Friday 3rd May 2019

Another bank holiday weekend was blessing us! Having done a poll on social media back in February the place that was the most favourable by our followers was the city of Helsinki, Finland! Now this is a place that I visited in 2008 & also in 2010 for the International Ice Hockey Federation Womens Development Training Camp in which New Zealand sends a couple of girls to represent them. But this was a time where I was overwhelmed by the fact that the light switches were huge and that the power sockets had two prongs instead of three. Safe to say I didn’t really appreciate everything that a city such as Helsinki had to offer during my brief visits. All we were interested in was the fact that you could buy ice hockey gear in a shop in the city as opposed to shipping it over from the states or begging a friend to bring some back with them on a trip. Small country issues right there! So the first Friday in May Lew and I met each other at Heathrow airport. I had some stupid dramas where I went to the wrong terminal, realised Heathrow was rather large and had to run to catch a train to the other terminal. Also I had made myself late making Lew a vegan chocolate protein powder smoothie to go with his dinner at the very last minute as I didn’t think a sweet potato, beans and some spinach was going to cut it. However I realised that this was mostly definitely over 100 mls and he was absolutely going to have to throw this back before we went through security! He would thank me for it later I’m sure. All was well and the Finnair flight we were on was a brand new A350-900 which has this incredible interior and FREE onboard entertainment. It was hands down the most flash plane I think I had ever been on! P.s also make sure you try their blueberry juice that Finnair offers! Sounds weird but trust me its fab! We arrived into Helsinki rather late with it being two hours ahead of London, picked up some breakfast from the supermarket in the airport for the next morning and took a bus into our Airbnb where our host was waiting for us. It was the cutest little pad in the area of Kallio which I can highly recommend and I will tell you more about why tomorrow! 

Saturday 4th May

Todays adventure:

• Explore the neighbourhood of Kallio

• Design District of Helsinki

• Hakaniemi Market Hall to collect goodies for dinner

The neighbourhood of Kallio

Leaving the house we stepped into a pretty chilly 6 degrees with impending clouds which I was pretty adamant were snow clouds. Im going to be very honest and tell you that we didn’t do much planning for this trip at all and I think the best things about cities such as Helsinki is that they don’t have a heap of ‘must do’ tourist activities such as the Eiffel Tower that you have to plan your trip around. Its very much a just go with the flow kinda feel. Kallio is a former working class neighbourhood that is similar too many areas such as Hackney in London has been gentrified and is now full of trendy cafes, brunch spots and boutiques. It hasn’t lost its run down charm but lures young couples and students to it due to its hip bar scene and second hand clothing stores. Yes you heard me correct second hand clothing stores! Im not joking, I’m not usually someone who enjoys shopping for second hand clothes as I usually find the shops a bit repulsive to say the least. They have a particular musty smell about them and its always really dark. But recently iv enjoyed rummaging through some shops like this in London and actually found a couple of really cute pieces for a fraction of the price they would usually be. Helsinki second hand shops however were next level. This first one we came across called Freda Marina was absolutely adorable and contained so many beautiful old style clothes and they actually made them feel brand new, or at least like they still had a heap of life in them. We left the store with an entirely new view on second hand clothing. 

Kallio also has a really cool market space called Hakaniemi Market Hall which we visited to pick up some goodies for dinner. We are very much focused on keeping the costs down on such trips as when you travel as often as we do it does start to add up - especially in these Scandi countries! There were fresh fish counters and fruit and veggies grocers all line up with their fresh produce. We were 100% having fish for dinner and there was no way I was being convinced this wasn’t happening! We went for a big hunk of Salmon which only cost us €10 ($17 nzd) plus some fresh asparagus, new season potatoes, and an eggplant. Whilst I was gathering these Lew went on the hunt for a big loaf of ciabatta bread! For a total of €20 ($34 nzd) we had a wonderful dinner planned!

