The Presidential Palace is one of the official residences of the Finnish president, and has a prime location in the middle of the city centre, overlooking the Market Square. The house was built in 1816 as a merchant’s villa on the site of an old salt storehouse. It was quickly turned into the residence of the Governor-General of Finland, and soon after Nicholas I decided that it should become the official Helsinki residence of the Tsar of Russia, and it was named the Imperial Palace. Rebuilding and refurbishing was carried out by the famous architect Engel (who built much of Helsinki’s nicer parts) in neoclassical style.

In the beginning, the house was empty for most of the time, only used on occasional visits of members of the Imperial family. In WWI and after, the palace was used for a variety of things, such as a Military Hospital and headquarters of the Executive Committee of the Helsinki Workers and Soldiers Soviet, before being prepared for the arrival of the chosen King of Finland. The King-to-be, however, was German and, given the political situation at the time, decided it was best to renounce the Finnish throne. In 1919, the palace was finally appointed residence of the President of Finland. Today, the president lives in a quieter neighbourhood of Helsinki, and the palace is mainly used for state visits and other representative functions.

I’m not an expert on architecture nor art, so I’m afraid I can’t say much about the interior and its value. To me it looked like a strange mix though: The entrance seemed to have been a newer addition, with the ugliest ceiling I had seen in a long time – it looked almost like a linoleum flooring stuck to the ceiling, and had a difficult to describe colour that darkened the entire room. Beyond it lay the kind of rooms you would expect from a palace – although when compared to the stately homes that can be found in the UK everything was newer, felt more impersonal, not like someone’s home.  I’m also pretty sure the marble walls weren’t marble, but just painted to look like it. There were expensive looking chandeliers everywhere, but not much else furnishing the rooms. A few paintings here and there, and some chairs and small sofas, but all in all it looked a bit empty. It certainly is the most protestant looking palace I have ever seen.

One thing I found quite charming was the gallery of First Ladies (and one First Gentleman) in the upstairs of the atrium. I didn’t notice portraits of the actual presidents anywhere (but then again, I can be horribly blind when it comes to paintings), which made it even more peculiar. I’m afraid my pictures aren’t up to my usual standard, because there were lots of other people and I didn’t have much time to wait for them to get out the way, but they do give a little insight into what it looks like inside the palace =).

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There were a couple of really cold days when it got below -20°C. The first of those very cold days are the best for photography, and we spent both of them outside for many hours. It really gets cold when you’re not moving much and just waiting for the perfect shot – or if you even have to lie flat on the ice to get a particularly good angle for your picture! But it is worth it, as this is the time when the cold of the air meets the relative warmth of the sea, which causes the water to rise as smoke on the sea. Since it was a particularly sudden drop this year, there was even so much smoke that it was difficult to still focus through it and get some decent shots.

We also went to take some pictures at Vantaanjoki and another place with small rapids, but since it never got properly cold for a long time this year, those pictures didn’t turn out quite so spectacular.

When going through the pictures it was amazing to see how different the colours turned out each day. Of course many of the pictures are photoshopped quite heavily (I tend to go over board with the filters, especially when I have found a new technique or filter and use it on pretty much everything until I get bored of it again). But it is clearly visible that on one particular day everything turned purple, the next day everything was blue, and sometimes orange and red.

On the last picture in the gallery, I accidentally added some northern lights – of course they are not visible during daylight hours (and not at all in the city anyway), but the sky on the original picture was a weird colour and when I tried to change it, it suddenly turned all aurora borealis on me. I decided to keep it, despite it looking a bit cheesy (not like none of the others look overly photoshopped…).

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I never took my camera when we went there throughout the summer, but here are some pictures I took at the light carnival:

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Helsinki Centre Helsinki Centre Helsinki Centre Hernesaari Hernesaari Merihaka

So I decided that maybe Helsinki wasn’t a city to admire in wide angle, and I started looking for the small pretty bits, of which there are plenty, even in the areas full of hideous buildings. The first thing that stood out to me was the bare natural rock showing in random places. Helsinki is built on hard granite, part of the Baltic shield, and in many places throughout the city outcrops of rock can be seen – along the roadside (in winter decorated with picturesque frozen waterfalls), in the middle of parks, or close to the sea. One of them even has a church carved into it, the famous rock church Temppeliaukio. I bet if I keep looking long enough I’ll find one with a sauna in it… Helsinki also has many underground tunnels linking shops and metro stations, so that in adverse winter weather people can navigate easily through them. Some of them are carved in a way to make them look like natural caves, one of them even comes with cave paintings, and another one with birdsong. So even in the middle of the city you can always see a bit of raw nature and be reminded, that you’re not far from it.

