For my twelfth visit to Finland I travelled alone, as Mark chose to leave two days after me in order not to miss playing a game in his summer hockey league. Those extra days gave me time to shop for books and music, both kinds of stores I could spend hours immersed in. I could therefore have more time to spend with Mark as we explored the city.
Since I have been to Helsinki so many times I am well familiar with the best route to take from the central railway station to the Eurohostel on Katajanokka. By “best route” I mean the kindest and smoothest route to avoid doing any damage to the small wheels on my luggage, as downtown Helsinki is laid out with cobblestones and clumsy stonework that can turn wheels’ flawless circumferences into coggy gears by the time you reach your destination.
The walk was fine until I got to Pohjoisesplanadi, where workers were tearing up the sidewalk. In fact, that would be a common sight around Helsinki this trip: we would be forced to cross, numerous times, to the other side of the street because of works to the sidewalk or tram tracks. Before I got to Katajanokka I was hoping for a pleasant walk through Tove Janssonin puisto but the eastern end of the park was fenced off for some works project, so I was detoured back to the street. And while walking along Kruunuvuorenkatu to the hostel, the asphalt was ripped off for one block, so I had to cross to the other side of the street again.
I got to the hostel an hour and a half before the formal check-in time, so I left my luggage in the storage room, repacked my backpack, and headed out to do some shopping. Finland is seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and since I did not sleep on the plane, it felt as if I had stayed up all night. My body was still thinking it was 5:30 a.m.
I walked along Aleksanterinkatu to Senaatintori and the cobbles around the tram tracks at Snellmaninkatu were being ripped up. This project had only started when I arrived; by the end of the week the whole intersection would be devoid of cobbles, leaving just a skeletal network of tracks. Fortunately the tram route we took, route 4, was still running. I headed up Unioninkatu and crossed Pitkäsilta to see the biggest works project so far: all of Hakaniemi was being ripped up. Pedestrians had to detour on the eastern side of the bridge and I nearly lost my footing on one trip back, because I missed two steps. All the trams were rerouted yet the buses were still running. I walked through the marketplace and dropped into Levykauppa Äx, and bought Kerkko Koskinen’s new CD Lämpö and a CD called Traditional Music of Swaziland, put out by the Alliance Française du Swaziland, for 1€. While there I ordered the latest releases from Scandinavian Music Group, Rakkani, and Värttinä, Kyly as neither of those was in stock. The shop assured me that both CD’s would be in before the end of my trip. The store sent me E-mails to inform me of their arrivals. I returned two more times to pick them up, and got the Värttinä CD right after we flew back from Rovaniemi. I didn’t have time to go back with Mark to check in at the hostel as the store was going to close at 6 p.m., so Mark kindly went back with both our suitcases and I headed directly to the store after waiting with him at the tram stop for the #4 to come.
Since I was on my own for two days I needed to stock the fridge with milk and lunch foods, so I got some provisions at S Market then headed back to the hostel to check in. I took it as a positive sign that our room, on the sixth floor, was #612. That’s the date of Finnish independence, the 6th of December 1917:
Our room overlooked the Eteläsatama, and at one time I saw three ferries in the harbour: Silja Line, Viking Line and Viking Line Express. By the time I put the groceries away, got unpacked and settled, I crashed at 6 p.m., which was like 11 a.m. EST. I napped for three hours, woke up for a bit, then tried to sleep through the night. I say “tried” because an annoying clicking sound kept me awake. In spite of my need for sleep, I couldn’t doze off because of this clicking, which, after several attempts to determine its origin, I concluded was coming from the overhead light fixture. I heard the clicking even when the light was switched off. I was bothered by this sound for the first two nights and tried to get it resolved before Mark arrived. A hostel receptionist came up to the room to hear the sound for himself, so he knew what I was talking about. I had the option of switching rooms but the sound seemed to wane after Mark arrived, and wasn’t as bothersome as it was the first two nights when it really inhibited my ability to sleep.
Mark and I had planned four visits during this trip: with Risto and Tiia and their children in Espoo, then with Sagan and Erik and Lumi also in Espoo, with my former Finnish teacher Marjukka Kenttälä and finally with Ultra Bra/Scandinavian Music Group drummer Antti Lehtinen and his wife Ilona. However, I wan’t going to be seeing anyone until Mark got here, so I was on my own for two days.
On Thursday morning I did a bit more grocery shopping and got some smoked salmon and my favourite smoked muikku at the Hakaniemi market, then walked to the train station at 11:30. I had arrived at the train station from the airport at 11:45 two days ago, so planned to be there a bit earlier than that in case Mark had a swifter time leaving the airport. He certainly did, as he showed up at 11:35. We walked to the hostel and got Mark checked in.
Since some of the shops I planned to visit were only open Wednesday (or Thursday) to Saturday, I could only visit them when Mark had arrived. In spite of just arriving, after a short rest Mark nevertheless wanted to go out to explore some places on his own and I took that opportunity to go to Rolling Records and the new location of Digelius Music, both a bit of a hike up Hämeentie. After I did my shopping (or rather browsing, as I bought nothing at either location) we met each other outside the Oodi library. Masses of people were gathering at the entrance. Turns out they were all members of various choirs. They gathered in one massive group, organized by vocal range, and put on a brief concert. We were surprised to find out, on a later walk through the city, that the choir members had all moved to the steps of Helsingin tuomiokirkko to sing. Notice the trompe-l’oeil tarp covering the cathedral as maintenance work is going on:
A Chinese buffet restaurant that we had visited three times in 2022, Zhonghua, had closed for renovations. We liked going there but would have to wait until we got to Rovaniemi to enjoy an Asian buffet.
On Friday morning we walked around the Kaivopuisto area to look at the largest embassies. One place we admired and thought was an embassy, but saw no sign to designate it as such, was, as we later found out, the Marmoripalatsi by Eliel Saarinen.
Two queer trams of Helsinki. The Valio tram appeared to have a moving light show but it may have just been the effect of the sun reflecting off the coloured panels:
Over the course of this trip Mark tried to find the Japanese buffet we ate at in 2019. We wanted to go there on our last night in Helsinki, September 1. He did find it: Konnichiwa was still there, at the corner of Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu and Fredrikinkatu. The server handling the cash erred and charged me the lunch buffet price, which was a few euros cheaper than the dinner price. She didn’t want to bother and correct the transaction and charged Mark the same. We got there a little over an hour before closing, yet some of the dishes were empty or nearly so. This same clerk was so kind to us because she came to our table to ask if we would like anything that was no longer being served, for she would ask the chef to make a special serving for us. I was disappointed not to see any fried mushrooms on the hot plates and within a few minutes, she brought over a piping hot plate full of them for us. We were really impressed with this special service.
Mark on our last morning in Helsinki, September 2, as we waited for the #4 tram to take us to the central railway station. It would end up being the tram behind him, as it was so near the end of the line and then looped back to pick us up:
Just before crossing over to the railway station to get our train to the airport:
