"Remember when I promised to post a blog in March?"
"I lied."
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So I went to Helsinki again on business last week, from April 22 through 28. The main goal of the trip was collaborative work finishing (Finnishing?) a manuscript, which we submitted for publication in one of the meteorological journals, but we were able to get that wrapped up partway through the trip.
The flight over was pretty unventful, we flew out to Chicago and from there through Paris and over to Helsinki. The biggest surprise was that we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance during our approach to the Charles De Gaulle airport - I hadn't realized that the airport was so close to the city itself. Unfortunately, I would have been yelled at by the flight attendants if I'd brought out my camera at that point, so I didn't get any pictures. We eventually made our way over to Helsinki and arrived in the afternoon on the 23rd. We had a bit of time to wander around the city (although I was braindead by that point) and have dinner before going to bed in the evening.
I was worried about jet lag, since this was such a short trip, but it actually never bothered me. I woke up the next morning without any trouble, and was perfectly in sync with the local time zone already. Apparently the trick is to stay awake for the entire trip, and to not go to bed until it gets dark in the evening. Then, you fall asleep just like you would after a long day, and wake up in the morning like normal. Last time I travelled over there, I went to bed in the afternoon as soon as I arrived, and it took me three or four days before I was really adjusted, so I was pleased that it didn't bother me this time.
We got our work done on the second day, so we had some time to wander around the city and see some of the countryside. We actually ended up renting a car for the day and driving out to see some sights, which was pretty fun. I drove for part of the day, which was my first experience with European driving. Although I committed a number of noticeable traffic violations, I never got pulled over or anything. I felt better about my driving skills when we drove by an older man who was driving towards us in our lane for some unknown reason. No matter how many times I got honked at or cut people off at intersections, I wasn't
that guy.
We first drove northeast from Helsinki to Porvoo, which is apparently the second oldest town in the country. There is a picturesque old section of the town, with a beautiful old church, and we spent the morning wandering around before we ate lunch at a cafe. After that, we drove down onto one of the peninsulas southeast of the town, where we checked out a beach and some forest, which were both beautiful. We drove back in Porvoo and headed northwest through Pornainen, until we got to Järvenpää, where we visited another RADAR site just for fun. Afterwards, we drove south to get back into Helsinki. The countryside is nice looking, with lots of pine/birch forests, coastline, with lots of boulders and many, many lakes. It reminds me of nothing more than Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The next day, we wandered around in Helsinki some more in the afternoon before going to a scenic bar in the evening. One of the tallest hotels in the city (~13 or 14 stories up; the city isn't exactly full of skyscrapers) has an open-air bar up on top, from which you can have a great view of the city. It was the first time I'd really seen the city from above, and we happened to arrive at the perfect time to get an open table. Very nice, and a good way to round out the trip.
We flew back the next day, connecting from Helsinki through Frankfurt and back to O'Hare. Unfortunately, I had some jars of jam confiscated in Frankfurt, and some reindeer jerky confiscated by U.S. Customs in Chicago. Oops. We did get a lovely view of southern Greenland from the plane, though, on the way back, which kind of made up for it. Actually, it didn't, but oh well. Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. We had great weather (cloudless skies, temps in the 50s or so much of the time), enjoyed a lot of Finnish food (reindeer, yum), and had a good time sightseeing.
Here's a bunch of pictures I took along the trip
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The flight out of town and into O'hare:
Arrival and wandering around in Helsinki, including our hotel:
A ferry, much like the one we took from Stockholm to Helsinki on my previous trip:
A very beautiful Eastern Orthodox church near where we stayed (we went inside briefly, but a service was going on so I didn't take any pictures). Also some views from atop the bluff where the church was located:
Next, our trip driving out of Helsinki:
"WHERE DO WE GO???"
The old town of Porvoo, and the old church - unfortunately, I didn't take pictures from inside, but it was also fairly ornate and beautiful inside:
BACON
Next, we drove down a pensinsula towards the sea, southeast of Porvoo. The countryside reminds me so much of the U.P.
(Our rental car, by the way...a Ford):
Then over to Järvenpää, for a visit to a very old, former Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) RADAR, now used for research by the University of Helsinki:
Some views of the University of Helsinki research RADAR, which is in much better condition, first from the FMI building next door:
And just a view from atop that building:
Then from the University building itself:
Finally, some views from the open-air bar I described, looking over Helsinki:
And to end this on a high note, the lovely view from the
bathroom Water Closet in that bar: