Lessons from my Fatherland: Visiting Finland

After having spent time re-learning my paternal family's history with my Grandmother last fall, I was anxious to explore the motherland of my father's father - the chilly, yet beautiful Finland.When Caitlin and I were discussing a post-Russia destination, I immediately asked if Finland could be our first EU stop. Her answer was a resounding 'yes'. We were both excited to see what my heritage held for us and we immediately purchased our train tickets from St. Petersburg to Helsinki for the beginning of April.

Located on the southern coast, Helsinki receives constant gales from across the Gulf of Finland. The winds continually sweep through and chill the Helsinki streets, and on the particular morning of our arrival it was no different. Morning, noon, night - it was chilly, but we were prepared from our month in Russia so the frigid climate was not entirely crippling.

Finnish Lesson #1: Finland is cold! It shares its relative latitude with the likes of Iceland, Alaska, and Greenland. If you’re confused, that means bring a jacket.

Caitlin and I arrived at the train station one morning having done minimal pre-planning. We had heard that Helsinki was a small city and easily walk-able, so we were comfortable with showing up, asking locals for suggestions, and finding a place to stay. Worst case, we would pop into a café and siphon their Internet while we caffeinated ourselves and evaluated our choices. Easy enough, right?Upon our arrival, we asked an employee of a small fast food restaurant inside the station for her suggestion as to where we should begin. Then we asked a man working at a nearby kiosk. Finally we approached two security guards. No one would help us. At first we thought it was a language barrier, but we quickly realized it was a cultural one.

Where is your favorite local spot? Do you know of a nice local café? How do we get out of the train station? What is your name? Are you from Helsinki?

Why were my countrymen hoarding their local secrets? Did they not recognize my Finnish heritage? Maybe they knew I had spent years as a Swedish poser...

Finnish Lesson #2: Finns keep their mouths shut and their usually blunt opinions to themselves, almost without exception.

In case you are new to reading my blog, I am pro-opinions, especially when it comes to those of locals. I come by it honestly after all, I am American and we love running our mouths, participating in chit chat with whoever is around, and sharing our endless opinions (and sometimes we even like to force them on you! – I’ll stop since this is absolutely not a political blog…)

If Americans are the yin, then Finns are our yang. They are reluctant to share their opinions, especially with a stranger, and I certainly never experienced a moment of banter with anyone native to Helsinki or Finland. Straight talk is the name of the game.

 "Finnish tradition of simple [and] straightforward" Sounds about right!

What the HELsinki? I can't be Finnish! I'm a talker. I journal, I message, I blog and I talk like it's going out of style. When I find myself sans talking partner, I go make a new friend, much to many-a-stranger's chagrin.On this note, one of my loves of traveling to new cities is that I love hearing where locals like to eat, go out, relax, and shop and I had made the fatal error of approaching Helsinki no differently. Unfortunately, the results were catastrophic.

The two recurring responses we got from questioning locals at the train station: "There's an information desk upstairs" and "I’m very sorry, I can’t help answer that" both awkward in their delivery and followed by a resounding silence. These guys weren’t giving anything up.Caitlin and I finally threw up a white flag and beelined for a hotel. They are trained to help people like us. After realizing our plight, the wonderful receptionist gave us multiple cafe and bar suggestions, and even checked two local hostels for availability. She was an angel.

During our discussion, she smiled when we explained our frustration in communicating earlier and she politely confirmed that this reaction was the norm for their culture. This woman saved us from further headaches and frustration by sending us in the quickest direction towards coffee and then traced out how to get to our hostel. She also noted to us that much of the city would be shut down for the Easter holiday. Great.

Caitlin and I found our way to a table in the back of one of the recommended cafés and decided to join the rest of the planet and place our faith and trust in Google for learning more about Helsinki.While we sipped our coffee and enjoyed our perfectly smoked salmon breakfast at Fazer Café, I read that the café we had chosen came highly recommended by one of the travels bloggers I follow. Maybe said blogger met the same hotel receptionist a few months before…?Finnish Lesson #3: Finland, like their Scandinavian neighbor, knows how to prepare salmon. My smoked salmon and poached egg toast at Fazer’s Café was delicious. Later in our trip, I tried a bowl of salmon soup from a stall in Market Square, a popular area located next to the Helsinki pier, and would highly recommend.With our bellies full of fish, heart rates racing with our recent caffeine intake, and in possession of a map that would lead us to our promised hostel - things were definitely improving!

