Helsinki, Finland: Part 3

Posted on April 29, 2024  •  19 minutes  • 3869 words

Even though the trip to Sweden was short, if felt so good to be back at our apartment. I unpacked while the kids did some writing. Dan got home and did a bike ride with Sam back to the Kauppahalli, since our favorite place was out of salmon when we were there earlier that morning on our way back from the ferry.

This is becoming a family favorite. Easy to make and we still get a huge dose of salmon. Not ideal as it’s kind of squishy, but we started using canned mango. Mangos here aren’t great and SO expensive…and you have to plan days in advance AND time it just right to get them to be a little good.

Everyone so happy to be back home with Dad…or maybe it’s the salmon that is making us all smile.

The next day was Vappu Eve. What is Vappu you ask? It’s the biggest Finnish holiday where they celebrate the unofficial start of spring, because let’s not lie, the end of March is hardly spring here. It’s the biggest picnic day in the country and on Vappu Eve, a chosen department of a local university gets to put a graduation cap on a statue. I’m not lying. Then, when the cap gets put on the statue, everyone else puts their hats on too! When I say “graduation cap”, I don’t mean the one you see in the states. The Finnish graduation cap looks like a sailors cap with a huge tassel for certain majors.

And if that all wasn’t weird enough, never mind the fact that there are thousands of Finns all gathered and drinking champagne, with lots were wearing one piece coveralls with patches all over them.

And the cool thing to do for the girls, it seemed, was to tie the top part around your waist. This wasn’t necessarily a ‘because it’s hot’ thing as many had them tied around their waists and then had jackets on.

They were really fun to see. All colors were being sported, which seemed to be linked to the school/degree the person went to.

The usual statue that got the cap was under restoration, so they moved the event and used a temporary statue. The statue is not bit and is pretty much hidden below the crane. And that’s the awesome library in the background…an amazingly beautiful building, inside and out.

It was pretty crowded, so we didn’t try to get close. We found a place to stand with a view while the kids ran around on the grass behind us until more people showed up and it was too crowded.

Because we are in Finland, the event started right on time. The capping was to happen at 4:30pm and the crane started moving about 15 minutes before, with about 10 students hanging from it.

There was a lot of slow moving around, some up and down…pretty much teasing the crowd, although I’m sure it happened right on time each year, so who did they think they were fooling? The place was so packed by now and everyone was waving their hats in the air with some chanting, right before the statue got the cap. And at that moment, everyone else put their caps on. According to a guy Dan works with, it is NOT okay to wear your cap before the statue. When we were waiting, we never saw someone with a cap.

The next day, May 1, the actual holiday, it was even more of a party at a park down by the water. Dan was told to get there early to get a good spot. When he asked ’early’ meant, he was told you need to be there by 6am to get a good spot. Um, okay, we are good with a not good spot. We biked there, with half the city and the other half was walking or in their cars. You didn’t need directions, just follow the mass of people. The bike ride had good parts and a few scary parts due to Max’s quick turning of the handle bars when he things he’s going to fall. Not fun when we were close to so many bikes and cars. But then there were lovely parts.

We parked our bikes in an area that seemed to be designated the end of the allowable biking. Bike were scattered everywhere, most just locked to themselves or a random pole. We locked the bikes and started towards the area where everyone (and I mean everyone was picnicking). There was a mound and it seemed like it was evem more crowded over there, so we found a nice place to sit with a view of the playground.

Kids played while Dan and I had our beverages. I dropped the ball on buying champagne, that EVERYONE seemed to be drinking. The day before I just ran out of time to go to the liquor store and just not the grocery store, and all don’t sell wine/liquor. We managed, but felt a bit left out of the popping festivities. I made sandwiches for the kids that they devoured so they could go play quickly.

The kids decided that finding corks was more fun than the playground and went on a massive hunt for them. It wasn’t hard and they even resorted to asking people for the corks when they saw a bottle being opened. People gladly contributed to the kids’ stash. I went for a stroll up the hill to see what was going on over there.

If you think of Finns as the mellow type, that was NOT the case today. Dance parties, thousands of empty bottles and all around a grand old time. Looking out over the crowds, it never seemed to end.

