Scandinavia 2019 Day 11: Helsinki, Finland

DAY 11: 6 DEC 2019

Good morning!

It's our final day of our Europe trip and our flight leaves at 2355 tonight.

With a full day available, we decided to cover some of the famous attractions in Helsinki.
As today was the Finnish Independence Day, many shops were closed and the operating
hours for major attractions and sites were shortened.
I tried searching for the operating hours online and I found this website that collated all
the operating hours for major tourist attractions, saunas and museums!
It was really useful for us and I managed to plan our route at ease!

The weather forecast predicted that there will be showers throughout the day.

So we dressed in our waterproof gear from head to toe before checking out.

We left our luggage at the luggage room at the hotel and one thing that I observed about

the luggage storage system in Iceland and Finland is that they do not tag your bags and

do not record which bag is yours.

It's either they have trust in everyone or it's like a leave it at your own risk kind of system.

I was really worried my bags will be taken as the luggage room was packed when

we dropped ours off.

We barely managed to squeeze our luggage into the room!

We got around by taking trams and trains using our HSL 1-day ABC zone ticket which we purchased

at a HSL machine in the railway station.

Each ticket costs 12 euros.

To plan your route, you may use the HSL app or simply use Google Maps.

It was easy to take the trams in Helsinki as the signs and tram stops were clearly labelled.

Just tap your card when you enter even though you bought a day ticket.

Our first stop for the day is the famous rock church, Temppeliaukion Church!
The church was open from 1200 to 1300 today and I made sure that we had sufficient time
exploring the church.
We paid 3 euros each for the entrance fee and proceeded to the seating area in the church.
The church was the most unique one I have seen so far.
The church was built directly into solid rock which can be visibly seen in both the exterior
and interior of the church.
There was an ongoing rehearsal for an event later and they were performing the pieces
on the organ and volin.
We quietly sat down and listened to the music.
We decided to explore the gallery seating above for a different view of the church.

We left at 1250, which was 10 minutes before closing.
The staff started to turn away new guests when we exited the church.
I was rather thankful that we managed to see this beautiful church on our last day.
Our next stop was the Sibelius Monument.
The monument is located in Sibelius Park and we took a bus to get there.
The momument resembled sound waves made of clusters of organ pipes.



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As it was drizzling, we decided to walk to a cosy little cafe by the river, Cafe Regatta!
This cafe is famous for its cinnamon buns.
The decor of this cafe is really cute!
They had an open fire at their outdoor area for you to grill your marshmallows
and sausages.
However, most of us were cold and wet from the rain and we preferred
to warm ourselves up indoors.
I ordered a cinnamon bun, blueberry pie and 2 cups of hot tea.
The cinnamon bun tasted just as good as the ones we had in Reykjavik.

 

 

 After our short break, we decided to walk by the river to get to our tram stop.

Our next attraction was Kamppi Chapel.
Kamppi Chapel looked like a huge wooden bowl on the exterior and it was easy to spot it!

Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the silent chapel.
There wasn't much to do as it was a chapel.
And our shoes were squeaking with every step we took...so we left.

 

We explored the area near Kamppi Square and to our surprise, some shops were still open!
We popped by Mango and I managed to get a winter vest for a steal!
When we were shopping inside one of the malls, we could heard commotion outside.
When we exited, the entire square was packed with college students holding onto torches.
They were actually prepping for the University Students' Torch Parade at 1800.
So, the both of us took a slow walk to Senate Square where we could view the parade.

There was a huge crowd when we arrived.
The parade/ceremony was so grand with Helsinki Cathedral as the backdrop!
There were at least 200 students who participated in this parade.
All of them dressed smartly with a torch on their hand.

Shortly after watching the parade, we explored the Christmas market at Senate Square!

It was the first day of the Christmas market and I was glad that we got a chance to
experience a European Christmas market before leaving.
There were many stalls selling Christmas ornaments and traditional Christmas food!
We tried a cup of hot glogi which is a spiced mulled wine.
It is a traditional Scandinavian drink during winter, especially during Christmas.



We spent some time walking around the market before heading to Hesburger at
the railway station for dinner.
Hesburger is their local fast food chain and we wanted to try their burgers!
But in the end, it was nothing fantastic...
So, we headed back to the hotel to retrieve our luggages before going to the airport.

Our flight was a non-stop flight back to Singapore.
It was a comfortable flight and I am really glad that we got a chance to fly with Finnair.

That marks the end of our trip to Scandinavia! (:

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Click here to retrace our steps for our Day 10 adventures!
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