Helsinki, the last stop of our trip, plays havoc with us!

We caught the ferry for the 2 hour trip across the Baltic from Tallinn to Helsinki. It was the nicest ferry we have ever been on with multiple restaurants, bars, a casino, department store and the largest grocery store we had been in since starting our trip.

I thought that I had mastered the art of navigating Europe’s varied public transit systems, I thought wrong.

We arrived in Helsinki and found the first metro we needed to get to our Airbnb. There was a short walk to the next stop and arriving to a waiting metro with the correct # on it we quickly boarded. It was about 4 stops later that I realized we were headed in the wrong direction😂. Quickly, off the bus and across the street to catch the same # metro but going in the right direction. We call that “inadvertent sightseeing.” We arrived at our Airbnb in an old but beautiful building. Again, a bit quirky, but if you don’t mind going to the bathroom with the door open (my knees hit, Terri was ok but claustrophobic), it was nice!

Terri had found a “locals” place for dinner that looked very nice. I plugged in the directions and we headed out to explore Helsinki on foot while walking to dinner. Somewhere along the way, my directions reverted back to the second metro station and I didn’t realize it until we arrived. Now, 3 kilometers in and the sun going down, we were no closer to our preferred dinner spot than when we left home.

Time to find a new place for dinner! A quick search and we found a well reviewed restaurant serving dumplings. The sign simply read “Dumplings,” and after a short wait we were seated. Helsinki is just about twice as expensive as Tallinn, especially the beer and wine. That explains why we saw so many people with cases of alcohol going from Tallinn to Helsinki on the ferry! The dumplings were good as well as the panna cotta we had for dessert. We made it home without issue.

We awoke to rain on our one full day to explore Helsinki. I had again mapped out our self guided tour but today would be by public transportation as much as possible.

We were well into our tour, a little wet and a little chilled, when Terri saw the latest attraction flash by us through the metro window. She queried if we should have gotten off at the last stop. My semi-confident answer after looking at my phone was that we had 5 more stops. Hmmm, that didn’t sound right…..and it wasn’t. I blame my phone!

We decided to try a nearby Taco Bell, it was warm and dry inside and we were curious to experience any difference from the U.S version. The pleasant experience was that they actually spread your ingredients throughout your entree, the poor experience was that two burritos cost $14.50!

Helsinki lacks the “old town”character of our other recent stops. It’s a nice big city, very clean with lots of open spaces, but it has a “big city” feel with little interaction between the bustling inhabitants.

We toured the typical tourist hot-spots but were particularly impressed by the modern churches of Helsinki.

The Chapel of Silence is located downtown and is a nice retreat from the bustling city. It is made entirely of wood and there are no corners to be seen. Inside you feel as though you are cocooned in a wooden egg with seamless walls. It was very comforting. I did not take any interior photos as was requested.

We were hustling through Copenhagen airport to catch our connecting flight to LAX and we barely made it!😌. Unfortunately, Terri’s bag didn’t make the connection. She is running the San Diego Half Marathon on Sunday and all of her running gear is in Copenhagen! We made a quick trip to the sporting goods store and as I write this, Terri is 3 miles into her 13.1 mile run.

So, we are not “home” yet, but we are back in the U.S.

Thank you for keeping up with us during our trip!

Matt & Terri