I decided to come in early to visit Helsinki’s surrounding areas before my North Pole cruise. Dropping off my luggage, I ventured around town to take advantage of the nice summer weather. A long table few blocks in length captured my attention. It was Helsinki day. This dinner was part of the celebration of the city’s establishment in 1550. To get a reservation here, you need to book 3 to 4 weeks in advance. Fast internet would also help as the reservation apparently ran out in a minute and 20 seconds this year. The few ladies I talked to got all hands on deck just to get the one table they had. Before letting me go, they invited me to sit down for some Champaign. It was a celebration after all.
Block party for the Helsinki day celebration!
Since it was my second time in Helsinki, I decided to venture further to Finland’s cross channel neighbor: Estonia.
Leaving Helsinki Harbor
Little private island right off the harbor
Famous for its old town, the capital city of Tallinn is full of character with its unique mix of Russian, Baltic, and Germanic influences. If you are a fan of medieval period, you will especially love Tallinn. Everything from food to the people, and to the music was kept as they were. A tour guide explained that because Estonian people were very poor after all the wars, they chose to reused the old city and its buildings to save money. By doing this, they also were able to preserve the integrity and the traditions of the old Tallinn.
School children having a field day, drawing the historic buildings.
Quaint little alley cafe
While you are here, don’t fort get to try the medieval themed traditional food at restaurants such as Olde Hansa and III Draagon. Even If you are lost in the middle of the beautiful buildings, you would be able to find the Olde Hansa. The town crier’s clear and loud announcement of their menu can surely lead you to the right place.
The “Menu Cryer”
At the Olde Hansa, you can really taste the medieval flavors. I chose to wash down some wild game sausages made of bear, wild boar, and elk meat with honey beer. Unlike flavoured beer at other places, you can truly taste the raw honey.
Medival and Delicious
Carefully observing the construction of this sausage
Before leaving the city, I took in one last look of the old town on a gorgeous day on a terrace with a graffiti “the times we have had.”
View over the old town
Time to board my cruise back to Helsinki to meet up with the rest of my crew to the North Pole. Most of the places use ferries for such a short trip. However, between the Scandinavian and Baltic nations, they use proper cruises with all the entertainment options in them. One of the options was karaoke. This karaoke is not for the shy. More than half of the people on the ship could be watching you while you sing. But this did not deter the life-loving Northern Europeans. The karaoke room was filled with different singing voices and clapping the entire time. Unlike the enthusiastic Brazilian, the joyful moment came with a lot of settledness; like this is not so big of a deal for them. People of all ages and languages were participating; a sight you may not see in other parts of the world where people are often judged by their performances. Take my home of the U.S. for example, you’d be pulling a leg and an arm off to get someone to sing at public stages such as this. You can’t help but wonder if this fun-loving attitude contributed to Finland being the happiest country in the world.
On-board karaoke