We were in zero rush and Dan and I were enjoying the chillness on the blanket as the kids did there thing. If we had packed more beverages, we may have stayed there all day. After a couple hours, we decided to all take a walk and see more of what was going on.

Thousands of hats and more cool jump suits was what was going on!

We eventually made it through the masses and out to the water. The most perfect weather and not a bit cold even on the shore. Kids finally had some space to play soccer and Dan and I soaked in the views.

Eventually, we started making our way back to the bikes along the shore…taking the long way, but less crowded way back.

We got back to the bikes and elected an easier route home…aka less riding close to cars. At home, Dan and I took naps and the kids got to watch an episode of Wild Kratts.

Dan and I crashed hard! Dan actually slept for almost 3 hours! I had to wake him up for dinner. Someone can’t handle a couple of day beers. Good little cleaner uppers after dinner that were hoping for a night ride. After dinner, Dan took the two older kids on a bike ride while Max and I stayed home to read. Never ones to miss a chance to stand on a rock in the water. And lucky for them, there are thousands on the shores of Helsinki.

They found some docks where little ferries to shuttle you to islands in the archipelago.

I really do love how fun they have when Dan takes them out on bike rides. It seems when I ride with the kids, it’s more of a ‘get from point A to point B’, but Dan and the kids just explore and explore.

School the next morning and then we finally went to the cat cafe that we had been walking past for weeks. A massive hit for 2 reasons. 1. Kids were so happy and 2. I was able to read my book for a couple hours. Yes, we were there that long.

A latte and a hot chocolate to match the experience.

Not only did they make cat friends, but Max and Sam were chatting up two older woman for quite sometime…just loving telling them anything that they were thinking. We finally headed home and I made one of those ‘whatever is in the fridge’ dinners.

And then some with very helpful kids after.

It was early, so we decided to do a family bike ride to the lake. Our family bike rides give me SO much joy! I’m usually bringing up the rear at a leisurely pace, just looking at them all up ahead following their dad. Always smiles and the happiest children. Max is so proud he can do the ’long rides’ now and can sometimes get started by himself. He doesn’t fall too often and is quite fast when he is on flat ground.

We did a loop around the lake and made a mental note of all the cafes we could come back to for a drink while the kids played around. So many people out enjoying the lovely weather. I had packed a box of chocolate covered cookie sticks, so we headed to the park after the loop to have ourselves a treat. Another awesome Finnish park.

The next day was Friday and Ben’s turn to go to campus with Dan. The rest of us did lots of Dragon Girls and Dragon Masters reading and then Sam lead us on a big bike ride where we checked out lots of parks.

I had seen this sign in Switzerland and thought it a bit weird. Why can’t kids wear a helmet at the park? Numerous times my kids have fallen while not riding a bike, but wearing a helmet, and the helmet took the hit. I did some research and I guess it’s because the strap could get caught and risk strangulation or something. I’m sure there is research behind this, but my kids have been saved a lot when they forget to take off their helmet and play.

We went over a bridge, still being guided by Sam. He acted liked he knew where he was going because we were ‘just exploring’ so I guess you can’t actually go the wrong way.

Found another park that had some extra wheeled vehicles. Pictures like this make me realize that Max is a child, not a baby. Looks a bit like a giraffe on a bike.

But then he comes over for hugs and mom time.

Finally after a couple hour ride/park playing, we headed back. Meanwhile, the other bike riders had a stop on the way home at our favorite ocean side cafe.

The next day we went to Suommelinna. It was so special it get its own page.

https://travelingengineer.com/blog/2024-05-04-suomenlinna/

The next day, Dan had a big bike day planned. Max and I would stay back as it he wanted to make it out to a national park and knew Max couldn’t make it. We toiled with the idea of Max and I meeting them out there via public transportation, but then decided we’d do our own ride. Max was ready with his eyes protected from the wind.

Max rode and I ran. It was great and he’s hardly needing help anymore to get started. I still help if the pedal is really in the wrong spot, but he’s getting so close. We biked out to the shore and found a nice view point.

Max really wanted to do our favorite kind of picture and without his brothers there, he got to push the start button each time!