I learned to like at least some of the apartment blocks: Many of them are very modern, with lots of glass, interesting shapes, and green courtyards. They look like the real life models of drawings in a modern architecture portfolio. Almost all of the buildings have large balconies for many of the flats, which usually have a removable glass front to protect them from the elements, and so can be properly used as a part of the house for most of the year. These balconies are the equivalent to small private gardens in other places: You can peek in from the street, admire the decorations, and imagine the people living in them – yes, I’m a creep. What’s gnomes and other pottery creatures in the average European garden is maritime inspired decoration on Helsinki’s balconies, and the greenery and tastefully assembled furniture on display is just as nice to look at as carefully tended gardens. My favourite spot for “balcony spotting”, by the way, is Aurinkolahti in the very east of Helsinki.

Then there are the pretty sights that really surprised me when coming across them, for example a few beautiful (but partly slightly derelict) wooden mansions just above Töölönlahti in the city centre. Töölönlahti itself, in fact, is one of the surprises: Right in the city centre, you can hide between birches and reeds and overlook the calm waters. There is a lovely wintergarden, which is free to visit and a great picnic spot especially on cold winter days. Going to the local zoo, I discovered the pretty island of mustikkamaa (blueberry land), which has its own treetop adventure course in the forest. Then we came across the coastal area on the southern tip of Lauttasaari, where many tiny and charming summercabins are hidden in the forest. Last week, we went to visit Hernesaari. A piece of re-claimed land jutting out to the sea, topped with huge, ugly industrial buildings. But turn your back on those on the eastern side of the peninsula, and you’ll enjoy the most wonderful views of green islands, a small boat harbour and the pretty houses of Eira. At the tip of Hernesaari, a trendy beach-promenade has been built, with bars, restaurants, palm trees, deckchairs, (a sauna of course…) and the general atmosphere of just having gone on a beach holiday. You just have to keep your eyes open in Helsinki, and you’ll find some great surprises!

View from Hernesaari Public Sauna, Hernesaari Hernesaari Hernesaari Hernesaari Hernesaari

Now that it is summer and the leaves have come out, I noticed how green Helsinki really is. There are parks, trees, little bits of green and flower everywhere, I can hear birds chirping wherever I go and the air smells lovely. I have a horrible sense of direction, which means I still get lost on a regular basis after having lived here for 6 months. In fact, almost every time I start walking from the train station into a particular direction and I think I know where I am going, suddenly Stockmann (a big department store, of which there is only one in the centre) pops out from an unexpected corner and I am completely confused again. However, this also means that I keep discovering new places often even without trying. A couple of weeks ago, I went for a short cycle after work. I wanted to get to a small path by the sea close to our house, but couldn’t find the way there, as apparently it can only be accessed through a very confusing industrial area. Instead, I discovered the most beautiful park, less than 5 minutes bike ride from our flat, with wonderful views over a small bay, some rocks perfect for sunbathing, lots of trees and green, colourful allotment gardens and a small rowing boat that seemed to have been left there just to complement the romantic picture. I already know that I will be spending a lot of time there this summer, as the area is so much prettier and more peaceful than the actual swimming beach, which looks out to electricity poles and other not so nice things.

There are plenty of places to go for walks in Helsinki too – the coast is never far away, and in most places it’s possible to walk along it and enjoy lovely views. From anywhere you can also quickly reach beautiful, quiet bits of nature that make you forget you’re in the middle of a metropolitan region with 1.4 million inhabitants. Then of course there are the countless islands, many of which are accessible either by bridges or on ferries. And there really is no shortage of amazing views (the trees can cover up a lot in the centre…), so I could even switch on my wide-angle-eye again. I have created an extra page on this blog to record all the walks we have done around Helsinki and surroundings, as I couldn’t find much about this online, so hopefully I’ll be able to fill this up quickly.

I don’t know if it’s just a streak of luck, or if Helsinki really is a lot drier and sunnier than any of the places I have lived in before: All of May, we had maybe 2-3 days with some cloud cover or even rain, otherwise there was just pure sunshine and blue skies all the time. Also June has so far been mainly quite nice. But even before that it was a lot less rainy than I am used to. In fact, I am starting to feel a bit worn out by it: Moving to Scotland had taught me to make use of every bit of sun that was there, so now I cannot just sit inside and ignore good weather, or if I do, I feel really bad about it. The amount of sunny days (and a daylength of now almost 19 hours!) here recently just mean that I feel like I always have to be on the move! It’s a good problem to have, really… Here some pictures of wonderful places in Helsinki that I have discovered in the past few months.