Central Helsinki

Having walked through Kallio and across the bridge into the main streets of Helsinki it reminded us a lot of some of the Eastern block countries we had visited. It had begun to drizzle at this point and was bitterly cold with the wind. We realised it was going to be a day of ducking in and out of shops to keep warm. Stop #1 was to look for a new laptop in the Apple store. My poor laptop I had purchased back in 2012 was really on its last legs. Despite Lew doing intensive surgery on it adding in a new battery and more memory it was now switching itself off randomly and the mouse pad wasn’t working due to the battery having expanded. It is probably the worse time ever financially with all the trips coming up and the fact that we have just had to put a huge deposit down on a new flat. But that’s ok, iv been putting it off for quite some time now. It was a toss up between a MacBook Pro or an MacBook Air so we went in to check them both out. We would research them online again when we got home tonight. We wandered in and out of some of the shops before Lew routed us towards what is considered the “Design District” of Helsinki. By now it had actually begun to snow…..SNOW in MAY! My word we were not prepared for this! 

Design District

A zig-zag of streets around Diane Park (just Google “design district”) filled with 200 trendy boutiques. You can follow the black and white stickers through the 25 streets containing all sorts of fashion, furniture, homewares and avant-garde accessories! It really wasn’t the most pleasant weather right now but at least the snow wasn’t wet but proper large snow flakes. The first cool shop we came across was called Hetzukoto which we peered into from the outside until one of the women in the shop ushered us in. We were promptly handed a glass of champagne each which wasn’t the worst thing in the world! We browsed the chic handbags, clothing and jewellery as the women told us that the store was new and was a collaboration of a few brands. Add this place onto your list of nice shops to check out! I don’t know what it is about these Scandinavian countries but for some reason they seem to have incredibly amazing homeware stores that are so cheap that you could fit out your entire pad with your typical Nordic style designs that we all adore right now. Black, white, wood, modern, simple sums it up for me. This shop called Granit was exactly like this and I wandered around with my eyes about to pop out. The question always is….how can we get some of this back to London?! We found multiple cool ideas for our new flat that we are moving into in three weeks including plant pots that hanging off railings, bean bags and kitchenware. Thankfully my question was answered when Lew discovered they ship to the UK - excellent.  Leaving this store the snow had really begun to come down but it was a little more wet and we were getting rather soaked. I spotted another amazing looking shop and had no clue that it was actually another second hand shop called Relove. We walked into a place that hands down felt like a trendy new shop. First up the Nordic style design really gave it a beautiful simple, clean feel. Not only that but there was a gorgeous cafe inside of it also selling tasty looking cakes and food. We were impressed. Never ever had we come into a second hand store and felt like this. There was all sorts of people in the store hunting through the racks of preloved clothes. I got stuck right in instantly finding a raspberry pink jumpsuit in my size. You know when you see a piece of clothing and fall instantly in love with it? Well thats how it felt - we were made for each other. Especially new confident Shannen that has finally figured out her style and accepted her body shape! Add a pair of heels and I’m all set for my trip to LA/Vegas next week! Eeeek! There wasn’t any mens clothes for some reason, perhaps because us women tend to impulse buy when our emotions take over (didn’t I just say I fell in love with a jumpsuit?) so Lew acted as my clothes horse whilst I searched for anything else that caught my eye. Having tried on the jumpsuit and confirming that it did indeed fit we were back out the door to explore. We left just looking at each other with a smile thinking about how fantastic this place was. Plus I had been doing some research as to how much clothing a single person wastes each year and the average American disposes of 36 kg of clothing waste. Does that not blow your mind?

Helsinki Cathedral in Senate square.

We were both fading a little so decided this would be the final stop of the day. The Helsinki Cathedral was built in 1852 and is the stage of national and academic festive services and one of the most popular tourist sights. It boasts a beautiful golden accented dome top and white facade so it is really eye-catching. I remember being mesmerised by it 11 years ago coming from the small town of Christchurch, New Zealand where no one builds such a thing. 

