19th August, Helsinki
We arrived Helsinki around 2 PM by Iceland Air. It took quiet a bit before the luggage arrived. We saw the weather was pretty bad with the sky almost black in colour, and decided to take a cab to our hostel rather than doing the flybuss and Tram, which would have been very tiring. This was our last leg and we can use a bit of luxury. The airport taxi wasn’t available for the next 30 minutes so we just took a regular taxi from the queue outside airport. People all around Scandinavia are quiet honest and you don’t need to think if you are taken for city tour instead, as in asia. It cost us 45 Euros to reach our hostel, which was at Linnankatu 9. It was pouring like anything all the time and the driver told us its raining since a few days and no chances of it getting any better. The Eurohostel recepton confirmed this. We a bit sadly retired to our room, which was quiet a nice room for a hostel with twin beds, cabinets, a coffee table and chairs and wow a TV. Toilets and baths were common but spotlessly clean and as good as any star hotels. What was fascinating was they play birds chirping all the time in the bathroom and toilets, which definitely peps you up. By the time we took a nice hot shower (which I was having after 3 days) and shave off my Icelandic beard, guess what? The sun came out from between the clouds. Did the angels did this for us? Eurohostel is a highly recommended hostel as you get all the tourist info there and also can book almost everything at the reception. We stopped doing the touristy Hop on Hop off bus since Copenhagen, where loaded with Pritha’s knack for understanding city maps and knowledge of tracking public transport all around, we have started taking day passes and exploring towns on our own. So we bought the 48 hrs transport pass (12 Euros) which gives you unlimited access to tram, metros an ferries. Helsinki is very easy to traverse on trams where Trams 4/4T, 2 and 6 routes can almost take you around all tourist attractions. We took the tram and headed to senate square first. As we were terribly hungry got into the nearest shopping mall only to find it full of Asian fares. We normally only eat local food on our travels but as we were so hungry settled for a open thai stall and were we happy. Hell ya!! We dfinitely missed the spice from a long time, with moist eyes we eat the last strand of noodles and rice at 11.9 Euros was one of my most expensive Asian street food. After that we took a walk around the old town, which was average compared to the old towns we saw in other cities. After that we got into the famous Café Karl Fazer, so famous for its chocolates and pastries. After some special Karl Fazer hot chocholate (6.5 euros) and some pasteries. After this break we took tram 2 and took a long round acround the city as it was raining quiet a lot now. I love this “sit in the tram an forget about it “ trips. I have done this in the past in Amsterdam. So I had a well deserved sleep in the tram as it took me around the city. Pritha woke me up as we needed to get down near the hard rock café, which we visit as a ritual whenever we are in a city which has one. So a special margarita for 11.80 Euros and then we moved back to our cozy hostel. It was around 10:30 PM and Katajanmarja, the attached café was still serving. So I hogged on a half rack of back ribs and a local brew (18.9 Euro), while Pritha decided to call it a night. In the meantime Eeva messaged me on facebook that she may meet us tomorrow and show us around a bit. So time for a nap and hope tomorrow will be sunnier.
We arrived Helsinki around 2 PM by Iceland Air. It took quiet a bit before the luggage arrived. We saw the weather was pretty bad with the sky almost black in colour, and decided to take a cab to our hostel rather than doing the flybuss and Tram, which would have been very tiring. This was our last leg and we can use a bit of luxury. The airport taxi wasn’t available for the next 30 minutes so we just took a regular taxi from the queue outside airport. People all around Scandinavia are quiet honest and you don’t need to think if you are taken for city tour instead, as in asia. It cost us 45 Euros to reach our hostel, which was at Linnankatu 9. It was pouring like anything all the time and the driver told us its raining since a few days and no chances of it getting any better. The Eurohostel recepton confirmed this. We a bit sadly retired to our room, which was quiet a nice room for a hostel with twin beds, cabinets, a coffee table and chairs and wow a TV. Toilets and baths were common but spotlessly clean and as good as any star hotels. What was fascinating was they play birds chirping all the time in the bathroom and toilets, which definitely peps you up. By the time we took a nice hot shower (which I was having after 3 days) and shave off my Icelandic beard, guess what? The sun came out from between the clouds. Did the angels did this for us? Eurohostel is a highly recommended hostel as you get all the tourist info there and also can book almost everything at the reception. We stopped doing the touristy Hop on Hop off bus since Copenhagen, where loaded with Pritha’s knack for understanding city maps and knowledge of tracking public transport all around, we have started taking day passes and exploring towns on our own. So we bought the 48 hrs transport pass (12 Euros) which gives you unlimited access to tram, metros an ferries. Helsinki is very easy to traverse on trams where Trams 4/4T, 2 and 6 routes can almost take you around all tourist attractions. We took the tram and headed to senate square first. As we were terribly hungry got into the nearest shopping mall only to find it full of Asian fares. We normally only eat local food on our travels but as we were so hungry settled for a open thai stall and were we happy. Hell ya!! We dfinitely missed the spice from a long time, with moist eyes we eat the last strand of noodles and rice at 11.9 Euros was one of my most expensive Asian street food. After that we took a walk around the old town, which was average compared to the old towns we saw in other cities. After that we got into the famous Café Karl Fazer, so famous for its chocolates and pastries. After some special Karl Fazer hot chocholate (6.5 euros) and some pasteries. After this break we took tram 2 and took a long round acround the city as it was raining quiet a lot now. I love this “sit in the tram an forget about it “ trips. I have done this in the past in Amsterdam. So I had a well deserved sleep in the tram as it took me around the city. Pritha woke me up as we needed to get down near the hard rock café, which we visit as a ritual whenever we are in a city which has one. So a special margarita for 11.80 Euros and then we moved back to our cozy hostel. It was around 10:30 PM and Katajanmarja, the attached café was still serving. So I hogged on a half rack of back ribs and a local brew (18.9 Euro), while Pritha decided to call it a night. In the meantime Eeva messaged me on facebook that she may meet us tomorrow and show us around a bit. So time for a nap and hope tomorrow will be sunnier.
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