Finland - Tiny Bundle of Kindness

Prague and Budapest - 3 days each, Austria - 6 days, Hamburg, Bremen and Rottenburg - 4 days. These are the number of days I spent exploring some cities and a country. Compared to all of this, Finland, primarily Helsinki demanded that I stay for 2 weeks because of Summer School. But while travelling from Berlin to Helsinki, I thought that wouldn't be a big deal. With the daily lectures and assignments, it's good that I am going for 2 weeks as I will get to explore the country more in depth, for once. But boy, was I wrong! Indeed.
Helsinki is beautiful. No doubt about it. It's minuscule and clean and well connected. The modes of transport are bus, tram and metro. Where I came from Berlin that has complex subway and train lines branching from one end to other like the maze from Tri-wizard tournament, Helsinki's metro line boils down to one line branching to two. Done.

Well, that's always good news. Easy to get around and get accustomed. But the size of the city? Helsinki defines 'small' in truest possible sense. You could finish exploring the city just by walking, in 2 days. Enough about the area and space, lets talk about what makes a city, city. The people. In one word, Finns are ADORABLE. They are so polite and humble and helping, that I feel guilty asking questions. If you ask a passer-by where a certain bar is, they would make sure you get there. One girl fished out her phone and got directions to the bar for us just because she didn't know where it was. In Berlin, one would just reply 'I don't know' and go their separate ways, but not Finns. Those who know the way, would explain how to get there for 10 mins, describing landmarks and signs so that you arrive exactly where you want. One guy simply got off his bike in the middle of the road and asked us if we were lost. Their willingness to help just makes me hug them and say 'thank you' 100 times. But that wouldn't be so good as I noticed they are not very social. You could find them drinking or hanging out in small groups and with other Finns. But they are warm and welcoming, nonetheless.

Now, about the city. It's beautifully laid out. It boasts of old and majestic to modern and admirable architecture. I was awestruck by the creativity of even the simplest buildings here. The minimalistic yet fancy looks of the buildings is commendable and the centre pieces in front of museums, parliament houses or office areas are absolutely unique. Where at one place stands a hybrid of snake and fish, the other place hosts a huge statue of a bald guy peeing an endless stream. Other places have abstract art and some hold age-old men-on-horse statues.

Apart from the architecture, this tiny city gives way to water bodies every 20 metres! You keep walking on a sunny warm day hoping to sit by the water, and bam! there's a lake right before your eyes. Lakes, then give way to oceans, narrowly stealing land from the already small city. Yachts and boats are anchored everywhere and the majestic ships and cruises floating at the harbour. You couldn't even stroll back far enough to see the whole ships...they are that huge! Amidst such giant structures, I felt like a timid mouse dreaming of climbing up and seeing the horizon growing farther and farther as I sail away. Even if not on a ship, I got the chance to explore the nearby islands by ferry. Rushing over the water with wind in my hair and sun in my eyes, it was refreshing to get out of Helsinki and explore Suomenlinna, a small island which used to be a sea fortress owned by Sweden and Finland and now belongs to Helsinki. It is an exotic little place complete with tunnels that were used to store ammunition and massive naval guns from the period of Russian occupation. The island also hosted a few stowed away sandy beaches and rocky ocean-sides covered with moss and yellow daisies. It reminded me of so many scenes from Game of Thrones that it felt like maybe I was in Westeros after all. On one of the days, we visited a city nearby, called Porvoo which was a serene cobbled town surrounded by private islands and second-hand stores. We were greeted by a small band of folk musicians playing GoT theme song on local string instruments which somehow made it sweeter and less ominous than how it usually sounds. The people again, were a delight and we met a couple who had left Norway to come stay in this far-off town. Everyone could be seen relaxing by their boats as if owning one was quite commonplace.

Now, about the social events and celebrations in Finland. As a capital, Helsinki was quite fancy when it came to night decorations, especially on the day of festivals. Everything was lit up in colors of rainbow at night. We had the chance to attend an art festival which was not localised at a certain place, but was spread over the entire city. Within a few meters from each other, people were presenting their skills in creating melody out of discarded glass bottles and metal spoon or challenging passer-by to make it to the top of a simple rope ladder and win 100 euros (which was humanly impossible because of the way it was woven) or street dancing. It was quite a lively evening as we walked by the streets witnessing bizarre acts of expertise and ended with sitting by the colossal staircase of a cathedral reminiscing about how we all met each other and drinking wine while gazing at the illuminated city. It was indeed a perfect reunion. I did a lot more in Helsinki though, like swimming to an island with 4 other lunatics in freezing cold sea (or lake, gauging from the mild current), walking through the cemetery feeding and chasing squirrels as we walked to the beach almost everyday, peeking into museums and monuments as the entry costs were too high and ending up paying anyway to have a glance at the beauty inside, trying to finish the summer school assignments fast enough so that we could hit some bar nearby and realizing that the night was 'oldies special' and the bar was filled with old people on dates trying their luck to meet someone but getting drunk instead only to end up in a puddle at their feet. It all led to a fantastic experience that made the 2 weeks in this city much more revealing (about my friends!) and memorable that I wouldn't trade for the world. Still, goodbye and see you never again Finland!