Helsinki

I had the pleasure of joining an Alumni Travel group for a week in Finland; we visited Helsinki (Finland) and Tallinn (Estonia) before heading north of the Arctic Circle to the northern tip of Finland, where we could enjoy one last burst of winter and hope to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). We had a great group of guests – alumni from Dartmouth College, Tufts University, and the College of William and Mary – all led by the indefatigable local guide, Hanna. I was the faculty leader (common on alumni trips), offering academic lectures twice during the trip. It was a wonderful trip – read on and check out the first gallery of photos!

Although I had been to Finland before, for academic lectures, I had never been to Helsinki. (My prior visits had been to the University of Oulu, far up the west coast of Finland; the February 2020 visit was particularly memorable!) So I was pleased to land a day early for this trip, giving me time to explore for a day and a half before meeting the group. It was snowing lightly as the taxi shuttled me from the airport to the hotel in the city center. Although the snow stopped and the sun emerged, that day and the next were cold and blustery. I nonetheless roamed the streets around the harbor and Esplanade, getting a feeling for the place and snapping hundreds of iPhone photos as material for my first lecture: Smartphone photography – tips and tricks.

Despite the bitter cold, people bustled about for their weekend activities. On one street, there were hundreds of people in a long, slow-moving line outside the Russian Embassy. I remembered that this was the weekend for the Russian elections; no doubt these were ex-pats waiting for their chance to vote. Across the street was a small group of protesters with signs; many of the homes and offices in the neighborhood were flying Ukrainian flags in defiance of the Russian presence next door.

I enjoyed walking through the many parks in the city center – the long and narrow Esplanade, with its many statues and the delectable all-glass restaurant Kappelli; the rolling hills of Observatory Park, with historic astronomy buildings and a panoramic view of the harbor and its islands; and the many pocket parks scattered among the neighborhoods nearby.

During a day-long tour of the city highlights, I was particularly impressed by Oodi Library. Far more than a public library, it includes reservable conference rooms, music studios, maker spaces, poster printers, chess games, an infant play space, and more. (Oh, and they have books, too.) It has an airy design, with live trees indoors, creating a welcoming atmosphere. Others could learn a lot from this library!

The harbor had only recently lost its winter cover of ice. Before the modern era of ice-breaker ships, Helsinki was largely cut off from the outside world for 6+ months a year. Now, three major ferry lines make daily runs across the Baltic Sea to Sweden, Estonia, and St. Petersburg. (Well, the latter stopped when Russia invaded Ukraine and the borders have been closed.) Still, there were blocks of ice floating in the frigid harbor waters, as we found when we visited Löyly Sauna for an hour of intense heat alternating with dips in the Baltic Sea. I had to push aside the ice blocks as I climbed down the ladder!

Some tidbits:

• Helsinki is right in the middle between Stockholm Sweden (400km west) and St. Petersburg Russia (400km east). Indeed, Finland was ruled by Sweden for about 700 years, then was an autonomous “duchy” of Russia for about 100 years. It has a strategic location on the Baltic Sea.
• Finland is the happiest country in the world, for the seventh year in a row.
• More about Finland [Wikipedia].

Although Dartmouth Alumni Travel operates excursions around the world, for some destinations they partner with other universities to assemble a group. They also partner with professional group-travel operators, like AHI Travel , which operated all the logistics for this trip. I was impressed by the whole experience.

In the next post, we’re off across the Baltic Sea for a day trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Meanwhile, check out the Helsinki gallery of photos!