I chilled atop a rock mound while Max checked out the water.

Meanwhile, Dan was sending us photos of their ride. They took the train to the end of one line and then biked to the national park. Kids thought it was pretty cool taking their bikes on the train.

They loved it, even though there were some parts that were a bit hard to bike.

After Max and I got back home, we had lunch and then headed out to do some shopping. Max needed socks, but first we found some giant tiled mounds that he climbed all over.

We stopped in a Moomin store, but didn’t find anything that seemed worth it in weight to add to our suitcases. Max did really want this stuffie though.

We all made it home about the same time and I was in heaven listening to Ben and Sam explode with info about their day. They were completely on cloud nine and exhausted. I made smoked salmon toast with salmon that we had got at the Kauppahalli the day before. We had salmon that was traditional smoked, lemon pepper, large mild pepper corns and dill and a Finnish white fish.

And good thing we had a lot, everyone was quite hungry.

I worked after dinner with the two younger ones read together and cuddled. Happy days!

And to wrap up an amazing weekend, a lovely sunset…at 9:30pm

The kids heard about the zoo and really wanted to go. To be fair, it’s been a long time since we’ve been to a zoo so I agreed and this was the day. It’s hard to tell, but these metal arrows are pointing in all directions to places. They are on the ceiling of the metro. It was really cool looking and not just in 2D that some of the city signs are ‘Buenos Aires –> 2157km’ but 3D.

We got out of the metro and it took a loop around the station to figure the right direction to go. We finally got on the right track and then were lead by turtle statues the rest of the way.

The zoo was on an island off another island, which means we had to walk over two bridges to get there.

It was SO cold and windy walking over the second bridge, that when we got there, we were thrilled to go be close to the Amazon house, but not before we saw some adorable dwarf mongooses.

Finally inside and it was almost too hot and humid, but I needed it.

Lots of terrariums with animals, the seeking of them began. We saw most and a few too many snakes. Sometimes they can be so sweet with each other.

While we were in, a little boy started tagging along with the kids a bit and joining in on the search for animals in the terrariums. The kids all hit it off and he became our best buddy for the rest of the day! He was from Greece and was there with his parents. Meeting up with them and spending hours with them made the day just amazing! I had conversation and the kids had a new best friend. We saw all the animals we were going to see and the kids found a park outside.

It was noon and we were going to eat lunch, which would have meant saying ‘bye’ to their new friend. Sam couldn’t bear this so he promised me he would handle his hunger, that was inevitable, if we could say with our new friends. I decided to try it and see how long the apples, cashews and 2 granola bars I had would last. So the kids sprinted up ahead to find their friend, who was at the tiger exhibit.

One tiger was passed out by a lamb leg hanging from a tree and the other was on full display, standing proud on his log.

Across the way was a male lion that had arrived to the park a few months ago and was not mixing with the others yet. He was very vocal and showing off his teeth so much that the bars between us were feeling undersized.

We continued on and saw a snow leopard! Our first time ever and it was pacing back and forth for us to see. And it’s true, it’s tail is massive!

Found another park and let them run off some energy for a bit, even though us parents were freezing. The temperatures would have been fine, but the wind was just brutal.

After the park we found a warming hut! There was a place for a fire in the middle, charcoal and utensils for grilling. To the kids’ dismay, I didn’t travel with marshmallows that day.

Then back outside for some throwing rocks in the water and more shivering. The wimp and the parents from Greece…we weren’t doing well.

We moved on to the next enclosure and saw a wolverine. Another first for us, although the kids have probably seen the wolverine episode of Wild Kratts five times.

Pushing 3pm and pushing the hunger/not losing it limits of the kids, we finally looped back around and found lunch. There was a kids table and an adults table which was lovely. Everyone ate well and fast and then we headed right back out to see more animals. By the end of the day, we really had been to almost every animal and most were out and about to be seen. Camels were first on the list after lunch.

Then bears, where two brown bears were walking around and following us as we walked by…then stayed near us while we looked in. The last stop was a type of primate, but I can’t remember the name. The best part of this was when one had a stick and walked off with it. Then another chased him, yelled at him and took the stick. Then they fought. VERY familiar situation that I have experienced numerous times.

