Helsinki and the Finnish countryside
 

This past June my girlfriend and I took a 2 week trip through Europe, visiting (in order) Kiev, Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Amsterdam. It was a fantastic vacation that I'll remember for a long time. Hopefully these pictures will give you a little glimpse of the character of each city.

We arrived at Helsinki on the eve of Midsummer's Holiday, a huge occasion in Finland, apparently on par with Christmas. Everyone basically abandons the cities and goes to their cottage by the lake to chill, drink, hit the sauna, dip in the lake and then repeat. We only had one evening in Helsinki until we were meeting some friends to join the festivities. It's a good thing it stayed light out past midnight.

The Helsinki Railway station:
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000845.jpg

Modern residences next to a big mall right in the downtown (Kappi, I think)
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000846.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000852.jpg
Tons of trolleys in the downtown area:
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000856.jpg
Esplanade, heading towards the bay
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000857.jpg
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000858.jpg
This coffee shop used to be popular with Russian aristocrats, before Finland declared independence in 1917.
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000862.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000863.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000867.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000868.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000869.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000877.jpg
Friendly locals, I try not to generalize, but I find Fins to be an awesome people...generally speaking
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000873.jpg
Views of the harbor (around 10 pm)
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000878.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000882.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000888.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000895.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000892.jpg
Wtf....
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000891.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000916.jpg

http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000909.jpg
Off to the countryside
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000924.jpg
Typical cottage
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000933.jpg
Welcome sight after a hot sauna
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000954.jpg
Sun finally comes out
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000960.jpg
Time for a barn dance
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000974.jpg
Money shot
http://i782.photobucket.com/albums/y...i/P1000971.jpg

Great trip, I wish I could do something like that someday

Though for me this thread is funny in an ironic sense. I just had the opposite experience summer camping at a lake. It was literally 105 degrees but worse the water in the lake was bathwater warm. I tried to sleep in my car but that was no fun. To drink some people were getting very sloowwly wasted on light beer WTF...What's worse is some guy in our group I don't know caused a scene with the campsite owner when he didn't pay at the office, and ran away drunk and hid the woods. Yeah...

I love the finnish cities!

looks great, the Fins live well.

Finns rock (and are pretty good drinkers). Nice pics!

Great pictures. What time did the sun set on the Solstice? Obviously after 10, based on that harbor picture.

beautiful!

i cannot wait to tour scandinavia

Actually, it's debatable whether Finland is a part of Scandinavia. The term more specifically refers to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Great, thanks!

You sure had a good trip! Loving Finland.

Thanks for the positive responses. It was definitely a kick ass vacation and it's always better when you know people in the countries you visit. You get a much better taste for local life and get to feel like less of a tourist.

The sun set around 11 pm, but it was still light out past midnight. Thankfully I had one of those sleeping masks, because otherwise I probably would've started acting like the Al Pacino character in Insomnia.

Awesome. Thanks for posting.

Nice pics. Although, given all the technological advancements coming from Finland (Linux, Nokia) I expected a bit of a more hi-tech landscape, compared to what looks like a typical small European country.

Love it! Really hope to visit Helsinki someday.

Great thread! I actually like some of that modern architecture you posted.

Nice pics!

Why did you decide to visit these 4 cities?

Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures. I have a cousin who lives in Helsinki and she keeps bugging me to visit her one of these days. I am looking forward to spending a few days in Finland, then on to Stockholm.

I'm really enjoying your trip through Europe, CentralGrad... these Finnish countryside photos are very interesting!

Nice!

Excellent stuff.