Helsinki Favorites

Favorite thing: The most common European emergency number 112 (following Directive 2002/22/EC: Universal Service Directive) and also standard on GSM mobile phones. 112 is used in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom in addition to their other emergency numbers.

Here are some useful phone numbers that you might need while in Finland:

Global number 112

Favorite thing: The author of the first significant Finnish novel was Aleksis Kivi, originally Alexis Stenvall.
He entered into the Finn literature, when there was an urgent need for the strengthening of the national self-awareness. He had even changed his Swedish surname Stenvall (stone bank) to the Finnish Kivi (stone).

Kalevala was written already, indeed it started being translated into foreign languages, but there was not a Finnish novel yet.
There were not enough already, to write on the "peasant’s language", instead of the more "cultural" Swedish; it became increasingly more important the from what and the how.
For most people of this era the Finnish folk lived almost unknown in its forests and Kivi took this folk, the Finnish peasant into the literature introducing them in his famous novel The Seven Brothers.

During his lifetime he was largely ignored, because his image of the not-so-virtuous rural life was too "raw" and realistic for the "educated audience" and he died in extreme poverty.

Fondest memory: His 1939 statue sits next to the Railway station in front of the Art Nouveau building of the National Theatre and that his plays are still performed there.
The bronze memorial shows the author sitting melancholic in a chair. Under chair there are three reliefs depicting scenes from Kivi's well known novels.

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Favorite thing: There has even been competition among artists over who creates the most convincing imitations of the outside world and its details.
Academic art education was for centuries focused on precise representations of the human body. Outdoor painting broke this academic tradition, but brought new aspects into observing nature and depicting the different seasons.

Fondest memory: The best-known Finnish painter, Akseli Gallen-Kallela used the silent emptiness of the landscape itself to full evocative effect. All the blond irrationality of the deep Finn nationalities and some Stone Age comfort deficiency of the existence are in his painting.
A sculpture was raised to his respect in Hungary, too: his monument stands in Budapest on the Buda side of the Danube coast.

Favorite thing: If you didn´t already exchanged money before you got to Finland you can exchange them in FOREX exchange company. Forex is a big company and can take alot of different currencys.

There is one FOREXat the central railway station. Or just go out on the web and search for the closest one to you.

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Favorite thing: When you make a visit to Suomenlinna go to the visitor centre. The people here can help you in finding your way on the islands, the centre also has many brochures, so lots of information. The visitor centre also has good museum, the Suomenlinna museum. If you take the JT Line ferry, you arrive on the visitor centre quay, you arrive in the middle of Suomenlinna, so you can choose what to visit first, the islands are all easily accessible and walkable...

Fondest memory: Suomenlinna and Seurasaari, I miss the nature, the peace, the beautiful sights, water and flowers everywhere!!!

Favorite thing: Before visiting Helsinki, I had read that the Finnish people tend to be shy and withdrawn. In my experience, that is only partially true. I agree that the Finns are not as outgoing as many other people of the world -- and they will generally leave you alone if you don't approach them. However, after I took the initiative to introduce myself, most Finnish people whom I met were kind and generous.

Fortunately, most of the Finns that I met spoke English very well (I was told that English is a mandatory subject in Finnish schools). I enjoyed many interesting conversations. Also, on more than one occasion, a Finn bought me a drink as a gesture of friendship -- and expressed sincere appreciation that I chose to visit Finland on my vacation. My recommendation when visiting Finland is to take the initiative to start conversations with local Finns -- and to enjoy their friendship and goodwill.

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Favorite thing: If you travel by boat, check out their activities program in case you can fit in something interesting. The time I went to Helsinki with Silja they had a tour to the bridge where the navigation instruments and the captain and first men work. The captain couldn't receive us but the first man did and it was very entertaining to have him explain what the different instruments did.

For safety reasons, (1) the mobile phones must be switched off when visiting the bridge and (2) digital cameras are accepted as long as no picture of the instruments or the bridge in general is taken.

Fondest memory: Being on the bridge :D

Favorite thing: Simply the best!! I've been in Helsinki about 10 times in the last 5 years... It's an amazing city, not huge but big enough to have everything you need. There isn't a real old town but all the city deserves to be seen... There are a lot of interesting buildings, lot of parks and lot of green. Senatantori is maybe the most attractive place, but also the parlament, the church in the rock and lots of other places have to be visited. Don't forget to take a look over the city from the tower at olympic stadium, it's very nice!
Everything works very well: organisation is perfect in Helsinki, and you will find trolleybuses, buses and trains, 24h a day.
During the night Helsinki is always alive until late in the evening; best days to go out are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, but everyday is the right one to have fun in Helsinki. The people (maybe because of litres of beer??) are very nice and friendly and it's easy to make friends and, last but not least, girls are very beautiful:-)

Fondest memory: The most thing I miss when I come back to Switzerland from Helsinki, is the liking and the friendship of Finns. I have a lot of friends there and they always let me feel like a king when I go to visit them.