Up North, to a New Country!

Monday I hit the road again. As always when I leave Latvia I feel a little sad, but the predominant feeling is a strong urge to come back as soon as possible and I already try to find a place in my calendar. I definitely plan to spend a part of my practical year here, but, of course, I have to come back before that.

This bus is not empty and the seats are quite narrow, so this ride is not too relaxing. Through the window I notice varying amounts of snow on the trees and meadows along the road. We pass through Salacgrīva, a small coastal town not too far from Limbaži where I spent my exchange year. The market square is close to the road and I remember the St. Michael’s market quite exactly eleven years ago at the beginning of my exchange year when everything was still new and incomprehensible to me. Seems like another life.

I’ve been to Tallinn only once before, also during my exchange year. This year I don’t have time to see anything of the city, it’s dark throughout my stay and in the evening there is a chilly drizzle. So I spend a relaxed evening with my host cousin at her apartment, she studies opera singing here. The ferry to Helsinki leaves at eight and you have to check in one hour before that, so I have to get up fairly early. I am rewarded with a quiet winter morning, just enough people outside to ask for directions when needed, and a magnificent pink sun rise over the harbor. Once on board I find a seat opposite a big window and just enjoy the view. The ship is quite full, mostly middle aged Russian women, each with two huge trunks. I wonder if they go to work in Finland and take their food with them to save money. Russian is the predominant language around me.

Once more I pass one of these unnoticeable borders – and I enter a country I haven’t been to before! I have one and a half hours to get from the quay to the central station, even with the backpack enough time for one kilometer, so I can walk around a little to get some first impressions of Helsinki. Road signs are in Finnish and Swedish here, which helps to learn some Finnish and makes it easier to know I’m on the right way. After passing the Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe, I also happen to walk past the presidential palace as the change of guards.

There were free maps of Helsinki on the ferry, so I know the tourist information is right on my way to the station, on the Pohjois Esplanadi (Northern Esplanade), a central axis of the city center. The Esplanade Park was established at a turning point of Helsinki’s history, large parts of the city had burnt down in 1808 and the city was to become the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland inside the Russian Empire in 1812 (big anniversary this year!), so there was need for a new town plan. The park used to be exclusive for the gentry in the beginning, but was opened for all members of the society in the course of time. During WWI it even served as a vegetable field, quite a history.

I collect some material at the tourist information to read on the train and enjoy some window shopping at stores of some of the most famous Finnish design companies like Marimekko and Iittala.