Helsinki Traditional History & Highlights
On our cruise through the Baltic Sea, our first official port was Helsinki, Finland! We had a total of two days in port, but we only ventured out on an excursion on the first day.
We opted for the NCL excursion Traditional History and City Highlights (full details from NCL), as it gave us wide exposure to multiple sites we wouldn’t have otherwise been to see. Most of the places we just drove by, but there were a couple of stops that we got out to see a little closer.
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One of the first things we learned is that the Finnish LOVE their saunas. It is common in all homes and condos to have access to at least one sauna, and they even have public saunas like the brown building in this photo.
They even go as far as having saunas in the Ferris wheel you can see in the background. The brown one is one of two saunas available!
Also, if you ever want to hear how the Finnish pronounce ‘sauna’ just ask Nathan. He will be happy to elongate the ‘au’ like they do (to my annoyance 😉 ). Otherwise, check out YouTube, it’s apparently a common thing that it’s pronounced differently.
Our first stop for pictures was at the Uspenski Cathedral.
Another wonder built in 1860 and no surprise that it was had beautiful architecture, impressive for the time.
There was also a massive courtyard that easily held all the tourists stopping by for pictures.
Our next stop was at the Temppeliaukio Church, otherwise known as the ‘rock church’. I will be honest, I thought this was going to be cooler than it was. When I heard about it, it reminded me of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, but built into the rock more. While sort of true, it wasn’t anything I would repeat.
Next, The bus took us to the Seurasaari Open-Air Museum. It was an island completely dedicated to the museum and showing original structures, houses, and churches throughout Finnish history.
The oldest structure on the island is a church from 1686! They do a wonderful job with regular maintenance, and it is still standing as if it were in use today.
Since our bathroom saga throughout this trip had to continue, this is also where the next surprising restroom was located ;). Feel free to skip ahead here if you would prefer not to read this story, I promise it’s not gross or anything!
So, this was basically a big outdoor park, and they had the equivalent of really nice US State Park bathrooms. There were two stalls and I assumed they were unisex, which to be fair they were, and jumped into the first one available.
I quickly realized that the bathrooms were either REALLY different here, or I messed up.
As I mentioned, they were actually kinda fancy. They had a push button lock, which was my initial focus. I would have preferred the comfort of a physical lock, but Nathan was outside, so I knew no one would bust in. I was also distracted by this cute little sink to the right that I didn’t get a picture of.
All that to say, it took me a few seconds before I focused on the toilet bowl and then stopped because I had no idea what to do.
As you can see in the picture, it is just a giant basin. Think of those mall games where you put a quarter in, and it slowly rolls around and around until it gets to the middle. It was honestly that big, too.
Well, I had to go badly, so I figured what the hell… I camp I know how to squat, and I will just get it over with.
I then realized that they actually had a handlebar on the front door for you (I think for women in particular) to use. It did exactly its job, and I was able to take care of business!
After I took a few seconds to figure out how to flush, I immediately started laughing again. The water came out of the entire top ring and arched up probably 6 inches before going back down. It was like a whole water fountain feature!
So I am laughing as I leave, preparing to fill Nathan in on what should have been a simple thing. That is when he informed me what he realized after I had gone in.
Apparently, the two stalls were designated for a urinal and then a regular toilet, and I went to the unisex urinal. Thank heavens, that is all that I needed anyway, otherwise this story could be significantly more embarrassing! 🙂
Once we had spent about an hour or so at the outdoor museum, we were on our way again. Our next stop was at Sibelius Park to see an art installation by a Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius. It reminded me of the bean in Chicago. That probably tells you how much we are not ‘art people’.
Our tour’s last stop was at the Opera House, where the only thing we did was get a pastry and coffee. I am not entirely sure why we went there, or why the snack was provided there, but oh well, it satisfied our requirement to eat in a new city!
After that, we were dropped off at the port and our adventures had come to an end.
While we didn’t do anything on day two, we were happy with what we had been able to see. I don’t know that Helsinki will be high on our list to return, but we were happy to have gone and seen another part of the world and experienced a little bit of the Finnish culture.
If you would like to read more about this cruise or the other stops we made along the way, here are some quick links for you!
Self Guided Tour of Stockholm
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