Berlin to Helsinki day 23: Helsinki Pt 2
We woke up (relatively) early on Saturday because we needed to get bike boxes to put our bikes on the plane. Fortunately, there was a bike shop close by and we were directed to the dumpsters to pick a box that we liked. But it was biking home carrying an unwieldy box that was the challenge. Especially for Mylène simply because her bike is lower to the ground, but we managed to bike the short 2-mile ride back to our hosts' house, a little bit north of the city center.
We didn't want to box our bikes immediately because we couldn't take the bus on such a nice day with such incredible bike paths. We headed towards the dock to take a boat to Suomalinna, an island in the archipelago just south of the center.
There are actually several thousand people who live on the island, which used to be a fortress to protect Helsinki in medieval times. There are fortified walls mixed in with people's own houses. Tourists go there to see museums detailing the kings of Finland. Finnish people go there to picnic on the grass and drink beer with a fantastic view of more islands on one side, or the city center on the other.
After some time on the grass, we took the ferry back (standard public transportation includes ferry transport, it's like taking a bus).
We then went to check out a free concert series in another park. The ambiance was pretty laid back, with lots of people just sitting in the grass drinking beer. Alcohol is very expensive in Finland which stems from some alcoholism problems they have had in the past. A low-grade lager in the grocery store costs about 3€. So you can probably imagine what it costs in a bar (around 8-10€). Although to be fair, everything in the grocery store is much more expensive compared to Berlin - at least twice the cost or more than we are used to paying, even for essential items like toothpaste and toilet paper.
In short, it seems as if people prefer their supermarket picnics to eating in restaurants. Most open spaces we saw in the city were covered with people - from students to families. Which makes sense given the cost of food, good thing there are free concerts and spectacular views to accompany them.
Another note about hanging out with people in Finland. If someone in the room doesn't speak Finnish, everyone will have their conversations in English. They've been exposed to movies since they were about 4 or 5 when even Disney cartoons are subtitled. When hanging out with Juha and his roommates or friends, they would speak in English even if we weren't necessarily in their conversation. Their English is fairly accented but complete with idioms, turns of phrases, plays on words and even pop culture references, showing a heavy bias towards American-created content.
Aside from English, Sweden maintains a strong influence in education, having been a long-time occupier in Finland's history. Consequently, almost all signs are in both Swedish and Finnish and either people learn Swedish at school or simply go to Swedish schools.
After the concert we went to the university campus to the student housing block. We were taken into a dorm and through a labyrinth of hallways into a basement where the brewers club was. Now, I will simply let you insert your own thoughts, especially those of you from the United States, of the implications of having a semi-industrial, student-controlled microbrewery in the basement of the dorms...
And of course it's university sanctioned.
In the storage room we saw the 40kg sacks of malt and, of course, hundreds of gallons of bottled beer. We were also given quite the taste tour by many of the beer club members, including Juha, all eagerly explaining their process, aromas, and awaiting a critical report from both Mylène and I after each glass.
We were then given an evening tour of the campus. It was a warm summer night so there were quite a few people out, even at 1 in the morning. The center sauna was right across from the sea and there were lots of naked people (men and women) cooling off in the night air before heading back in. Furthermore, this isn't the only sauna on campus, all dorms have multiple saunas, as do many building. Actually, from other conversations with Juha, we learned the huge importance that saunas play in Finnish daily life. Politicians and businessmen often hold important meetings and negotiations in the sauna and will often make a deal in the heat before signing anything on the outside. There are all kinds if saunas from themed saunas, to boat saunas, to saunas in converted VW busses. Juha, of course, had a sauna at his house and we took part in a standard session. Nudity and all.
After the brewers club we had to head home - at about 2 am. To pack our bikes into boxes for the flight home. We would have really liked to keep biking, but we will just have to keep on dreaming until the next tour.
We didn't want to box our bikes immediately because we couldn't take the bus on such a nice day with such incredible bike paths. We headed towards the dock to take a boat to Suomalinna, an island in the archipelago just south of the center.
There are actually several thousand people who live on the island, which used to be a fortress to protect Helsinki in medieval times. There are fortified walls mixed in with people's own houses. Tourists go there to see museums detailing the kings of Finland. Finnish people go there to picnic on the grass and drink beer with a fantastic view of more islands on one side, or the city center on the other.
 |
| A view of Helsinki's city center from Suomalinna. |
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| A view from the other side of the island. More islands and the sea. Mylène is pleased. |
After some time on the grass, we took the ferry back (standard public transportation includes ferry transport, it's like taking a bus).
We then went to check out a free concert series in another park. The ambiance was pretty laid back, with lots of people just sitting in the grass drinking beer. Alcohol is very expensive in Finland which stems from some alcoholism problems they have had in the past. A low-grade lager in the grocery store costs about 3€. So you can probably imagine what it costs in a bar (around 8-10€). Although to be fair, everything in the grocery store is much more expensive compared to Berlin - at least twice the cost or more than we are used to paying, even for essential items like toothpaste and toilet paper.
In short, it seems as if people prefer their supermarket picnics to eating in restaurants. Most open spaces we saw in the city were covered with people - from students to families. Which makes sense given the cost of food, good thing there are free concerts and spectacular views to accompany them.
 |
| A concert in a park in the city center. A cover band singing hits from my youth in a Finnish accent including Jay-Z, Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit and Outkast. |
Aside from English, Sweden maintains a strong influence in education, having been a long-time occupier in Finland's history. Consequently, almost all signs are in both Swedish and Finnish and either people learn Swedish at school or simply go to Swedish schools.
After the concert we went to the university campus to the student housing block. We were taken into a dorm and through a labyrinth of hallways into a basement where the brewers club was. Now, I will simply let you insert your own thoughts, especially those of you from the United States, of the implications of having a semi-industrial, student-controlled microbrewery in the basement of the dorms...
And of course it's university sanctioned.
 |
| Some beer in the finishing stages before it's bottled. |
We were then given an evening tour of the campus. It was a warm summer night so there were quite a few people out, even at 1 in the morning. The center sauna was right across from the sea and there were lots of naked people (men and women) cooling off in the night air before heading back in. Furthermore, this isn't the only sauna on campus, all dorms have multiple saunas, as do many building. Actually, from other conversations with Juha, we learned the huge importance that saunas play in Finnish daily life. Politicians and businessmen often hold important meetings and negotiations in the sauna and will often make a deal in the heat before signing anything on the outside. There are all kinds if saunas from themed saunas, to boat saunas, to saunas in converted VW busses. Juha, of course, had a sauna at his house and we took part in a standard session. Nudity and all.
After the brewers club we had to head home - at about 2 am. To pack our bikes into boxes for the flight home. We would have really liked to keep biking, but we will just have to keep on dreaming until the next tour.
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