Travel Blog Day 4

Helsinki, Finland

Ah, back to modernity. Clean, efficient, shiny, new. Helsinki feels like Washington state in many ways, it's got half a million people but still feels very small. We visited during the vacation period of summer, which means that 40% of the population is out of the city. But it felt like a living, breathing town, for once, instead of a tourist attraction. Most of this feeling came from the fact that they didn't seem to allow people to put out carts of crap everywhere to sell. There was a large public square with delicious local food (reindeer sausage and fried potatoes with a beer), and vendor stalls aplenty, but once you left that area, nothing.

One really bizarre thing was that both Rusty and I noticed that the people weren't nearly as thin as the Estonians, there were a lot more chubby bellies. I couldn't help but notice that there were also a lot more McDonalds here than Estonia. I think I saw one every other block. They sure do love their Big Macs. Better watch out, Finnish, you'll look like us soon.

Also, the younger crowd looked like they were out of a time machine. Dyed black and red hair (long on top and shaved underneath), piercings everywhere, skateboarding, grunge clothing, ripped jeans.. it was 1995 all over again. Don't get me wrong, I loved 1995, and I felt very at home, but I haven't seen people dressed like that for a decade. When I compare it to the thugged out baggy gear or shaggy emo hair from what's popular now, I gotta say I still prefer grunge.

Because it is such a functioning city, there's not all that much to see. We checked out the two major churches in town, one Orthodox and one Lutheran, wandered around to the train station and a museum, got some lunch from street vendors, and took a boat tour around the islands, and then just walked the streets for a few hours. Instead of "it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there", I found myself thinking that it'd be a fantastic place to live, but there's not all that much to see when visiting. Except for that whole part where all the water in town is frozen for six months out of the year, and the night lasts 18 hours a day. That part would suck.