That's why we never take that ferry. But this time (I know I used the same expression already) my live-in boyfriend (M) had a worktrip from Helsinki to Tallin. And his employer had booked him on the Helsinki ferry, because he needed to be in Helsinki to get on the ferry he was supposed to work on, and it departed from Helsinki. Anyway, I knew he had a cabbine of his own, so I asked to take the same ferry to Helsinki with him. That meant that I didn't need to book a cabbin, and it was cheaper for me! Okay, the ferry was just as wish ever ferry, so no surprices there.
As we got to Helsinki it was time to say good bye to M, he and his co-workers had a car that took only 3 passengers, so there was no room for me, wish I knew. Instead I walked of the ferry after asking how to get to Helsinki downtown. I got the answer that there was a tram that I could take. This is the only city in Finland where you can take the tram by the way.
As I got of the ferry I saw a road sign telling me that it was 1,1 km to Helsinki downtown. Why take the tram when I can walk? Getting some frech air and it's cheaper! Well, as it turned out it would have been cheaper with the tram...I'll get to that later!
I walked where the road sigh told me to, walking past a road with the name "Pikku satamakatu" (The small harbour road), this was such a sweet name that I remember it! And that's how I can find where I was walking on the map :)
As I was walking I saw this cathedral. I have no idea what it is called or that it in fact is a cathedral, I think it's beautiful and I take a picture of it. Knowing where I walked, and thanks to "Pikku satamankatu" I can place the cathedral on the map and learn that it is the Uspensky Cathedral. If you want to know anything about it you will have to google it, this blog is long enough with out a history lesson...
I don't know what this is, a river of some kind. It was an impulse picture. Looking at the map I know that this river conects the north harbour with the south harbour...why I don't know.
I can't find this building on the map. But there are soldiers guarding it so it can't be any random building. I thought the fence is beautiful!
Here is a picture of the ferry I came with, and therefore this must be the south harbour. Well, it says south on the map so. Behind me I have the "Kauppatori" (Market place), and this is where everything started to go wrong! With my saving-money-by-not-taking-the-tram-plan I mean.I minded my own bussiness and walked across the market place. There was a lot of people with their tables trying to sell stuff. One table I saw had jewelry for sale. As I saw they had another customer I felt I could glance at what they were selling before heading to downtown. Okay, it was NOT a customer, it was the salesman putting out hes jewelry on the table. Well, he greeted me "good morning" in english and I answered in english, without thinging about it further. It crossed my mind that I should tell them that I speak both sweedish and finnish, but then again, I was just looking at the jewelry and wasn't going to buy anything, or even stay for that long. I let them finish talking about their product and then politely told them I needed to think about it, starting to walk away. The salesman then told me, as I'm their first customer, I get a small discount on the smaller jewelry, this I could remember and come back, he would give me that discount when ever I came back. I will not tell the discount :)
Anyway I hesitated and he started to persuade me to buy a jewelry. They were so nice! Made from a rock that shifts in colour. He showed me many different kinds of blure. Some were the perfekt blue, and some shifted in colour from blue to yeallow and green. "The wave" was the most popular last year, so he showe me a lot of those. It was really nice, but so were the rest of the designes. I found one, the Aurora Polaris (I heard Aurora Boralis, and thought that it has to be a flower :)), and it was purple. It can be purple, it can even be pink, but the most common is the blue and green. Once again I told the salesman that I needed to think about it. But I wanted to be sure, that if I changed my mind, I could take contact with him to buy the jewelry. So I asked him for contact info. He hesitated, then told me that he can't give me any. It's a small scale bussiness, so they can be bought only there, on the maket place. They work all winter to have a stock, and in the end of the summer they haven't got so many or none of some designes.
Oh my god! I knew I had lost. The battle with me of course. I want to support small scale bussiness. And from that moment I knew that there is nothing in my head, no reason for me not to buy a jewelry. So I started looking for real this time. I was totally sold on the Aurora Polaris, the purple one. So I made up my mind, I have to have that one. The jewelry come with a wooden box. They asked for my name to carv into the box and asked also if they put the date on it, so that I would remember the day I was in Finland. I felt like such a fraud! I didn't have the courrage to tell them "hrm...I AM from Finland...." so I told them I live on Aland Islands, well, that is true! To tell them I speak both finnish and sweedish I didn't mention. The salesman told me that they'll carv in my name even so :) That's sweet, and I got the discount he promissed me.
