When Helsinki Freezes Over

After last year’s successful trip to the German Christmas markets, we decided to do it all over again, but in a new country – Finland!  We found an amazing deal to Helsinki through British Airways that we couldn’t pass up.  Karen and Laura, and our friends, Michelle and John, also came with us on our weekend getaway.

We all wore our Christmas sweaters.  Some were uglier than others... and David's infamous, fur-trimmed vest made its annual appearance!

The deal included roundtrip airfare and a two-night stay at Hotel Kamp in the heart of Helsinki.  After a late Friday night arrival (1 AM local time), we started off Saturday morning by walking a few short steps from the hotel to Senate Square to begin shopping at the city’s main Christmas market.

Helsinki Cathedral overlooking Senate Square

We had breakfast of glogi (Finnish mulled wine) and pastries like star cake and chocolate and raspberry swirled breads at one of the tents in the market. 

For a savory finish to our meal, David and I split a potato dog.  Oh my gravy.  This hot dog was the best of both worlds – a hot dog rolled in tater tots and deep fried, topped with creamy garlic mayo.  We loved every last bite.

To keep warm, we walked from the outdoor Christmas market to the indoor Hakaniemi Market Hall.  We knew it would be cold in Finland, but Saturday felt extra chilly in the low 20’s with a bit of wind, but no snow.  I don’t think we would’ve minded the cold as much if there had been some snow on the ground!

Hakaniemi Hall was a lot like Budapest’s Central Market, where vendors sell fresh produce, meats, and breads on the ground floor and souvenirs on the first floor above.  Laura purchased a pair of sheep skin insulators for her boots, which she highly recommended, as it felt like she was walking on carpet and they kept her feet extra warm.  Michelle, John, David, and I had our second breakfast of apple-filled donuts and coffee/tea.  Karen and Laura had salmon on toast and rice porridge.

Then we made our way past the botanical gardens, main train station, and outdoor ice rink, where Santa was teaching the younger children how to skate.  We stopped at Vltava, a Czech restaurant, for lunch.  David warmed up with a bowl of goulash and potato/bacon dumplings, while Laura, Karen, and I opted for the soup and local bread, and John had a platter of sausages with cabbage.  Michelle kept it healthy with a salmon salad.

We were stuffed!  So we continued walking west to the Rock Church, a modern Lutheran Church carved from rock with a copper dome.  We warmed up inside for a few minutes, and then went shopping.

David was on the lookout for a stein.  We did find a few nice ones outside Rock Church but the price tag on them was actually the price the souvenir store bought them at. When David found out the mark-up was 150%, he just couldn’t do it, and so he returned back to London empty-handed.

On the way back to the hotel for some naps before dinner, we stopped at Stockmann, the largest department store in Finland.  Stockmann had their own Christmas market outside the building, complete with a nativity scene, children visiting Santa, and fire jugglers.

Later that night, we tried to get reservations at Juuri for Finnish tapas (or sapas as they are called locally).  But we probably shouldn’t have waited until Saturday at 6:00 to try and get reservations at one of Helsinki’s most popular restaurants.  As you can guess, they were fully booked.  But it worked out perfectly for us, because the hotel recommended Savotta down the street instead.

That meal was probably the best part of the trip.  It was more of an experience than just dinner.  The restaurant is meant to look like a logger’s camp and all of the menus and tableware are made out of wood.  Our waitress was amazing and made some great recommendations.  She was really knowledgeable about all of the food and drinks. 

Enjoying glogi in logger’s tin mugs

We ordered the sampler platter to start, which came with all different kinds of fish, beet salad, reindeer tongue, bear salami, shaved pork, cheese, and karjalanpiirakka (rice-filled pastries).  The karjalanpiirakka was my favourite.  We had tried it earlier in the day at the market but it was served cold there.  At Savotta, it was served freshly-baked and warm. 

I couldn’t bring myself to try the reindeer tongue.  And I made David ask our waitress about the bear before anyone tried it.  She explained that there are only a few licenses given out each year in Finland to hunt bear.  So basically every man in each village goes after just one or two bears.  I felt bad for the brown bears, imagining a village full of drunken Finnish men chasing after one cornered bear.  So I couldn’t bring myself to eat the bear, either.  Everyone else really enjoyed it, though!

Karen and I ordered the lamb with potatoes and roasted vegetables.  It came out on an enormous wooden platter. 

Karen is probably thinking, “How the heck are we going to eat all of this?!”  John and David helped…

Michelle ordered fish, and Laura, John, and David all had the reindeer steak over barley with lingonberry gravy.  I wouldn’t try the tongue, but I did have a bite of reindeer steak.  And I must admit, that was the best dish of the night!  

Sorry Rudolph

To cap off the evening, we tried all three desserts along with the local vodka, brandy, and moonshine. 

When David asked, “So what do you mean by moonshine?” our waitress replied, “Oh, it’s really moonshine.”  David and John were brave enough to try it, and they didn’t go blind – yay!

On Sunday, we woke up to a winter wonderland.  It had snowed overnight!  David called it a Christmas miracle!

We had breakfast at Karl Fazer’s, a café run by the Finnish candy-maker.  

The chocolate nativity at Karl Fazer Cafe

So basically we had sweets for breakfast.  David and I shared the jelly-filled donut, buttered bun, raspberry strudel, and apple pie covered in meringue.  (I don’t know how we do it, either.  But hey, it’s the holidays.  Our stomachs expanded quite a bit in Texas, so they could somehow fit in all of that rich food!)

After breakfast, we walked along the snow-covered Esplanade to the harbour to view Uspenski Cathedral.  

This turtle does not look amused to have me on its back.  Or maybe it's just cold because it lives next to the Baltic Sea and wishes it was in the Maldives, instead. ;)

The cathedral is a 19th century Orthodox church that overlooks the city.

From there, we did our final souvenir shopping.  We didn’t come back to the UK with quite as many Christmas trinkets as last year, but we love our new Santa gnome door-stopper, gingerbread men hanging with care, and Viking ornament. 

This is our final blog of 2013, so before I Finnish (I couldn’t resist), David and I would like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!