Helsinki - Tidbits

The architecture in Helsinki is not particularly pompous.

Before I did research about or visited Finland, the name of its capital, Helsinki was the coolest word I had heard yet.

I think I was in my teens when I heard of Helsinki for the first time. I asked a Danish friend about it. i was learning about Scandinavian nations. I could appreciate what Swedish and Norweigan people were like but I thought Finnish people were similar to Eskimos who looked like Jari Litmanen.

What about the name, Helsinki, intrigued me? It was like no other Scandinavian word to me. Finnish is unlike other Nordic languages which is why. Perhaps, the "Hel" part sounded like "hell" and "sinki" was cute. I've been told Finns joke often about the name. I came up with Helstinki while I was in the city. The city did not smell bad at all. The air was fresh. In any case, my rhyme was based off of "Brass Monkey" by The Beastie Boys, hence: Helstinki, Helstinki, inki.

Helsinki is the centre of the Helsinki Region, a functional urban region of about 1.3 million inhabitants and 738,000 jobs. Helsinki is in the region of Uusimaa, in Southern Finland.

Helsinki felt like Cape Town. It had quite a few tourists wandering about - although to be fair these tourists may only come from as far away as Estonia and Sweden. Swedish people have a darker complexion than Finns do. The Swedes' hair is also more often darker. I have not visited Sweden yet but from reading about Swedes and seeing some of them on TV or a golf course, I have mad some conclusions. A Finn even told me Swedes were more stylish and relaxed than Finns. Both nationalities are probably full of blonde people - Finland is. Even in fairly cosmopolitan Helsinki, the people are mostly blonde.

I did not see many Africans, Indians or that many Chinese people. There were a few people who I assumed were Japanese. Japanese people have visited Helsinki for years. Many Japanese are similar to Finns as they are quiet, shy and work diligently. This is an observation: you get loud people in every country and culture but stereotypes such as Finnish people being quiet come out when those people are met by foreigners.

Helsinki is full of pretty but not extravagant architecture. This is typical of Northern Europe and many Protestant areas. It seems to be a well-designed city and the public transport is excellent. I like being able to catch a bus home at 3am. Yes, the quality of clubs and other night life does not quite excite me that much but Helsinki gets away with having pretty parks which people can enjoy relaxing in at night in summer.

I would like to experience Helsinki in winter; I am sure there are enjoyable indoor activities then. People say that the winter is so bleak that people become suicidal but even though it may bot be very pleasant, people get through it and I'm sure they have fun doing it.

There will be many more posts about Helsinki, a city I spent a couple of brilliant weeks in.