I tryed to take a picture of the stone. It didn't go so well, but you can see it shining in purple, on the pictures. Specially on the close-ups.
Aurora Polaris
Here it is, round my neck. It's almost purple on this one.
The road sign, pointing to "Kauppatori" and to downtown. I took a picture of this to remember the name of the market place.
This is a memorial...something that was on the Kauppatori. To the emperor Alexandra that was the first time in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.
Helsinki Cathedral. I didn't take a closer look, because I've been there before and I was on my way to downtown. Although it's worth visiting.
Here is a fountain, probably has a name but I don't know :)
I thoutght it was nice having a picture like this. You can't get a picture like this in the summer! Because then the mouth is filled with water :D
This, apparently, is our National Anthem in Sweedish. I took a picture of it because I thought it was a nice statue. Looking at it up close I can see the words of our National Anthem. Not that clear though. If I'd known I'd take one up close, just because.
See the green shoes haning in the string over the street? :) I was like, what the...?
The railway station of Helsinki. This was the goal of my walk. I needed to get my back pack to one of those lockable cabinets that they have in railwastations. While I'm trying to fit my bag in the cabinets my sister calles. I had asked her if she could be my guide for the day, if she had time. She had class until , well, I don't remember, but the timetable was that she was supposed to be in Helsinki about an hour later. I asked about a shop I wanted to go to and she tried to explain. I didn't understand so I said I'll walk in the direction she said and then I call her :) But first I had to buy the tickets to Ekenäs (Tammisaari) were I would stay with my sisters for the rest of the stay. As I'm buying the tickets a voise tells me "hi" I turn around and there is my sister Cutie :) She took the earlier bus and wanted to surprise me! The taught was that she would leed me down the road to were I wanted to go, and she would just turn up! But as I wasn't sticking to MY timetable and had stopped at the market place to be a tourist, I wasn't as ready as Cutie thought :)
We went to the store. I have no pictures from that :) I hadn't time to take pictures! And I don't think you are allowed to anyway. But on out way to an other store I saw this! A beard wannabe!? It seemed to be knitted :) I think it was if a femail wanted to have a beard or something like that :) Strange!
As we walked I asked my sister what this was. She paused for a minute and said: "This is....something else!" Uuuuuu! That was just what I expected it to be :)
Well, she had forgot, but it said on the side that it was Kiasma. And I got this beautiful Coca Cola sign too :)
Here is, I think, Mannerheim. A former president in Finland. From 1944-46 according to wikipedia :) That's how good I know my Finnish history...hm...
Here is a tram :) The only place in Finland were you can ride a tram is in Helsinki.
And the thing I was trying to take a picture of when the tram came and I decided to take a picture of it. Some modern art I think, Cutie agread. But it could just as well be "something else" :)
Our parlament building.
Some street-art.
Some more street art :)
Outside the parlament building there was some statues of former presidents. Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, 1931-37
Our first president, Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, 1919-1925
Kyösti Kallio, president of Finland 1937-40
Okay, this is so far away I don't know what this is. I'll fill that out when I know :)
This Cutie told me is a museum. I has been a prison. We didn't go inside, because there wasn't time for it. We had a train to catch and still a store to get to :)
In an other angle. There was supposed to be bullet holes in the door, but I didn't go check.
The bars in the windows, a mamory from the time it was a prison, according to Cutie.
I thought this was so cute :) An easterbunny m&m :)
An Finland wouldn't be finland without Mumin :)
or the santa claus :)
It was fun being fot half a day in the capital of Finland :) Even though I live in Finland I'm hardly ever in Helsinki. And I don't find my way around there so if I go there I always stick to the same places, not because I want to, but because I find them!! Therefore it was nice having a guide :)
We took the train to Ekenäs shortly after this. In Espoo a close friend of mine got on the train, I had asked her when she got of work, so we made sure we got the same train :) It was nice seeing Beebs too! Over all a really nice trip to Helsinki!
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