And Outside The Rain Fell...

In the heartland of Nordic Europe, Finland, finally. Getting off our huge Siljia Cruise, we were greeted by a brimming, sunny Helsinki, with its de facto symbol, the pearl white Cathedral, looming large over the city. The city overlooked the vast harbour, and to watch the yachts and ocean liners flow into them makes you realize how everything to do with Helsinki has something to do with water or the sea.



8tanyac, the super cool pseudo-Russian friend from WIMWI, was supposed to meet us at the port, but she didn't. As luck would have it, we didn't have her number and had absolutely no way of reaching her. Giving up, we decided to walk towards the city centre on our own, when suddenly this chick walks up the promenade, all bright and smiling, saying "Pooooooooch!".



She was to be our tour guide for the day, and poor Patwa, who was doing an absolutely fantastic job with the map so far, had to take a backseat. We visited an orthodox red bricked church first, with a tall blue spire. This church, overlooking the sea, was nestled in the most delightful of surroundings, green meadows and hundreds of green, lush green maple trees. It almost seemed like autumn had skipped Finland.



People love their dogs here, and i saw a couple playing with their dogs, almost 10 to 12 of them of these meadows. The Scandinavians so far seemed to live an unusually relaxed life, taking their time to enjoy the scenic beauty around them, the markets closing at 5, and nearly everyone outdoors.



We lugged on with our backpacks in tow towards the Central Station, stopping over at ornate fountain squares and for exotic cars (The Ferrari still eluded me though). Dumping backpacks at the station (4 Euros), 8tanyac took us to the Parliament building, mighty pillars and an imposing facade, this neo-modern building imposed heavily on the street, standing out with its solidarity and size.



From time to time, pretty flowers in the gardens excited the macro-photographers amongst us, I personally do not like plain macros of flowers and the like too much (don't hold me on to this one though)



Tarsi and Bandi posed for several photographs together, and the 4 of us urged them to pose more and more as couples do, all mushy et al, Shameless and brazen as I am, at my requests, the two always just smiled on, never for once making the rest of us feel awkward or unwanted. Hats off to them, a perfect pair totally.



Now, Boondiii, next in line, shameless as he is, still hasn't called his girl from Europe, or so he claims. Sigh. And lol. Commonly known as ‘budhao’, ‘Uncle’ and ‘loadu’, this lad is the comedian of the group, with his sharp wit about him, and almost blunt rebuttals leaving us all speechless and smiling.



I noticed the Europeans used every form of transport, super cars that zipped along at 200km/hr, super fast bikes, umpteen cycles, roller blades, skateboards, Segways, Nordic poles, even shoes which had little wheels where the sole should be, and of course, what seems like their favourite- walking.



We then retraced our steps to the town centre. Town centres are a pleasure to visit, bustling with activity, from exhibitions (Pablo Picasso) to live musicians.



By then, starving, our guide offered to take us to the "UniCafe", which to our disappointment was closed. We searched on, finding for ourselves a food court in a mall, and were delighted to find our yummiest vegetarian meal yet.



The salesman, a tremendous seller, offered us falafels - bread with some kind of pulse cutlet, an assortment of greens and ketchup. The chillies, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage were extremely juicy, very very delicious. He offered us all this for 5.5 Euros, topping it with awesome cappuccino, jugs of water (very expensive otherwise) and a 10% discount. He was a funny man, and kept repeating "for you, I give discount", with hand signs as if he's slicing off our throats. We could only bless this man for the sumptuous meal he had to offer us, after miles of walking around hungry.



We visited the pearl white Cathedral next, the Tuomiokirkko, which unfortunately was shrouded in scaffolding due to maintenance work. A beautiful church, I’ll let the pictures talk. To me, the highlight of this church was the enormous organ pipe, gold, silver and copper beautifully settling together to make up the ornate instrument. Statues of Martin Luther stood inside the church, and the interiors reflect the simplicity of the reformation of the church at those times.



Tanya soon took leave, and the rest of us proceeded to Suomenlinna, a sea fortress which was a ferry ride away.



I was on a call with mum and dad for the first 5 minutes, and strange as it was, I did not notice anything at all around me while I was speaking, so engrossed was I in their talks. Imagine my surprise then to find myself in the middle of a beautiful fortress wall at the end of the call, almost suddenly and out of nowhere.



What followed was perhaps the most beautiful part of Nordic Europe we had seen, nature at its pristine best, wooden bridges, sail boats, old fortress and tunnels, cobbled roads and sweeping views of the sea, the island had it all.



The leaves glowed green and red here, and the tomb of Gustaf III, a king who apparently died defending this country, before it fell to the Russians. His tomb was beautifully encased as a boat, capped with a copper shield, helmet and sword it was beautiful. Suomenlinna itself was constructed as a fortress by Sweden, defending Finland against the Russians, until it eventually fell to them.



Walking across meadows, true countryside heather, we reached a clearing, opening out to the sea. The wind here was gusty, and with the sun beating down on us, it is now a moment imprinted in my head, clear and unforgettable. The Finn countryside here was dotted with benches, with waves below crashing on to the rocky stones out at sea. We came across ancient cannons, and at one amusing instant, PritS was butting his head in one of them for some reason, insisting for a photograph.



We left the place soon, boarding our train to Roveniemi, towards the north of Finland, to Santa Claus land!