Sam asked to borrow my camera and I mainly got photos like this. No animals, just us. And yes, Max is carrying a stick.

After 6+ hours, we finally decided to head home, but not before getting an animal lollipop each. We were exhausted and ready to be home and warm. Max claimed he was showing us what a slow tortoise would look like when walking.

Cool bird statue on the way back to the metro.

Made it home and had SO much to Dan over dinner.

Side note: I have stared at these terrible furred out walls for vents/pipes/etc for almost a month now and they drive me crazy. I can only imagine how crazy these would drive my architect friends. Zero effort to make them look good nor fur it out a little more to make less angles. It’s pretty bad.

School work the next morning and a kid got a hold of my phone.

We found a Turkish restaurant to go to for dinner. We got the giant meze plate along with some falafel burgers and wraps. Absolutely amazing.

We did have to get 3 orders of wrapped grape leaves to satisfy the kids’ cravings. I got a giant mojito and everyone was happy.

For weeks Sam’s hair had been in his face. Recently he had been asking for me to trim ‘just the front’ and I had been putting it off because I was so nervous about messing it up and then Dan ‘fixing’ it with the buzzers.

Maybe a little short, but I was pretty proud of myself.

We had an audience.

Later that day, we met up with Tomas and his parents again. We met at one of our favorite parks outside the library. Ben had his soccer ball and at one point, Ben, Sam and Tomas were taking on a lot of Finnish kids. Somehow they figured they (the Finnish kids) were outnumbering Ben and Co. too much, so they were subbing in. Then it got decided somehow to just blend the teams, which probably best. They played for so long until the parents were freezing and we headed into the library.

The library is a serious work of art! The curves, the wood, the open spaces…it was so beautiful and peaceful from the outside and inside.

So many cool spaces, a cafe and an area outside upstairs.

And these chairs were clearly a hit.

We stayed in the kids area for a while, which had a soft play area, a small climbing area and lots of space for reading. There were a fair share of book in English, but Max was the only one who could remain calm enough for me to read to him. We were getting hungry and I suggested a nearby cafe we had been to before…the one with the older owner who was so sweet to us before. We walked in, she looked and the kids, then to me and back to the kids and says ‘I remember you boys!’ We ordered lunch and the boys ate outside.

Adults ate in peace inside.

We were a bit of an overload for the little place, but we were in no hurry. She got the kids stuff quickly and it was clear they were hungry. Ben got the ham and cheese sandwich and by error, she made an extra. I didn’t want to send it back, so I figured we could just take it home. Nope. Ben ate that one too. Sam and Max went with the salmon pie again. Then we got dessert. This piece of heaven for me and the kids tried macaroons for the first time. They were massive fans.

The parents were slower to eat and we enjoyed relaxing inside and the kids played outside. At one point I looked outside and Sam had given Tomas his helmet and Tomas was on his bike with Sam holding it from behind. I asked his parents if he could ride a bike after seeing the look of shock on his dad’s face. ‘No,’ he said. Sam then starts running and pushing and off Tomas went! We were cracking up. We wrapped up our desserts inside and headed to another park.

The end of the day came upon us and we all traded hugs and ‘hope to see you again’s. We were so lucky to have two special days with them and we didn’t want them to leave. I did get a text from Tomas’ father, that once they were back in Greece, Tomas was telling his grandfather ALL about the boys. :)

The next day, Dan planned to take the kids back to the library, but it was a holiday and closed. No worries there, they just went on a bike ride.

It’s not hard in Helsinki, but Dan does seem to have a knack for finding great routes.

It was out last night in this place and we were going to miss it. It had been such a great place and worked so well for us. Kids taking in the last few hours before bedtime in this place.

And you can always tell when it’s our last dinner in a place. A smorgasbord of everything we still had in the fridge.

Our ferry to Tallinn was at 9am, which meant we had to wake up the kids about an hour before they were typically waking up. It wasn’t easy, but at least they were cute together.

Ended up taking two taxis to the terminal as the Uber XL had a huge waiting time. We got there fast, stored some luggage in a locker, got out tickets printed out and headed upstairs to the waiting area.