Last week I was in Helsinki for work, attending a workshop. I was there for a couple of days, but did have some time to walk around and explore Helsinki.
I have been to Finland before, I was there for a conference in July 2006, nearly twenty years ago. Back then I was presenting at the EU e-Learning Conference in Espoo. It was a quick trip in 2006, flying out on Monday and then back home on the Wednesday. I flew from Bristol Airport and then there was a bit of a mad rush at Schiphol where I had to change to a flight to Helsinki. Schiphol is one huge airport…
Having arrived at Helsinki, I needed to get to Espoo and travelled by shared taxi to the hotel. I spent part of the evening walking around the area, before ending up in the hotel restaurant. It was lovely and sunny, and as being so far north, the sun never really set.
I spent the Tuesday at the conference. I had some time the following day before my flight to have a quick look around Helsinki. I caught a bus to the centre and back.
This time I flew direct to Helsinki from Heathrow. I arrived late afternoon, this time I took a train from the airport to the centre. I then walked to my hotel, so after checking in I did explore the area around the hotel. The following morning, I was up early so I went for a walk around the city centre. I then headed off to Espoo for my workshop, using the Metro to get there. The workshop was over two days.
I had an evening flight the following day. I woke up to 4cm of snow, so after working at the hotel, after checking out I took a walk down to the harbour to catch a ferry to Suomenlinna.
Helsinki is an amazing city, and there is some incredible architecture and buildings. I was impressed with the public transport, there were trains, buses, trams, a metro, and even a ferry. I used the HSL app extensively for tickets.
It was nice to return to Helsinki and having a little more time to see something of the place, whereas back in 2006 it was very rushed.
