Helsinki in 48 Hours

We were recently put to the challenge of playing tour guide in our new city. A dear friend, Jenny, from 'The States' came to visit for the weekend en route to a business meeting. It was November when the days were becoming noticeably shorter, some of the tourist type attractions were closed, and the weather wasn't optimal for lounging at the outdoor cafes. A challenge indeed, but we were never bored and even had to scale the tour back a bit.

Since she just arrived, what better to do than eat? We had Finnish cold-smoked salmon for supper and then went out for some fresh air. In the city center, one of the hotels has a bar (Torni) with a great view of Helsinki from their top floor: the 14th.

The next day we took advantage of the grey skies and toured the city. We took in the major churches before lunch: The Church in the Rock, the Lutheran Cathedral, and the Orthodox Cathedral.

We lunched at the indoor harbor market and found this guy!

After checking out both the indoor and outdoor markets at the harbor, we had afternoon coffee to refuel and plot our next move. We decided on a little shopping and some resting before supper. There are endless restaurants in which to dine in Helsinki and choosing one is difficult, but we did manage to find one that served some Finland originals: reindeer and barley risotto with beet sauce.

 




















The next day was Sunday, and Father's Day, so we had a lighter itinerary. We did make it to the contemporary art museum, Kiasma. Their ongoing exhibit is entitled The Book of Life and featured Finnish artists Osmo Rauhala and Tosi Kyseessä as well as Toby Ziegler. After that it was time for a quick lunch and to get Jenny back to the airport. The weekend flew by and we had a great time catching up. And we were grateful to our gracious tourist in trying out our Helsinki tour! A big thanks to Jenny for the use of her pictures!