John Edward Cooper’s Notes

HELSINKI
Helsinki is a beautiful, bustling capital city – an idyllic archipelago nestled on the Gulf of Finland and boasting over 300 islands. Surrounded by lush forests and vast, picturesque parks, both Central Park and Kaivopuisto Park offer stunning views overlooking the sea, just two of the city’s tranquil spots that provide us with an uplifting breath of fresh air.
Our morning tour takes us around many of Helsinki’s highlights, including its striking Railway Station, the gold-topped Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral and the sculptural Sibelius Monument created from organ pipes. During the afternoon, we’re free to explore the city’s vastly varied sights.

Janet had decided to make this her eating-without-limit day (it’s normally Saturday). She’d intended to be up at 6.30am, but was not woken up by the alarm clock for some reason till 6.35pm, even though she’d set it for earlier. She left the room for breakfast ca.7.15pm, shortly after which I got out of bed, shaved and showered. The bathroom had a magnifying shaving-mirror, and (unusually, in our experience) adequate lighting, but no shaver socket; there was a “Type F” (“Schuko”) socket, and I was able to use an adaptor in that, but it was a bit of a stretch for the shaver cord from there to before the mirror. I joined Janet ca.8.15am, and had orange juice, corn flakes, then bacon, baked beans, sausages (so-called, but they were like tiny German Knackwürste), and some dark brown meatballs, which actually tasted more like sausages as I know them than the items so labelled. I finished with some rye crispbreads and cured pork. We went back to the room, and were down again for the time Alexander had told us: 9am.


Map of Helsinki (click on the image to enlarge it. You may want to right-click and select “Open link in new tab” (or similar), for I refer to some of map’s numbered locations in the text, below)


Map of Helsinki centre (click on the image to enlarge it)

We boarded the coach, and Alexander handed out radio receivers and headsets, though we didn’t use them today, beyond testing them briefly. We had a tour of the city with commentary by a female guide aged perhaps 60. I wrote “Aula” as how I heard her name, but the lack of such a name in a later internet lookup makes me dismiss that. She told us much of the history of Finland and of Helsinki, and pointed out the distinctively Finnish architectural style of many of the buildings we passed following independence in 1917 from Russia. We saw ice-breakers in dock; shipbuilding is a major Finnish industry. Another is paper production, for Finland has many forests; but this industry has suffered from a decline in the use of newsprint as people have switched to electronic means of getting news. As we passed the shore I added to my list of birds seen, oyster catchers; and when we passed a lake (or it may have been one of the inlets of the sea), barnacle geese. Our first stop was to see the Sibelius Monument (“19” on the Helsinki map), made out of over 600 steel pipes by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled in 1967. It’s said they look like organ pipes, though Sibelius[i] wasn’t a composer of organ music; but the guide likened them to a forest, which was more in keeping with his music style. To counter criticism the sculptor later added the face of Sibelius behind the main work.

[i] I was surprised later to discover that Sibelius’ mother-tongue was Swedish, not Finnish. Indeed, he received criticism from Swedish-speaking Finns for producing works based on the Finnish epic Kalevala, e.g. the Kullervo “symphony”.

Friday 12 May 2017 — 09:56:00
Sibelius Monument, Töölö district, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 09:57:30
Sibelius Monument, Töölö district, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 09:57:30 (detail)
Sibelius Monument, Töölö district, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 09:58:06
Sibelius Monument, Töölö district, Helsinki

After that we passed through forested areas where we saw numerous wooden buildings, both mansions of important folk and smaller dwellings. We stopped briefly near the Olympic stadium (“17” on the Helsinki map) with its landmark 238½ft-tall tower, built 1934–1938, but not used to host the Olympics till 1952 because of World War II, to see a statue of Olympic champion Paavo Nurmi, nicknamed “the Flying Finn”. In the city itself, we passed several buildings which were pointed out to us, including the old Opera House, the new Opera House (“15”), Finlandia Hall (“14”) , the Post Office and the Central Railway Station. Next stop was for 20 minutes at the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral (“8”), on a hill on the Katajanokka peninsula (the district where the hotel is situated).


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:01:16
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:02:04
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:03:10
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:04:22
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:04:56
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki
“Х[РИСТОС] В[ОСКРЕСЕ]”
“Christ is risen!”


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:05:08
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki
“Х[РИСТОС] В[ОСКРЕСЕ]”
“Christ is risen!”


