Uusimaa

Our 3 days in Helsinki were pretty relaxed - our Airbnb had great views on the water and we were spoilt by a perfect sunrise upon waking on our first morning. We spent our first day exploring the city and some of it’s interesting architecture. Our first stop was the Sibelius Monument (a sculpture dedicated to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and unveiled in 1967). Ed was pretty keen on the creation of the artwork as it was all welded steel pipes and weighs a solid 24 tonnes. The park was frosty and quite pretty to wander around in too. We then headed off to the renowned ‘Temppeliaukio Rock Church’ which was completed in 1969. It is an amazing church built into a rock wall and covered in a huge copper dome. They even have concerts and performances in there due to the excellent acoustics.

We continued our church tour and headed to the ‘Kamppi Chapel’ (also known as the Chapel of Silence). It is a very interesting building, placed in the heart of the city for people to enter and have a moment of complete silence and/or prayer throughout their busy day. We spent about 15 minutes in there and Ed counted a total of 6 seconds of complete silence amongst people entering and exiting. It’s amazing how loud winter puffer jackets can be in a heavily acoustic environment. It was still an experience nonetheless!

Our Airbnb was walking distance to a local pub so we headed in there for a beverage after dinner and found ourselves in the middle of a Finnish karaoke night. I think we heard about 6 or 7 Finnish pop songs (quite catchy really, and was a great way to learn some Finnish!) before we felt too awkward and headed home. A video is attached for your viewing pleasure ;)

We headed out early on our second day to visit Market Square (not much happening though!) and the National Museum of Finland for a bit of history. We then headed to our pre-booked 2 hour public Sauna experience at Löyly which is a traditional wood fired sauna on the water. I had found this place on Instagram earlier in the year and dragged Ed along to experience a traditional Finnish sauna. It was great and once you imagined being back in Brisbane on a hot Summers day, you got used to the heat haha. The best part about the experience is once your skin is boiling, you head on outside in your togs and climb into the Baltic Sea (a crisp 1-4 degrees at this time of year). I am proud to say we both climbed in about 3 times and Ed left the water with steaming skin. I have attached a video of proof. Censor alert for the end of the video for any youngsters watching. A great way to spend our last afternoon in Helsinki! Off to the oldest town in Finland tomorrow ‘Turku’ for a couple of nights.

Missing you all. Signing off for now, Lauren XXLeia mais