That concluded our day and we made out way home ready to warm up in a nice hot shower - we unfortunately left heading to a sauna a little late but if this is something you want to do in Helsinki make sure you plan ahead unlike us as a lot of the local saunas are not open late at night. We went via a supermarket to pick up some of the amazing Oatly chocolate milk which Lew tells me is even better than normal dairy chocolate milk! Thats quite the compliment coming from him! I also found some ginger biscuits which seemed familiar to me but I wasn’t sure which country I had brought them in before as well as some vegan ice cream! We were sorted for a pretty simple night of Netflix and chill thats for sure! 

Sunday 5th May

We had every intention to head out early for a run but there was no way we had brought enough warm clothing for this kinda weather! I let Lew sleep in and I worked on my business - something I’m thankful for in these moment of time when I know I have so much unpaid leave from nursing coming up! We had also stayed up rather late finally deciding that a MacBook Air was what I was going to get which was quite the decision to make! 

Todays adventure:

• Ferry across to Tallin, Estonia

• Explore the Old Town of Tallin

• St Olafs Church

• Telliskivi Area

• Dinner at F-Hoone

• After dinner treat at La Muu

Today we were heading across to Tallin Estonia and had a 1.30pm sailing from the Helsinki port. Post breakfast we packed up and made our way out into the cold air and bright sunshine where we caught the tram downtown and then out to the port. We are always mesmerised by cities such as this that had an interconnecting weave of tram tracks amongst the traffic. This is something our hometown of Christchurch would benefit from hugely! The ferry terminal was incredible and just two years old and the inside of it was like a giant sauna with a beautiful wooden roof. We had some time to kill which was well spent bathing in the sunshine watching the ferry arrive. Once we were finally able to board Lew spotted some big mechanisms attaching the ferry to the port so there was no need for ropes and I was surprised to hear that these are New Zealand made! How impressive is that! The ferry was unlike anything we had ever been on with a supermarket, full duty free, a pub, Burger King, buffet, cafe and a kids play area which was spread across multiple levels. We were of course mostly impressed by how stylish it was in Nordic design and it made us laugh think back to out last ferry trip on the Interislander between Wellington and Picton (North & South Island of New Zealand). We checked out every level of course and Lew was even keen to try out BK just because we were on a ferry - heck no! I shut that one down pretty quick! We found a breakfast bar type seat looking out through the side of the ferry so we could watch us moving between the two countries. We did of course first head out to the top deck to wave goodbye to Finaland. Lew of course was fascinated by the mechanism and had to watch as we left the port. The two hours went rather quick and I spent majority of the time booking trains to and from airports in London for our upcoming  trips. I did also discover we had discussed flying to Lisbon, Portugal to meet my parents in two months time but had never actually booked the flight!!!!! Oh dear, just as well we realised now and not the day before! We organised that literally just before we got off the ferry into the port of Tallin. That took a big weight off my shoulder knowing that was done.

