HELSINKI

How time flies! Earlier today as I was loading some new photo’s onto my computer when I came across a group of photo’s I took last year when I travelled to Finland and Russia. I looked at the date and was surprised to see that it was almost exactly a year since I had travelled to those two countries.



At the time I was working in the remote Aboriginal community, located in East Arnhem Land of the Northern Territory. I had some leave up my sleeve, found a reasonably priced flight to Finland whilst I was looking for somewhere to go and thought why not?

The trip was a marathon. A seven hour trip mainly by dirt road to Darwin was followed by a five hour flight to Sydney. I had a five hour wait there until I boarded my Finnair flight bound for Helsinki. For the life of me I can’t remember if I had a stopover on the way and if so where. The flight all up took around 20hours.



As you can imagine I was pretty zonked by the time I climbed off the plane in Finland. There was still snow on the ground but not a lot and the temperature was around 10c. The airport was modern and I had no problem getting a cab in the early afternoon.



The first real surprise I got was the taxi cab’s. They were all brand new BMW’s and Mercedes. My cab driver was a young, blonde Finn woman who spoke immaculate English. A refreshing change from everywhere else in the world I have visited.



I only spent three days in Helsinki and that was more than enough. I stayed close to the city heart in a hotel which had once been Helsinki’s main prison. When the hotel was decommissioned it lay vacant for many years before it was bought and developed into a high class hotel.

 

The walls between the cells were removed to provide more space but the basic layout of the cell remained. The interior was lavish as was the bathroom but lying back upon my bed you couldn’t forget that you were indeed in a cell. To retain some of the mystique of it’s prison days names and graffiti which had been carved into the wall remained as a reminder of it’s prison past.



The corridors of the hotel were still tiered, prison style, with all of the original ironwork. It was somewhat eerie but magnificent sight. Of course the hotel restaurants were themed around prison and inmates. All in all it is one of the best hotels I have stayed in.

It was an easy walk into the city centre which was a mixture of both old and new. The newer buildings were only mid-sized with no towering skyscrapers. The Helsinki Cathedral is probably the most prominent building and symbol of the city. It is a huge, white painted building that sits atop a small hill near the centre of the city.

 

I took a 40 minute scenic trip on a ferry to the historic sea-fortress of Suomenlinna which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991. Construction of the fortress began in 1748 as a protector against Russian expansionism. Tourists are free to roam the extensive fortifications and several museums.



The military presence of the island has been scaled down over the years and now the island is home to some 900 inhabitants and 350 workers. Finnish low-security prisoners carry out most of the maintenance on the island.

The rest of my time was spent wandering around and visiting some of the museums. The weather was cold and bleak which made the city a little uninviting, so I was glad to catch my early morning BMW cab (driven again by a young blonde woman) to the airport.



I passed through Finnish customs without any problems and boarded my flight for the two hour trip to Moscow.

akmacca08@live.com.au