Although Helsinki was founded in 1550, it remained a sleepy town until 1748 when the Swedish State decided to construct an enormous fortress (Suomenlinna) off the coast to counter the growing threat from Russia. The manning of this fortress, along with the numerous builders, artisans and other professionals needed to complete the fortress helped to spark a period of growth for Helsinki. Part of the fortress is shown above and is open to the public. The islands appear to be a favorite day trip as the queues for the ferry were long. Under Russian rule, Helsinki was promoted to capital city of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812. A new monumental center in the Empire style was built in the heart of the city to reflect the power of Russia and the Tsar. Many buildings remain today which reflect this period. The Uspenski Cathedral, above right, was one such building. The inside of the cathedral, above, left, definitely showed its Russian origins with the brightly painted murals. Carl Engel left his mark architecturally on the city and designed many of the prominent buildings, most in the Neoclassical style. At left is one of his designs, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas (named after St. Nicholas and the Tsar, Nicholas), sitting on the hill above Senate Square. This square defined the central area of the new capital and on one side of the square was the Council of State (another of Engel’s design) and on the other is the main building of the University (also by Engel). Soon the bourgeois merchants were building their houses around the square as well. The statue in the square is of Tsar Alexander II and is surrounded by 4 smaller statues representing Law, Peace, Light and Work (below left). In 1807 the Russians attacked an occupied Finland and by September of that year Finland was ceded to Russia.

With Finland’s independence in 1917, Helsinki became the capital of the new republic. The growth of the city continued during the early decades of the century. Helsinki was scheduled to host the 1940 Olympics and built a huge new stadium for the event. However, it was canceled due to WWII and Helsinki had to wait until 1952 to host the second postwar Olympics

Esplanade Park is another distinctive area of Helsinki and quite popular with the locals for their daily strolls (above, right). Given the warm sunny days we had while we were there, the abundant shade was welcomed by everyone. It is also popular with buskers and our favorite was the Cat Lady who had 3 trained cats doing tricks. Below right one of the cats is climbing a pole held high above even the street lamp, and at left another is “running” along the pole upside-down! Looks like the same cat doesn’t it? It’s not.

For lunch, we stopped a the Cafe Ursula, left, which sits on the edge of the Baltic Sea. The view is out to the islands to the south of the city, where the Suomenlinna Fortress sits (picture at top of page).While at lunch, we were treated to a show by the local bungee-jumping enterprise along the shore. Jim said he would jump right after Verna completed her jump. We decided to watch instead.

Also on the waterfront in this area are platforms built solely for the purpose of washing your rugs (below right). Evidently this is an annual custom and appears to be very popular with the locals, judging from the number of rugs hanging out to dry (below left). Verna stopped to watch them for a while and found that they are washing them with salt water fresh from the Baltic Sea. We were assured that only gentle, biodegradable soaps were used. Also provided are large roller wringers for getting the water out efficiently.  So Jim, got any rugs that need washing??? This area of the city appears to be where some of the more well-to-do live, as well as where they keep their boats (left). Boating is very popular here as well, but since the Baltic Sea freezes in the winter, all these boats are berthed here for the summer only. The walkway shown here runs all along the southern shore and is a favorite strolling place for the locals, as well as for bicyclists (they have a separate path) and roller bladers.

Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer (one of his most famous works was “Finlandia”). To honor him, a huge park was built north of town. Located in the park is a massive sculpture in honor of Sibelius (below left). It is made of several tons of stainless steel pipes, appearing like a gigantic pipe organ. On the bottom right, sitting on the rock, is a sculpture of Sibelius’ head. Above right, is a statue of Elias Lönnrot, a collector of Finnish folk poems who published the national epic the Kalevala in 1835. The Kalevala is felt to represent the heart of the Finnish people and was an important source of pride and solidarity during the difficult times under Russian rule. We knew he must be important because on the first day we got there, there were only a few bird droppings on his head and it was one of the cleanest statues we had seen anywhere. The very next day the men were out in their cherry-picker scrubbing his head. Although the other statues in the city were relatively clean, none were as spotless as this one.

One of the things we really liked about Helsinki was the availability of free Internet access! The Cable Book Library has a couple dozen computers available for Internet access, as well as 3 places where you can plug in your laptop computer. Wow - what a concept! Needless to say, we took advantage of it.

Overall, we found Helsinki to be a welcoming, friendly city with lots of sights and interests for everyone. Of course, the fact that we were walking around in shorts and short-sleeved shirts on bright sunny days may have colored our opinion, but probably only a little. It is a clean city that is easy to get around, plenty of green spaces and lots of interesting architecture. There is also lots of great food at reasonable prices and a wide variety of shopping choices. What more could you ask for? Perhaps a longer summer, but that’s all we could think of.

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