Tallin

We could see old town peaking out in the distance and man did it look stunning! I was already excited to get out there and check it out! We found our lovely airbnb in a luxury apartment block with a view out onto the city wall. It was a small place with a mezzanine floor where the bed was but it was all we needed for one night. Organising ourselves again we were ready to explore a new city. So a bit about Tallin - It was founded in the 10th century but was called Lindanise. Once the Danish took over the ruling in the 13th century the name was changed to Reveal. Only in 1918 did the city take on the name Tallin which is believed to come from the old Estonian name “Taani Liann” meaning “Danish town”. It is also the most well preserved medieval city in Northern Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Wandering around the outside we were blown away by the impressive remains of the city wall and the well preserved colourful stone buildings within it. I had done a quick pinterest blog search as to what we should be doing in this charming place and climbing St Olafs Church was high on most people list. This cost €3 ($5 nzd) for an adult and €2 ($3.40 nzd) for a student under 25 years and I can hands down tell you this is worth the climb! What we didn’t see when we went up was that this spiral staircase is 258 steps up and very narrow especially when you have people coming down the other way. If your claustrophobic this is not the thing for you - there are a number of free viewing platforms around the city you can google and I would recommend heading there instead. The climb up was broken up with a few flat intervals before we wound round another stone staircase. You can see the bell tower in the roof which we had just heard chime out 5pm but man would it have been loud if we were next to them! The ceiling was made up of giant wooden beans and a wooden floor that were beautifully preserved. But as you walked up the final wooden steps thats when you were blessed with the impressive view of the city of Tallin below you. The colours just pop out and the impressive Russian Cathedral in the distance is something I have never seen before - other than when I see Moscow on TV! You had to walk around the top of the cathedrals copper roof on a path that could only fit one person and I can imagine in peak season this would be packed with people but we were able to take our time and get some cool snaps of this incredible city. We realised now that Tallin is an absolute hidden gem for travellers out there and we hadn’t even really got amongst it! Guys add this place to your travel bucket list right now!! 

Wandering Tallin’s old town

My tradition is to find a Xmas decoration in every single country that we visit. Safe to say we are going to have a pretty eclectic tree when we return home as there is certainly a mixture of tacky and tasteful! A little shop selling handmade Tallin houses caught my eye and I knew this little white house with blue and red accents was the one coming home with us! Its going to look adorable hanging from a tree! The most stunning thing about this old town is the fact that the streets and footpaths are all original cobblestones which I am not going to lie isn’t the easiest thing to walk over but it does give it that medieval feel. We didn’t have much of a plan as we got lost amongst the winding streets coming across many store fronts that looked appealing but were closed at this time on a Sunday night. We finally spotted the black domes of the 19th century Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Cathedral that I would say had at the same wow factor as the Duomo in Florence which just put a smile on my face as I remember the moment that beautiful piece of work came into view in the fading sunlight. This building was definitely a reminder of the Russian influence on the small town of Tallin and the domes in their black scale like appearance which a gold accent on top were such a perfect combination. I would have taken photos of this from every angle and probably sat and stared at it for longer if my stomach wasn’t grumbling away reminding me that I had only snacked for lunch. 

