An American Couple in London: Return from the Baltics

Lake across from hotel, Helsinki

Sharing some knowledge - Estonia is one of the Baltics, with the others being Latvia and Lithuania. We had a good trip to Helsinki and Tallinn, extending our August Bank Holiday (basically, Labor Day a week early for you Americans) by two days. It was very nice to get away for more than just a long weekend. What was unexpected is the impact of a two hour time change. Seems pretty minimal, but makes for what feels like some early mornings and some late going to bed.

Anyway, on to the trip. We left Thursday afternoon for Helsinki on an airline we'd never heard of (Blue1?) that doesn't give away water, on a plane probably older than us. But we survived, got to the Helsinki airport, caught a cab, and found the hotel. We were staying just outside the downtown core so had a nice walk into town and caught some dinner - Italian. I know, I know, not at all authentic, but exactly what we needed - it was late, we were hungry, and we didn't feel like eating anything with "pickled" and "fish" in the same entree description.

Helsinki was a really pretty town. We wandered all over the city, seeing the harbor from multiple vantages points, crossing over to some islands. And the weather couldn't be beat. Twice we've been to Scandinavia, and twice we've had good weather. We don't question, just enjoy. Interestingly on the way in from the airport Katherine commented that it looked quite similar to the US, and the northwest in particular. They drive on the correct side of the road, new freeways, evergreens, and new construction. Off the freeway, they do have some really interesting architecture throughout town, with their homegrown architect Alvar Aalto well represented

We both left Helsinki feeling like it was a very comfortable and livable town. Walking and bike paths everywhere, lots of public transport, and a great community feel. Friday night there was a huge festival all over town - we walked down to the park across from our hotel and saw some fire dancing and music - surrounded by literally thousands of Fins. Very cool. The next morning we walked through the neighborhood behind our hotel and stumbled onto a local market where we had breakfast. All around us were locals meeting up with friends and family. It felt really nice. Monocle magazine recently ranked Helsinki #5 in their most liveable cities (Seattle, not ranked, Portland #25, Vancouver #8). I don't know how livable it is in the winter, but for the weekend we were there it definitely made sense.

Saturday afternoon we caught the jet boat hydrofoil thing over to Tallinn. I insisted that it was broken because we never took off (shouldn't a jet hydrofoil really move?) and thought we were going to be really late in getting there. I was, of course, wrong, and we arrived perfectly on time. Given the weather and proximity we walked the kilometer to the hotel. Hotel was good, modern design which I love (if you have a stone sink in a non-curved shape, I'm yours). Saturday was a good start, nice weather, did a preview of the Old Town to get us set for the next day. Unfortunately, the next day was raining, and windy, and totally miserable. It felt like an October day at 6pm all day long. After slogging around for a while, seeing some interesting church art, climbing the castle walls, and nailing the top 10 attractions according to our guide book, we retired for a bottle of wine and a movie on pay-per-view at the hotel.

I think that Tallinn was a bit disappointing for both of us. We gave it too much time (two full days), and the weather was not at all cooperative. Helsinki was nice, with good weather. So a bit of a mixed bag, but as always, just glad we have the opportunity to explore.