When you live in a place that has long winters, you really have to learn to savour those short summer months, and Finland is a perfect example of that. I recently got to spend a few days revisiting the capital, Helsinki, and one of the first things I noticed was that everyone was outdoors โ the cafes were lined with people enjoying their coffees al fresco, friends were meeting for picnics in the park, the Baltic Sea was full of sailboats going out for a day on the water โ it was so lively!
I too tried to make the most of my summer visit. My days started early and ended late โ it sure helped that the sun was up by 5 a.
The following post is a little city guide for summer in the Finnish capital. While the typical European church is very elaborate and full of relics, sculptures, and paintings, Helsinki Cathedral is a blank canvas.
Iittala is a cool shop if you want to browse ceramics, glassware, and general home interior โ everything in here is trendy and innovative. Then you have Marimekko, the biggest name in Finnish fashion. To say the taste is repugnant is an understatement, but Sam loves this stuff, so we managed to track down a small kiosk that specializes in salmiakki products โ 91 types of salkmiakki to be precise!
Sam ordered himself a salmiakki ice cream, which he enjoyed on the little tables they have set up for customers. One of the highlights of my visit to Helsinki was going kayaking at midnight. I have been kayaking several times before , but this experience trumped all the former ones! We met up with the team at Natura Viva at around 9 p.
