Welcome to HEL

We arrived in HEL on Sunday morning after a 9 hour flight from Chicago, during which we watched “The Company Men”. Even though it’s been 4 yrs since I played corporate, the movie pointedly reminded me of how many I saw escorted out the door with their lives contained in one cardboard box. Can’t say that I miss that world.

In HEL, we were fortunate to get a room by 1100, took a nap for several hours and headed out in late afternoon for a short walk around. We headed toward town past Helsinki Cathedral which was built in the mid 19^th century perched on a hill. Further on we came to the Esplanade, a fairly large park lined with “Foofoo” shops and several restaurants. 

Frank, Jill and Ryan arrived from Copenhagen Sunday evening. We had picked the Kappeli restaurant on the Esplanade for a late dinner of smoked reindeer, fish and Finnish chicken. Late that is for Americans. I had assumed that Helsinki restaurants would be open late as in other European cities, but the kitchens started closing around 10.

The 5 of us decided at breakfast that Monday would be the day to take the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia…and the ship left from the other end of town in 45 minutes. We made it and 2 hours later docked in Tallinn, which until 1991 was the capital of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHD5nd3QLTg

Tallinn Market Square

A few references to the soviet era are displayed for tourists, such as the Soviet museum, a few Ladas and the “KGB Hotel”. We had 5 hours in Estonia and moved on to old Tallinn, which has been fortunate to avoid destruction during the Russian and German invasions. Frank took us on a tour of the town, stopping at a restaurant on the square for a bite to eat, past the castle, up and down small roads and back to the ferry. We had a very late dinner of Finnish hash and meatballs and mashed potatoes. Not a bad meal.

On Tuesday we split from Frank, Jill and Ryan. We had bought tickets for an all- day cruise from a town in Finland named Lappeenranta to a town named Vyborg. We took the afternoon train from Helsinki for the 2 hour ride to Lappeenranta. We walked by the lake to find tomorrow morning’s dock, had burgers and ice cream and had an early evening.

Wilson preps for Russia

Wednesday morning started with a 530 wake-up call for our 745 departure, Today’s trip is a 5 ½ hour cruise down the lengthy Saimaa Canal from Lake Saimaa to Vyborg. During that cruise we would pass through 8 locks and drop a total of 80 meters in elevation. Locks are fascinating. We would enter the lock, stopping short of the doors in front of us. The doors behind us would close, the water would drain and then the front doors would open and we would cruise out to the next lock to repeat the process. About 1/3 of the way to Vyborg, we passed a cut in the forest, where the trees had been cleared to indicate the border between Finland and Russia. Finland to the left, Russia to the right. The allure of this cruise was that we could go to Russia without a visa. A short visit, but these children of the cold war could say they went to the home of the enemy, the evil empire! These guys were the reason we routinely dived under our desks as school kids, and we were on their turf. Would the KGB or it’s successor follow us everywhere?

Lock doors, going up

Vyborg was a bit of a shabby port city, at least in the area where we were. We stopped at the Café Respekt for a good lunch and a photo-op for Wilson. The city had quite a few abandoned buildings in various states of disrepair. We went to the market square shops which had everything from meats and veggies to clothes and tourist trinkets. Alas, no Vyborg t-shirts as I had hoped, but we did find a Vyborg snow globe for Brian’s collection. We slowly made back to the boat. After 5 ½ hours, 8 locks and a rise of 80 meters in elevation, we arrived back in Lappeenranta.

It feels warm in HEL, although not as hot as the nuns threatened. Maybe it’s a perceived heat. Perceived because I, or we, are spoiled with A/C. Just about everywhere we go in the US we are climate controlled. The temperature here is by no means hot, especially by Texas standards. It’s between 75-85F. But where’s the A/C? The hotel in HEL says it has A/C, however whatever adjustment you make the temp (about 24C) stays the same or goes up. The front desk says to turn the fan to “3”, however the noise from the unit remains constant and no more air emerges. I’m typing this on the train from Lappeenranta to Helsinki. It has lots of air vents, that make lots of noise. But they are fixed position and cannot be moved towards you. Two little kids just stood on their seats attempting to move the vents, to no avail. The woman sitting next to Nancy is slowly taking her clothes off. Of course my laptop, Nancy’s IPAD and all the other electronic devices don’t contribute to the heat. As we exited the train, I saw a thermometer on the wall, which read 32C (89.6F). Maybe the heat is not completely a perception problem, but as I said, we’re spoiled…..and I bitch a lot.