Over the course of our weekend in Helsinki, we enjoyed exploring boutique and tourist shops, learned that the name of Finland in Finnish is 'Suomi', toured our way through the local cuisine (lots of fish, lots of reindeer), and spent a wonderful day at the nearby Suomenlinna Fortress. We explored the major neighborhoods of Helsinki, and in theory my favorite was the Kallio district.Finnish Lesson #5: Helsinki is celebrated as a famous design capital.

Helsinki boasts a strong art and bohemian culture, which is centered in the district known as Kallio. With endless boutiques, indie cafes and food and immigrants from every corner of the earth, it’s easy to see why this area attracts students, artists, and tourists alike.Because of the long weekend, we were sad that we couldn’t experience the area in all of its glory since most of the shops and cafes were closed, but we enjoyed ourselves over kebabs and beers at a small restaurant, coffees at a very open minded café, and spending the afternoon bundled up and window shopping throughout the district’s streets.

Later over the weekend, Caitlin and I enjoyed an almost traditional Finnish sauna experience. Our hostel had a complimentary sauna that we utilized one morning, though we followed our time baking with cool showers instead of following the local tradition of jumping into the sea.

Finnish Lesson #6: Locals jump into the sea after their sauna sessions regardless of the season or weather. (Obviously this is for seaside saunas. Don’t incorrectly assume you’ll be seeing scantily clad Finns sprinting through the streets towards open water…)

But let’s unpack that sentence together: locals jump into the sea. Outside. In April. When I was wearing at least three layers. Little old ladies. In bathing suits. Not laughing or joking. Completely seriously swimming in ice water. Like, whaaaaaaat?Again, I found myself questioning my Finnish roots. After our showers and blow-drying our hair in the warmth and privacy of our room, we enjoyed watching these women casually hop into the water and swim around for a few minutes. I could not believe my eyes. I am an absolute wimp.

Other newfound truths of Finland included their fondness, and borderline obsession, with black licorice, the prevalence of "goth" style and dark clothing, and startling level of alcohol consumption. I thought my Irish roots were beer-soaked, but we rarely saw a cafe or restaurant without a customer drinking alcohol, regardless of the hour.

One of my major weekend disappointments came when we tried to attend the Easter Bonfires, which were said to be occurring in a large park northwest of the city. After endless Google searching, checking the local transportation schedules, and asking (why did I keep asking the locals!? #slowlearner) no one could give us any information.Finnish Lesson #7: Stop trying to make Easter Bonfires happen, Nikki. They’re not going to happen!

With the blistering cold that crept into our bones each evening around dusk, we didn’t want to risk turning into icicles on the way to a potentially non-existent bonfire. Even though we didn't see the bonfire we had hoped for, we celebrated Easter together with partially homemade curry and local beers in our hostel, and it was perfect.

While the city boasts stunning parks and natural scenery, endless shopping and cafes, and a teeming arts district, when we boarded the ferry to leave my Fatherland I found myself staring back with indifference. I hadn't fallen in love with the place, but I wasn't disappointed either.

To me, Helsinki was the token pretty girl at a party who didn't have much of a personality. You leave thinking that she seemed lovely because she didn't do anything too weird or wrong except mentioning that she loved licorice. She was pretty and nice and you certainly didn't regret meeting her, but you probably won't be rushing home to add her on Facebook.

I know I certainly did not set Helsinki up for success. The unforgiving winter weather, Easter holiday weekend, and my complete lack of preparation formed a perfect storm for a less than impressive first impression. For that, I apologize, Helsinki.That being aired, I think I would like to visit Finland again, someday down the line, but I'm in no particular hurry. If and when I return, I would like to explore Lapland and would be thrilled to spend time in Närpes, where my Grandfather lived briefly as a boy. Only time will tell!

Debatably Useful Information: Helsinki is a seaport and has many ferry connections to other major ports in the region, such as to Sweden, Russia and Estonia. Helsinki is a 3-hour ferry ride from Tallinn, Estonia, which is where I went after Helsinki. Tickets for adults were $20 one-way at the time of purchase (March 2015). If you’re interested in visiting Russia, this is gold: you can take a ferry to St. Petersburg and spend up to 72 hours there without an official tourist visa. This saves time and money, but is only useful if you want to visit for a short time. If you were looking for my Scandinavian preferences at large, I would vote Stockholm over Helsinki every time.