snapshots from helsinki, finland.
helsinki cathedral.
omg, it’s here! a travel post! and not just any travel post, but one for our annual anniversary international trips! our last one was in 2019 to london and scotland. 2020 was supposed to be all about central europe but that got canceled as it was the very start of quarantine, and in 2021 we just took a few days to drive out to the desert. it was lovely, and we love the desert but by the fall of 2021 i was itching to really travel again.
view of senate square from helsinki cathedral.
keisarinnankivi.
national memorial to the winter war.
uspenski cathedral.
while i was tempted to recreate the itinerary we had originally planned for 2020, we took some time to re-evaluate what we could do. the only non-negotiable was copenhagen because i had managed to snag reservations at noma (more on that in a later post, obviously!). in the end, we decided to romp around scandinavia instead, and we started off with helsinki, finland.
erottaja fire station.
we were there at the end of march and it was cold, and there was still snow on the ground when we arrived, but it was mostly sunny. it was so nice to walk around and explore a new city, seeing and absorbing as much as possible. the buildings were so colorful and quirky, too!
three blacksmiths bronze statue.
helsinki central train station.
inside helsinki central station.
platforms at helsinki central station.
snowy esplanadi at night.
löyly helsinki.
we couldn’t visit finland and not get our sauna on! the finns take their sauna very seriously. we opted for löyly, which is housed in a beautiful structure and had three different saunas of varying intensities and even stairs to the sea so you can get a cold dip between the heat. it’s supposed to be good for you. i obviously did not get in the water, but james did!
view from inside the sauna at löyly.
löyly stairs to the sea.
on the ferry to suomenlinna.
the ferry to suomenlinna, an old sea fortress, was a fun way to spend half a day.
cafe on suomenlinna.
cafe on suomenlinna.
wandering suomenlinna.
suomenlinna.
suomenlinna.
suomenlinna.
cannon at suomenlinna.
perhaps the most interesting place we visited was temppeliaukion kirkko, aka rock church. the domed structure built into the ground lets light in really beautifully.
above temppeliaukion kirkko.
inside temppeliaukion church.
temppeliaukion church.
temppeliaukion church.
temppeliaukion church.
it was a little bit of an odd season, with the city just coming out of winter as well as covid restrictions. many museums we wanted to see were undergoing renovations or had very limited hours, and lots of restaurants were closed the days we were there (earlier in the week). we made the best of it and still had a lovey time. the next few posts will be dedicated to all the things we ate and drank!
amos rex.
HAM: helsinki art museum.
sibelius monument.
sibelius monument.
love a cute flower shop.
