station Square) and we were just unfolding our city map when the nice Finnish driver got off the bus and asked if he could somehow help us. He even tried Google, but we had some difficulties in finding the direction to the hostel. Finally, after a quarter of an hour of pacing around the square, we found the right way.
Eurohostel is in Linnankatu, 9 and after having checked-in and settled down, we went out at sunset.
Our first steps on Finnish ground took us and our full of wonder eyes through the Market square to the city centre again. 

My feet finally on Finnish ground! :D







For dinner we had some chicken and fries together with a super-good sauce at Public Corner bar at the Rautatieasematori, then we spend some time enjoying the lights of Helsinki by night.


August 28th 2012, Tuesday

When we closed the hostel’s door after us, we got surprised by a fresh morning breeze which made us close our jackets and sweaters… wonderful!:D
After a nice breakfast on coffee and cinnamon and chocolate buns, we went toward the city centre. We reached Kansallismuseo, the National Museum of Finland, but it was still closed, so we occupied our time taking some pics in the Museum garden and taking a long walk through Töölönlahti park. 


Here we just enjoyed the beauty of Nature, watched the birds on the lake shores, took pictures of flowers and relaxed.




After the visit at the museum, we went back to the Market Place and had lunch sitting on the shore at the port, tasting delicious salmon and vendaces with potatoes, vegetables and garlic sauce from Rovaniemi, Lapland… yummy! ^_^



At 3 pm we took a ferry to the sea fortress island of Suomenlinna




Oh, such wonder we experienced there ♥ 
The perfect peace under the sun, the beautiful sight of the shining sea before us, the delightful little wooden houses painted in pastel colors, the lighthouse, a coffee on a natural terrace looking over the sea…(even if a bee and a strange kind of insect tried to attack me twice...then I discovered it is because of their attraction to warm colors and therefore my red hair D:)



























After this awesome afternoon, we got on board the 7.30 pm ferry to the land. Of course, we choose to sit outside, on the upper deck, to enjoy once again the sight and the sea breeze. Of course, the sea breeze was a little too “cool”. Of course, with hoods and scarves on, we kept on playing Vikings with wind in their hair on the drakkar. Of course, we had to go inside, in order not to get frozen. Here we met a nice couple of tourists from Greece and Turkey, and chatted a little with ‘em…nice people, indeed! They were in Helsinki only for the day, since they came from Estonia and told us to enjoy every single moment there. That’s what we actually did. ♥
For dinner we chose a bar & kitchen place called Kaarna, which is in a mall in the city centre. The place was very nice and we have been served by a kind black-haired and blue-eyed waitress named Heidi. We ate flat bread with reindeer meat together with rocket salad, cucumber, pepperoni and sauce and with it we drank coke and coffee. 


After dinner we took a walk in the city centre, but we got bothered by the realization of  my camera’s batteries left to charge for almost 22 hours (maximum time was 18 hours). Therefore, we ran back to the hostel haunted by unpleasant images of our bedroom on fire, while I started praying Odin for mercy. Luckily, when we opened the door, everything was in place and the battery charger wasn’t even hot. Of course. Just a useless worry, according to our habits :°D
The danger escaped, with the colorful and sunny images of the day left behind in our mind, time for a shower and some sleeping!





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