Telliskivi Area

There is another incredibly rad area of Tallin that I recommend you go to and that is called Telliskivi. This is where all of the restaurants were located on our tourist map surprisingly but there was one in particular that I had been recommended called F-Hoone. We wandered in its general direction and were very surprised at what we came across. Obviously in the day time there is a large open market with indoor food stalls as well that we would most definitely have to come back to tomorrow! This area has a collection of containers made into all sorts of restaurants including waffle shops and pizza. There is also a couple of train carriages put together to make a bar which was rather impressively done! Still more buildings continued to pop up where this restaurant was supposed to be and we did a lap unable to find it. If your heading towards it there is a door covered in stickers that’s the entry into the place! Not your typical entrance into a restaurant! Walking inside it had a very rustic feel with worn away tiles on the floor, big windows with seats nestled inside the window sills and plants climbing up to gain as much light as possible. I loved the feel of it, but anything that’s like an indoor plant jungle catches my attention! The menu was such a mixture of foods and we really could have chosen so many dishes. It was another one of those places where you convinced yourself your coming back for lunch the next day to ease the decision of food choice. Of course Lew and I were tossing up between the same thing - the burger or the “furger” as they called it. One was vegan and one was with Aberdeen veal. We decided to get one of each and I went with the vegan version mostly as it came with sweet potato fries which I love and beetroot hummus and tofu! A great combo! They both looked too good to eat when they came out and Lew didn’t waste anytime “helping” me with my fries. But I did get to try some of his beef in return. I think he chose better this time! Before he had even finished his burger he had eyed up the giant piece of chocolate cake in the glass counter. It’s like he’s eating for two right now honestly! But I don’t mind as post marathon he really needs to put a bit of weight on. Alas the wait staff were too slow and we decided the sunlight was waning and we didn’t want to be waiting half an hour for a piece of cake and sorbet! We paid and left but promptly came across a sign for an ice cream shop called La Muu, it was fate. It was hiding amongst teens playing on ping pong tables and coloured statues but man did they have a selection of vegan ice cream! For once I had more than two options to choose from and not just your standard sorbet I’m talking peanut butter, chocolate walnut, raspberry prosecco, cherry almond, grapefruit prosecco kinda flavours! Lew equally had a decent spread including a white chocolate coloured all black! They had a some sort of deal where you can buy three scoops and pay for two. We were in- mostly due to indecisiveness in narrowing down our flavour choice. Promise il be back to 80/20 eating when we land in London but life all about living right? Leaving the shop we weren’t entirely convinced that ice cream was even appropriate in this kinda weather as I put my gloves on and we walked back towards the city wall. We came across a giant boulder that had the date 10.8.1991 etched into it and we learnt that was the date that Estonia gained independence from the Soviet Union. This was not an easy feat as large boulders were placed in the middle of the streets as part of a coup and the large boulder we saw now was one of them. It was massive and I don’t even know how long that would have taken to get them all there and remove them all again! The last stop of the day was what we thought was the main square but really wasn’t. It was another memorial of Independence from Russian. It was absolutely getting very chilly at this point post eating ice cream and with the sun having set but thankfully we were close to our apartment. We made our way through a very impressive street with hordes of flower merchants out selling perky roses and every flower you could think of! The town gates here called the Viru Gate were also very well preserved with both towers still being intact.

That was the end of our Sunday! Thankfully we have some more time exploring this little gem of a city tomorrow!

Monday 6th May

Today’s adventure:

• Run the cobblestone streets of Tallin’s old town

• St Catherine’s Guild of handmade crafts

• Balti Jaama Turg

• Ferry to Helsinki

• Explore Helsinki waterfront 

• Flight to London Heathrow with Finnair

We managed to actually get up for a run this morning and man was it beautiful! It was 8.30am but the city lacked the hustle and bustle that London had at this time with everyone going to their jobs. Seems shops open a lot later here. We ran around the lanes of the old town finally discovering the actually town Center called Raekoja Plats. It was a lot more impressive than the one we thought it was last night. There was the most beautiful blue building hiding right on the corner at 12 Town Hall Square. It is one of the few artisan houses on the square and was mentioned in 1338. It’s been home to many different craftsmen including goldsmiths and book binders. Seek this cute place out for a snap when you get here as the detail in the wooden door and plasterwork is beautiful. We ran around for about half an hour stretching out our legs and seeing more on foot that we would just walking before heading back for breakfast and to pack up. 

St Catherine’s Guild 

This opened pretty late at 11am like most other businesses in the township. No wonder it felt deserted when we were running at 8.30am! They have a few shops here including textiles, wood craft, ceramics and glass blowing. It was like a small medieval village and a reminder of just how important crafts were to such a city. As we entered the glass blowing shop it was a room full of colours and different shapes showing us the magic of the trade. A particular jug caught my eye with its blue glass and mixture of blue, red, pink, white and orange accents. I don’t know why that one in particular stood out and I searched for something smaller in similar coloured for ease of transport back to London but had no luck. Lew kept telling me if that was the one that caught my eye and I kept coming back to it then that was the one! We also had €30 ($54 nzd) in cash so it felt meant to be. The lady promptly wrapped it up in multiple layers to ensure it got back to London safely. I can’t wait to one day unwrap all our goodies we have gathered from along the way and display them in our house as reminders of our escapades. The next small shop was focusing on wood craft and both Lew and I spotted some sweet wooden buttons with a natural cross cross on them from the oak tree they were made of. Once again Lew encourage me to pick our 8 perfectly round ones as he said I would find something to put them on - perhaps a little wooden jersey for a child! They were €0.50c each but they were something I would put to use one day and remember they came all the way from Estonia. 

