Helsinki: Land of My People — The Sleepy Cheese

Well, ‘Land of My People’ might be a bit of a stretch. According to a recent mail-in DNA testing service, I’m a whopping 0.3% Finnish. What’s the rest?

73.7 % British and Irish
9.7 % French and German
3 % Scandinavian
12.5 % “Broadly Northwestern European”
And last but not least:
0.3 % Congolese

To sum up - I’m white, boringly white. My last name should be Higglesby or Tiddleforth , or maybe just Eggshell. I would like to think that my family was originally Viking, and we just got diluted over time by the all-conquering Brits and a few friendly French types, but the way I handle the cold makes that a bit hard to believe. Nonetheless, Finland was the last stop on my tour of Scandinavia.

Helsinki is charming in a way Stockholm wasn’t, though it’s hard to describe why. It’s a big city, and the largest metropolis in Finland, but it really does have a smaller feel. Trams run through the city, the architecture is gorgeous, and saunas dot the harbor. It’s a city literally built by Russia, with wide promenades and an overall design that has given it the nickname “Little St. Petersburg”. Sandwiched between the East and West isn’t exactly ideal, especially during the Cold War, but Finland somehow navigated those difficult times and emerged a successful, independent state.

If there’s one thing that sets Finland apart from its Nordic cousins, it’s their sauna culture. There are five million people in Finland, and with at least three million saunas, you get an idea of their priorities. Saunas are to Finland what wine is to France, or what the desire for harmony is to Japan, or what high fructose corn syrup is to Americans. It’s an essential, defining part of the culture, passed down and refined for centuries. In a place rich with the necessary resources (wood, namely) and the space to build, they flourished. Saunas were considered so vital to the Finish people, that there was explicit directions on how to build them even in war time (and don’t worry, no ranks or status are observed in the sauna). In the old days, they were used for everything; staying warm, obviously, but also for community, cooking, living, and even giving birth. Thankfully, that last one is no longer common. While the Protestant Reformation was leading to the destruction of many of Europe’s bath houses (thanks, Jesus) – and further reducing the average Europeans ability to have a nice bath, or any bath, or any bathing at all - Finns were using the saunas to stay so fresh and clean, year round. They have been steaming and preening in various iterations of saunas for over a thousand year.

Sauna on the Baltic. Take a steam and then a dip in the freezing ocean, or the slightly less frozen pool.

Finland is one of the northern most capitals in the world, and in March it sure felt like it. It still has plenty to see and do for a few blustery days, but I would save a longer trip for summer. It’s easy to walk around for the most part and you don’t need a car. I toured the city, taking some photos of various monuments and buildings - like the Central Railway Station which is really bizarre - and spent part of a day at Soumenlinna, a sea fortress that has become a major tourist attraction. It’s a UNESCO site, and you can spend a chilly day touring old defensive installations, barracks, the Russian church, old cannons, and a couple of small but cute museums. It’s only a short ferry ride away, and a pleasant escape from the city.

My time has wrapped up in Scandinavia, and I fly back tomorrow with a layover back in Copenhagen. I never thought I would say this, but I’m looking forward to thawing out back in Boston.