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:05:18
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:06:20
Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki

After that we visited the neoclassical Helsinki Cathedral (Lutheran) (“2” on the Helsinki map), with a tall, green dome surrounded by four smaller domes, in plan a Greek cross, so not having distinguishable areas that one could call “nave” and “transepts”.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:35:56
Helsinki Cathedral: west façade


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:36:44
Helsinki Cathedral: detail of west façade

Over the western entrance was a triangular device (the Trinity) with rays and angelic beings emanating from it, but I was confused by the four Hebrew letters within the triangle: I expected it to be the “Tetragrammaton”; indeed, I recognised the second and fourth letters as “He” (ה), but the first didn’t look like “Yod” (י) and the third didn’t look like “Waw” (ו).[ii]

[ii] In fact it must be the Tetrgrammaton, for the vowel-points are the same as the Masoretic Hebrew text:

Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:36:44 (detail)
Helsinki Cathedral: detail showing the Tetragrammaton


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:38:52
Helsinki Cathedral: looking east


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:39:22
Helsinki Cathedral: looking south


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:39:48
Helsinki Cathedral: looking west


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:40:54
Helsinki Cathedral: statue of Martin Luther in a niche in the south-west pillar


Friday 12 May 2017 — 11:43:16
Helsinki Cathedral: south-west corner

I’m not sure whether anybody was taken back to the hotel; most people left the coach at the eastern end of the Esplanade, ca.12:00. Janet and I walked along there, looking for a restaurant to have lunch. We looked at the menus posted, e.g. at the crowded Kappeli restaurant actually in the Esplanade park, as well as at a number along North Esplanade (Pohjoisesplanadi). We fancied something Finnish: reindeer or moose, say. Everywhere was very expensive, though. We ended up at the far end of the Esplanade, at an Italian restaurant, La Famiglia, opposite the huge Stockmann department store (yes, we finally did locate Stockmann). We shared antipasti, then Janet had grilled hare and I a “New York” pizza. (I would have labelled it a “pepperoni” pizza; the “New Yorker” pizza at the Premier Inn, Runger Lane South, Manchester, that I’ve had, additionally had chicken, jalapeños, etc.) Janet was provided with a huge, pointed, lethal-looking, serrated knife, with the hare. I had a couple of Karhu IV beers, golden or amber coloured, 5.3% a.b.v., and tasting more like a pale ale than a Pilsener-style lager. Janet had Baked Alaska as dessert. Service was somewhat slow; we arrived there ca.12.30pm and left a bit after 2pm. The bill came to €63.50, and we added 10% to the payment made by card, for there was provision to do that on the credit/debit card machine.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 12:35:34
At La Famiglia Italian restaurant


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:09:36
La Famiglia Italian restaurant


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:10:38
The Stockmann department store, across the way from La Famiglia

We had a walk around, visiting places either seen from the coach during the city tour this morning or mentioned. We first went north to look in the pink granite railway station, with its clock tower, and with two pairs of statued figures holding spherical lamps either side of the main entrance. Janet had a whipped-style ice cream from a shop or kiosk there. We walked through the station hall to the platforms, where I saw a couple of double-decker trains, unknown in the UK; we saw such when we visited Venice a few years ago, and I travelled on one from Berlin to Brandenburg in 2007.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:17:20
Helsinki Central railway station


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:20:02
Helsinki Central railway station


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:20:42
Helsinki Central railway station


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:23:32
Helsinki Central railway station


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:35:56
Helsinki Central railway station

Next to the railway station on the east side was a bus station in a city square, to the north of which was an interesting-looking building in Finnish “national romantic” style (“52” on the Helsinki map), which contrasted with the “almost gothic” style of the railway station. The glazed red tiles of the roofs of the two flanking towers of its façade glistened in the sunlight.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:41:44
Finnish National Theatre on the northern side of the Helsinki Central Railway Station Square, with a statue of national romantic writer Aleksis Kivi (1834–1872) in front of it

From there we went more or less westwards, visiting the Post Office, and looking at the equestrian statue of national hero Marshall Mannerheim, about whom we’d been told during the morning’s tour, before crossing the broad Mannerheimintie and continuing westwards along Arkadiankatu.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:50:56
Central Post Office in Mannerheim Square, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:52:38
Central Post Office in Mannerheim Square, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 14:56:56
Equestrian statue of Marshal of Finland Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867–1951) in Mannerheim Square, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:00:20
Looking back at Mannerheim Square, Helsinki

On our right as we went along, we passed the Natural History Museum (“50” on the Helsinki map), with an interesting moose statue standing in front of it, and models of giraffes leaning on the balustrade of an upper balcony looking out.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:04:28
Natural History Museum, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:04:56
Natural History Museum, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:05:26
Natural History Museum, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:06:22
Natural History Museum, Helsinki