Balti Jaama Turg for lunch

It was fast approaching the time we needed to leave to catch the ferry back to Finland but we wanted to grab some lunch and visit the outdoor shops and market where we went for dinner last night which were closed. There is a few lovely buildings over this way which I recommend popping your head into including homeware, children’s clothing, a dress shop and loads more. Lunch for us was in the indoor market as everything outside was fruit and veggies. We chose a sushi place where we could get a large poke bowl for €8.90 ($15 nzd) and Lew went with the beef and avocado and I had the tuna and avocado! As we were waiting for them to be made I nipped over to the fruit stalls and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the amount of strawberries displayed! Never ever had I seen so many strawberries in my life! I got a giant punnet for €2 ($3.40 nzd) which seemed unreal and I walked back to Lew with a massive grin on my face! Ferry snacks sorted! 

Tallin, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland on the Ferry 

Another giant ferry containing all sorts of goodies! We didn’t bother checking out too much of this ferry and instead found ourselves a spot by the window to park up for a couple of hours. It was such a pleasant journey and I kid you not these ferries even have microwaves for you to heat up your own food! I always think airports should have access to these also as I always have to pick foods that are appropriate cold. I finished writing the Ireland blog and convinced Lew to start reading the book “Rich dad, poor dad” which I began last week. Safe to say though I won’t be getting it back until he’s at the end! He’s hooked! If you haven’t read this book honestly go and check it out. I’m literally up to page 70 and I’m mind blown. 

Helsinki, Finland

We had about an hour or so in Helsinki before we needed to make our way to the airport. Not a lot of time to do much but Lew already had in his mind that he wanted to get the hat he had seen in a shop on our first day. That’s always a positive sign if an item of clothing is still on your mind after a couple of days!! We then made our way to the waterfront passing by a few stores on the way. There wasn’t a heap down here on the waterfront to be honest but if you are wanting a tasty meal of fresh fish then this is your place! Lew was keen on pizza as there seemed to be a decent Italian influence in this city that we were initially skeptical about but had decided to embrace. However, I spotted a gorgeous linen store and just had to go in. I didn’t realise until I saw a particular design that we had purchased a pillow case from this brand when we were in Slovenia! Its called Lapuan Kankurit Store & Studio for those of you who also share this love! Now how about that for coincidence for stumbling across that! I was given the ok by Lew to find a pillow case to match but I fluffed around so much and couldn’t find one that I thought would match our current one so decided I would wait for next seasons colours and patterns. This love of linen unfortunately meant that we didn’t have time to visit the pizza restaurant before we needed to get to the airport!

Overview

On a whole I really do believe this was a well planned out trip! I would highly recommend if you have a long weekend that you do something similar. Although what I would say is that I wish we had more time in Tallin. One day in Helsinki I felt was enough to explore those areas I talked about. But Tallin we didn’t get everything done that I had wanted to. The area of Kalamaja on the waterfront was a place we would have to come back and visit. Estonia is hands down the cheaper city and the fact that there is an old town and most things are situated around it make it very easy to focus your time on that one area. The ferry was a very pleasant and relaxing 2 hour journey. It’s like taking the train, it’s time where you can literally just sit and catch up on life admin. I find that comforting for some reason. But let me tell you a little secret, I also really like doing surveys - don’t ask me why I just do! It seemed you could also take a ferry across to Stockholm, Riga and St Petersburg which is something we will have to keep in mind when planning our next adventure! We did notice that a lot of men were carrying trolleys full of alcohol back from Estonia with them so clearly that’s saying something about the alcohol price in Finland right! Next trip for me is LA/Vegas and then our next combined trip is the beautiful Lakes District in the UK at the end of May for yet another bank holiday.