Finland
I must admit that my perceptions of Finland are skewed, as I transited the country during the Midsummer's holiday weekend. Finns take their holidays seriously, very seriously. In fact, virtually nothing was open - restaurants, museums, and shops� it was a struggle to find anything to do. By the day we left, the holiday was over and things appeared much more lively. Take my advice - unless you have Finnish friends with cabins in the woods where you can light the bonfire and partake of other Finnish customs, stay out of the country during this weekend.
Essential Facts
The national languages are Finnish and Swedish; the former is the native language of the vast majority of the people, the latter a relict from hundreds of years of Swedish domination. Finnish is an odd language; a member of the Uralic family, it is closely related to Estonian, and distantly to Hungarian. For us Indo-European speakers, it is a hard and particular foreign language to grasp. Thankfully, most Finns tend to be multi-lingual - if you speak any major European language, you will probably find someone to communicate with. The currency, until superceded by the Euro, is the markka, which stands at about 6 to the USD. ATMs hooked up to all the major networks are plentiful. Finland, with the rest of Scandinavia, has the reputation for being very expensive, but I found it reasonable, if not cheap. Alcohol is what will kill you - like Sweden, the Finns slap "sin taxes" on their booze, driving the costs through the room. I advice waiting until you hit Denmark or Estonia.
Getting there and away
 | Europe seventh largest country, much of it still wilderness. | |
Getting into Finland is easy, if not necessarily cheap. You can sometimes find good deals on FinnAir directly into Helsinki, but I don't hold your breath. An option, though a lengthy one is train from Sweden, Norway or Russia. Superior, in my opinion is the ferry (Stockholm-Helsinki). Deck passage is free with a Eurrail pass, a cabin upgrade only $30-40 more. Baltic ferries are something else - a combination of restaurants, nightclubs, casinos, and tons of shops to buy duty-free alcohol, cigarettes and pretty much anything else. It's also great to people-watch Scandinavians take advantage of cheap alcohol, and the comedy of drunken Swedes and Finns. Coming from Estonia, ferries and catamarans ply the waters between Helsinki and Tallinn regularly.
Capital since 1812 and largest city of Finland, Helsinki is small, and easily manageable. As discussed above, my friend and I were there during the Midsummer's holiday, so it was pretty dead. Whether this is the case during the rest of the summer I doubt. Helsinki seems like a nice place to spend a couple of days.
Attractions
Helsinki has a lot of museums, all of which close down during Midsummer's holiday, so we didn't see a one.
Senaatintori, the central square modeled on St. Petersburg is a nice venue, dominated by the Tuomiokirkko (right), a Lutheran church. |
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 | When it's going on, the market in Kauppatori is lively and has food to buy to boot. | |
Across from the square is the Presidential palace (above), home of Marti Ahtisaari, (amazingly enough the president) I wonder if the flags are normal or an outpouring of Finnish nationalism. A short ferry ride away from Helsinki is Suomenlinna, the island fortress built by the Swedes. It makes a nice trip from the city. Also a bit outside the city proper is Seurasaari Island, the open-air folk museum of Finnish years gone-by - a bit corny, but not a bad place. Note that the bus no longer leaves from the train station, as says the Lonely Planet guide.
Food and Lodging
I stayed at the Kes�hotelli Satakunta, a summer hostel run by S�dexho-Marriott. It's a tad bit off the beaten path, but cheap and friendly. They have cable TV, kitchen facilities, sauna, and passable dorms rooms (not co-ed). Caf� Esplanade and Caf� Strindberg, near each other on Pohjoiseplanadi, are both good for a quick fresh sandwich, pastry, etc. for reasonable prices. For a more substantial meal, the food at Zetor is tasty Finnish nosh, but the service! My friend and I waited three hours for our food. Apparently, our first waitress' shift ended and we got lost in the shuffle� we kept trying to signal other staff about our lack of food, to no avail. Finally, when another waitress realized that we hadn't been served, our orders got filled post-haste and we got the meal free for our troubles. While it seems we were an aberration, if you're in a hurry you might want to go elsewhere. The market at Kauppatori had great berries for sale - strawberries, cloudberries, lingonberries, etc. Locally grown and amazingly sweet.