On Wednesday, July
16th, we arrived at Helsinki, Finland. Given that a main
priority on this cruise was to explore the cities of Scandinavia, I was
anticipating an interesting day in Helsinki. I had already been
aware of some of the country differences between Norway, Sweden, and
Finland given some previous studies that I had done. One major
difference that I noticed upon my arrival to downtown was the great
language difference between Finnish and other Scandinavian
languages. Finnish is actually closer in format to Estonian and in
the distant past Finns had a dialect very similar to Hungarian but that
has become obscure over the centuries. A shuttle was available to
take guests from the Noordam to downtown Helsinki. It was
fascinating in that we were able to see the Carnival Miracle
under construction at Kvaerner-Masa Yards.
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off downtown, I decided to just start walking feverishly with the hope
of seeing as much as possible. I stopped into Stockmann
department store just to walk around and see what the shopping culture
is like there. Shortly thereafter I began to walk north and
discover as much as I could. This portion of the journey began at
the Railroad Station. Within a short walk from the Railroad
Station, I found the National Theater. The National Theater
was designed by the architect Tarjanne in 1902 and features
decorative sculptures on its façade reminiscent of the opera
house in Vienna. Just in front of the National Theater is a
statue of Aleksis Kivi. This venue is, however, not to be
confused with the National Museum located nearby. The
National Museum was designed between 1902 and 1904 and was opened
to the public in 1916. The museum presents rich archaeology,
cultural history, and ethnological collections within. |
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From
the city center, I took a bit of a longer walk north to discover
what type of scope that I could discover by foot. I walked
for about 25 minutes and happened upon Finlandia Hall.
Finlandia Hall is Helsinki's leading concert and congress center
and is located in a park along Töölö Bay. It was designed
by Alvar Aalto and built in 1967-71 with the congress wing being
added in 1973-1975. |
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was just after the point of having seen Finlandia Hall that I
decided to turn around and make my way back toward the city
center. I decided that I wanted to walk through some side
streets and see some of the more intimate and cultural areas of
Helsinki. At this point in my month in Europe, I had already
decided that I would need more digital camera memory. I did
not need it at that moment but I figured that I would at least
begin to price it out. I walked into a local camera store
and tried to communicate in English only to describe a digital
camera card and, not surprisingly, the shop did not carry
any. I continued to walk toward the city area and captured a
photo of the Kristus Kyrkan on another side street. |
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Kristus
Kyrkan |
I had a mental list
of other sites that I had wanted to see and the next on my list was
certainly the Temppeliaukio Church. The Temppeliaukio Church was
built into a granite outcrop with walls of stone which is often referred
to as the "Church in the Rock". The ceiling is an
enormous, domed, copper disk, separated from the rock walls by a ring of
glass allowing light to filter in from outside.
Shortly after
leaving the Temppeliakio Church area, I made my way back into the city
center. I took the opportunity to photograph some of the more
modern buildings in Scandinavian design as well as those being more
historical. Along with some of the more modern buildings that I
saw were the Radisson SAS and the Scandic Hotels. I stopped into a
local grocery store to buy a drink and I also looked around just to
compare the items that the locals would purchase while shopping. I
found it very interesting here as I always do in other countries.
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Scandic
Hotel |
Radisson
SAS Hotel |
City
Building with Grocery Store. |
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It was another
beautiful sunny day and it especially showed along the Eteläesplanadi
(Esplanade) where locals had congregated this day to enjoy the sun,
company, music, and good food. Branching off of the Esplanade are
also many side streets with shops, cafés and other businesses.
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Views of the Esplanade and Its Surrounding Areas. |
Not too far from
the Esplanade is Senate Square where one may see the magnificent
Tuomiokirkko (Helsinki Cathedral), designed between 1830 and 1840
and a prominent feature of the Helsinki skyline. The Helsinki
Cathedral is of Neoclassical design at sits atop a steep flight of
steps. The steps are also used by the Finns to sit, enjoy the
atmosphere, and enjoy a bite to eat.
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are assorted views of the Tuomiokirkko including one of her
interior of a pipe organ suspended high above. |
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I
wound up finding myself wanting to spend more and more time around
the waterfront enjoying the attractions and beautiful
weather. Just along the waterfront I found another icon
associated with Helsinki, the Empress's Stone. The Empress's
Stone is an obelisk designed by Carl Ludvig Engel completed in
1835.
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Visible
from just about anywhere in the city of Helsinki and along the
waterfront was my next destination : the Uspenski Cathedral.
The Uspensky Catherdral is unmistakable with its dark red brick
exterior in contrast to the lighter colors of the historical city
center. The Russian Orthodox cathedral is very well known
for its green copper roof and gold "onion" domes.
It was designed by the Byzantine-Russian architectural tradition
of A.M. Gornostayev of St. Petersburg. Uspensky Cathedral is
the biggest Russian Orthodox church in Scandinavia.
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spacious interior is dominated by gold, silver, red, and blue. |
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having visited the Uspensky Cathedral, I was feeling pretty
exhausted and definitely hungry. I could not help but stop
in the Kampatori Market on the way back to the ship to have a bite
to eat. I went to one of the booths there in the open air
market and enjoyed some local grilled fish with rice and
vegetables. It was a very nice meal albeit it being so hot
outside in the open sun. Just after that point, I located
the original shuttle point near the Stockmann Department Store and
waited to head back to the Noordam. |
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After a long day in
port, one's cruise ship is always the nicest site. In this case, I
was able to get some nice exterior photos of the Noordam and a
photo of the Noordam with the Carnival Miracle in the
background. I enjoyed lunch on board in the Lido Restaurant before
a typical afternoon nap.
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