Rock Church Temppeliaukio Sibelius Monument Kaisaniemenpuisto Helsinki Cathedral Senate Square Helsinki Helsinki Cathedral Senate Square Helsinki Senate Square Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki Ruoholahti Island Suomenlinna Suomenlinna Suomenlinna Suomenlinna Chapel of Silence Helsinki Helsinki Train Station National Theatre Helsinki Hietalahti Helsinki Cathedral Helsinki Cathedral

A network of wooden pathways leads through the park, making it accesible for all – so this is a wonderful place to visit also with prams or wheelchairs, and dogs are welcome too. The park is free to visit and easily accessible on public transport as it is only a short walk from Huopalahti train station, just a few minutes train ride from central Helsinki. The best time of the year to visit is throughout June, but this year, because of the very warm spring, flowers were already out at the end of May. The park is a real hidden gem, even many locals of Helsinki have never heard of it, so you’re guaranteed a peaceful walk in the forest! The area is also very close to Helsinki’s central park, so if you’re not tired after the stroll amongst rhododendrons, you can continue your walk through the forest there for miles and miles.

Interestingly, while Rhododendron is listed as an invasive plant in much of Western Europe and does extensive damage to ecosystems there, this does not seem to be the case in Finland. At least I could not find it listed on any invasive species lists, and the area where it is growing seems strictly contained to the actual park – we did walk a bit further around the area, and could not see any other “displaced” rhododendrons. In fact, there is even a very rare species of rhododendron that is native to Finland, the Lapland Rhododendron.

Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Rhododendron Park Red Squirrel Red Squirrel Rhododendron Park Red Squirrel Rhododendron Park In Haaga

The wooden houses date from around 1910 and were built to house worker families in a “healthy environment”. Already in the 1940s though the building style had fallen out of favour, and the area was under threat of demolition. General lack of housing meant that the houses were allowed to stay for a little longer, but again in the 1970s plans were made to demolish the area. By then, the houses had deteriorated severely, and with their communal outhouses were too antiquated, so they were to be replaced by more cost effective housing. Under public pressure however the plans were changed, and instead the quarter was renovated.

The area started off as a working-class neighbourhood, but has in recent decades undergone gentrification and been re-discovered as a trendy place to live. Many of the buildings have been renovated recently, or are undergoing renovation just now. Something that struck me as rather odd were the polished silvery metal roofs gleaming in the sun, that seemed a bit out of place. (EDIT: I have now been told that they are left like this for one winter before painting it with a bitumen based “tar” paint. This way, the metal has time to oxidize, which creates a surface the paint will actually stick to. This is mainly done in conservation areas, where newer roofing materials are not allowed to be used). The buildings are simple, there are no frills to the woodwork, but they are painted in happy, bright colours that make them feel so much more welcoming than the surrounding modern areas. The quarter also has a lot of greenery, which even more gives it the feeling of being out of the city: The houses have green courtyards and gardens, and right in the middle of wooden Vallila, a rocky park rises up, with nice views of the quarter. As we came on a sunny public holiday, the park was buzzing with people taking in the sun and barbecueing (not visible on my pictures, as I didn’t want to obviously photograph into the crowds).

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The concept spread quickly: From 45 restaurants in Finland in May 2011 to 2497 restaurants in 34 countries in May 2015. Restaurant day happens four times a year, but the most popular so far have always been in May. You can find more statistics here. Restaurants can be in people’s own homes, in parks and on the street, as well as some public buildings: For example Helsinki’s libraries welcome restaurants and provide spaces.

On my first Restaurant Day in February, we walked around all day trying different foods: I had some lovely, gluten free cake for breakfast in a park, where there was also a stall where refugees prepared middle eastern goodies as a thanks to the Finnish people. Then we went to sample Sami specialities: Reindeer heart, reindeer blood dumplings and a berry mousse as desert. Some Russian smetana-dumplings and Borscht later we were too late to try the insects served at a cafe in Kallio – apparently they ran out within an hour, as there was such demand. So we continued to a local community centre, where seemingly all Philippino families of Helsinki had come together to show off their cuisine: The hall was lined with around a dozen or more different stands offering all kinds of delicacies. We concluded the day with a stroll around the Esplanades, where more stalls were lined up tightly, serving dishes – sweet and savoury – from all around the world.

The upcoming Restaurant Day on 21st May will be the 5th birthday of the event – and might well become the biggest so far! Whether you live in Finland or abroad, have a look at the map to check if there are any restaurants near you! Or why not participate yourself? It’s easy and free, just find a place to sell your favourite homemade treats, register on the website and have a great day!

And if you are in Helsinki, drop by at the One Cat Cafe, where I and some friends will take your taste buds on a vegetarian journey around the world with delicious German cakes, American fudge, Texan breakfast, and Iranian treats! Another recommendation is Kaisaniemen Puisto, where another friend will be preparing authentic Nepalese momos.