We turned right into Fredrikinkatu, at the end of which we could see the “Rock Church” (“13” on the Helsinki map). We were visiting this at this particular time, because the guide had mentioned that there was free entry between 3pm and 5pm; otherwise it would have been €3 each.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:10:44
Temppeliaukio Church


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:12:50
Temppeliaukio Church

We didn’t expect to be treated to almost a concert of orchestral music, but there was a rehearsal going on. It only dawned on me slowly what we were seeing. First, I realised that it was strings only; then, I noticed that there were only cellos. I counted them: 35. Very versatile instrument, the cello! — both in range and “texture”. The conductor was a very young-looking man. When we arrived, they were practising “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36; then there were two pieces I didn’t recognise; then there was a waltz from one of Shostakovich’s Jazz Suites;[iii] and more besides. Even when most of them packed up, a quartet started playing a modern-sounding piece. They weren’t interrupted, because they carried on regardless, but my enjoyment was interrupted, by a large bunch of rude Japanese tourists who arrived and went around with their clicking cameras (mine was set to “silent”) and selfie-sticks. One of them even stood behind a member of the band while another of them clicked. When a camera atop a selfie-stick was pointed my way, I gave it “the finger” (a more international gesture of contempt, I supposed, than the British “two fingers”).

[iii] It was Waltz II from what I’ve got listed as “Jazz Suite №2”, but more properly called “Suite for Variety Orchestra” or “Suite for Promenade Orchestra”.

Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:14:44
Temppeliaukio Church


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:16:42
Temppeliaukio Church


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:16:52
Temppeliaukio Church


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:36:08
Temppeliaukio Church


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:36:22
Temppeliaukio Church


Friday 12 May 2017 — 15:37:18
Temppeliaukio Church

We were there just a bit less than an hour, before we left and made our way back to the hotel. Looking at the map, I reckoned that to walk south-east straight down Fredrikinkatu for 7 or 8 blocks, turn north-east-(ish) along Lönnrotinkatu for three blocks, cross Mannerheimintie, turn right and then left into Esplanadi, and proceed eastwards along there back to Katajanokka neighbourhood, was as good a route as any. This was nearly 3km or over 1¾ miles. I took photos along the way.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:14:06
Heading along Fredrikinkatu, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:14:06 (detail)
Heading along Fredrikinkatu, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:18:12
Sign on a building in Fredrikinkatu, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:29:58
Heading along Fredrikinkatu, Helsinki:
building on one corner (Kalevankatu, 24)


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:33:16
Heading along Lönnrotinkatu:
building on one side (Lönnrotinkatu, 10)


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:35:34
Vanhakirkko (Old Church), Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:37:34
Monument to Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884), creator of the Finnish national epic Kalevala


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:37:34 (detail)
Monument to Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884), creator of the Finnish national epic Kalevala

As we crossed Mannerheimintie, ahead of us somewhat to the right was the round façade of the Swedish Theatre (“54” on the Helsinki map). We went to the right of it, not the left, but either way would have led us into the now-familiar Esplanadi.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 16:42:10
Swedish Theatre, Erottaja, Helsinki

At the K-Market convenience store (at 16:54, according to the till receipt), we bought a 1.5ℓ bottle of water priced at €1.19. I was keen to get rid of as much small change as I could, but I’m unfamiliar with the Euro cent (and multiples thereof) coins. I eventually did manage to dig out the exact change, counting it into my other palm, only to find then that I was charged not €1.19 but €1.20, because they don’t use 1-cent coins. Indeed, the till receipt had “yhteensä” (total) €1.19, and under it “käteinen” (cash) €1.20. The €1.19 itself was made up of €0.79 “Pirkka lähdevesi” (Pirkka spring water) and €0.40 “pullopantti” (bottle deposit). So whether one would get a refund for returning empties, there or elsewhere, I don’t know. At the end of the Esplanade park and the start of the Market Square (“6” on the Helsinki map), we came to the bronze “Mermaid” statue with its water-spewing fish and sea lions, that had been pointed out on this morning’s tour. Student activities in connection with it had been mentioned, in which they put a cap on the statue in an elaborate ceremony. This reminded Janet and me of the “russ celebration” of students in Bergen, where we saw them dressed up in red overalls doing silly things. Then a couple of hundred yards farther along in the Market Square we came to the obelisk, also pointed out this morning, topped by the two-headed eagle, familiar to us from our trip to Russia, symbol of the Romanov dynasty.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:03:32
Havis Amanda (Swedish) or Haaviston Manta (Finnish), in the Market Square, Helsinki. Cast in bronze by Ville Vallgren (1855-1940) in 1906 in Paris, he called it Merenneito (The Mermaid).


