Hello Helsinki: Finland's Chilly Capital City

It was a quick stopover, but we made it to the capital of Finland: snow-covered, buzzing Helsinki.

Our ferry arrived on Saturday afternoon, and took the tram into the city. It was about a five minute walk from the tram stop to the hotel, which turns into 10 when you have to drag suitcases through the snowy sidewalks : ) Once we checked in, we headed out exploring.

First stop was the Old Market Hall with tons of stalls selling Finnish delicacies, fresh seafood, gamey meats like reindeer and small cafes. We had vegetable curry soup to warm up and then headed back into the cold to market square located on the edge of the waterfront.

We then headed to the Helsinki Cathedral, a Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church in the center of the city. It was originally built in the mid 1830s as a tribute to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. It sits above the city and is a distinct landmark because of it's huge green domes. The architecture style looked very Greek to me with the columns and statues. Outside it was very impressive, but inside it was very simple.

The rest of our evening consisted on stocking up on more winter clothing at a store (it was chilly!), grocery shopping to get hot cocoa and snacks for our next Finland stop-over, cocktails at a neat speakeasy-type bar called Liberty or Death and then craft beers nearby. We had dinner at an asian restaurant which may seem strange considering where we were, but it was so good and had lots of creative, flavorful dishes.

Then we retired for the night to rest up for our journey to north Finland in the morning. More to come!