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:03:32 (detail)
Havis Amanda


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:04:12
Havis Amanda (Swedish) or Haaviston Manta (Finnish), in the Market Square, Helsinki. Cast in bronze by Ville Vallgren (1855-1940) in 1906 in Paris, he called it Merenneito (The Mermaid).


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:06:08
Havis Amanda


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:07:40
Fruit and vegetable stall in the Market Square, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:09:06
Stone of the Empress, an obelisk in the Market Square, Helsinki, with the symbol of the Romanov dynasty, a two-headed eagle atop an orb, at its apex, commemorating where Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Empress Consort Alexandra Feodorovna stepped ashore on 10 June 1833


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:09:22
Inscription in Finnish on the Stone of the Empress, Market Square, Helsinki: “To the Empress Alexandra on the occasion of her first visit to the Finnish capital XXIX May [Julian Calendar] X June [Gregorian Calendar] MDCCCXXXIII”


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:10:28
Stone of the Empress, an obelisk in the Market Square, Helsinki, with the symbol of the Romanov dynasty, a two-headed eagle atop an orb, at its apex, commemorating where Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Empress Consort Alexandra Feodorovna stepped ashore on 10 June 1833


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:10:42
Symbol of the Romanov dynasty on the Stone of the Empress, Market Square, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:10:54
Inscription in Latin on the Stone of the Empress, Market Square, Helsinki: “To the Empress Alexandra on the occasion of her first visit to the Finnish capital XXIX May [Julian Calendar] X June [Gregorian Calendar] MDCCCXXXIII”


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:12:16
Helsinki: view south across the harbour from the Market Square


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:13:02
“Skywheel” (“5” on the Helsinki map), Katajanokka, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:14:50
Uspenski Cathedral (“8” on the Helsinki map), Katajanokka, Helsinki

Our hotel was a converted dockside warehouse, and the building before we got to it, now housing restaurants and other establishments, was the same.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:19:14
Former warehouse, seen from Katajanokanlaituri, Katajanokka, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:20:52
Former warehouse, seen from Katajanokanlaituri, Katajanokka, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:22:46
Scandic Grand Marina Hotel, seen from Katajanokanlaituri, Katajanokka, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 17:23:48
Scandic Grand Marina Hotel, seen from Katajanokanlaituri, Katajanokka, Helsinki

We were back up in our room by 5.30pm. I’d felt pretty footsore on the latter part of the walk. We left ca.¾-hour later. There was a door on the opposite side from the canopied (and scaffolded) main entrance, and we left by that. We were now faced with the same question as at lunch-time: where to eat? I’d eaten my fill then and wasn’t really hungry. Anyway, Janet suggested that we go back to La Famiglia.


Friday 12 May 2017 — 18:18:38
Scandic Grand Marina Hotel, seen from Kanavakatu, Katajanokka, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 18:19:24
Scandic Grand Marina Hotel, seen from Kanavakatu, Katajanokka, Helsinki

On the Esplanade green we saw two blackbird-sized birds doing blackbird-like things. I noticed a yellow bill like a male blackbird, but the colouring was tawny. I wanted to photograph them, but they disappeared under a hedge.[iv]

[iv] They were almost certainly fieldfares. I definitely saw and photographed fieldfares the next day.

Friday 12 May 2017 — 18:41:20
Esplanadi, Helsinki


Friday 12 May 2017 — 18:41:38
Statue of Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877), national poet of Finland, Esplanadi, Helsinki

At La Famiglia I contented myself with a Caesar salad with chicken and a couple of Karhu beers, but Janet had beef carpaccio (extremely thinly sliced raw beef) as a starter, then rigatoni (wide ribbed pasta tubes) with chicken in a creamy sauce topped with grilled goats’ cheese. “I fancied chocolate cake,” Janet added, “but we’d waited nearly an hour for our main and it was nearly 8.30pm so I couldn’t be bothered.” The bill was €93 and despite the slowness of service we dutifully added 10%. We left ca.8.30pm and got back to the hotel ca.9pm. We saw Alexander in the foyer (was it then, or when we’d arrived back earlier?), and told him what we’d seen and heard in the “Rock Church”; he told us that there’d be a free operatic concert in the Opera House at 3pm tomorrow, so we decided we’d like to go.… [Janet and I] were both in bed at 10.30pm.

[Saturday 13 May 2017]