Mysterious Helsinki

I've got a ton of European travel coming up, including two destinations that I've never been to before; Helsinki and Brussels. The weird thing is that I can't find anyone who's been Helsinki before; it seems to be the kind of place that you hear about but no-one actually visits! Anyhow, very soon I hope to blog about the mystery capital of Finland.

Comments

[Bill Eisenhauer]

Given where I work, I've been to Helsinki three times now.

My experience is influenced by the fact that these were business trips, but I can list a few things.

* Its typical European -- people walk everywhere and mass transit is widely used. As such, the people are in pretty good shape on average.

* Tons of cool restaurants. You'll have no trouble finding very cool places to dine. Anywhere from "Memphis" for burgers to "Garlic" to "Manhattan Steak House".

* They are not a chatty culture, but they love to drink after hours. There is a club called Karle XII (I think that's the name) where you go on Thursday nights. Its packed. Beautiful women and its open till 4am. I've spend two of my Thursday nights there and reported late for work both times on Friday.

* On the whole, the women can be spectacularly beautiful if you like blondes. On a cab ride into the city during rush hour, I was amazed at the women I would see walking to/from work. If you could vacuum up a street corner, you would want to date 80% of the women that you ensnared. I'd be interested to see if you agree with that.

* The Finns love saunas -- they all get naked together and its a highly social experience. I've never done that as I declined the one off I received.

* Everyone speaks English and you'll be very well-received and feel at home immediately. Its a very pleasant town and you should have high expectations for a good time.

Let me know if you have any questions -- I have Finnish connections to provide any additional tips that you may need for your visit.

Bill

[F.Baube]

Party guide:
The shops sell beer til 9 in the evening; 6 on weekends.
Most places close at 2, so to stay out as late as possible (3 or 4) you have to be right downtown.
Afterparty = "jatkot" (pron. "yacht-coat").
To find out what's playing in clubs, find a copy of the free "City Paper" and turn to tha pages in the back with the small print.
A half-liter draft costs about 2,50e in cheap dumps, 3,50e in average places, 4,50e downtown.
You can find good imported stuff since they relaxed Alko's monopoly.
Several places (the "fish restaurants") offer a good selection of stuff like Belgian beers.
Corona has pool tables. Next to it is Cafe Moskva, retro-communist shic.
There's no good Vietnamese food here, and the Mexican is mediocre.
Beware of hungry polar bears on city streets.
Hyvää yötä ja näkemiin...

[Adrenalin]

Just a small mistake in the previous: shops do close at 18 on Saturdays, yet you can buy alcohol - where available - until 21 on every single day.

To push up the sales of restaurants and night clubs there's this odd rule forbidding sales of alcohol (to be taken out of the department itself, of couse) between 21-07 every day.

Eat the hungry polar bears on city streets. They offer a load of protein, especially if they've just been having a penguin snack.

[Kyösti Rantinoja]

Hi Graham and a Happy New Year too!

I just recently found your web-pages and it seems that you already have visited Helsinki. Sorry about me being too late on this subject.

I live in Helsinki and when it comes to food restaurants, here are my recommendations:

There are six Russian restaurants in Helsinki and I have been in only three of them. They all are excellent:
• Bellevue http://www.ravintolaopas.net/bellevue/ was the favourite place of Marshal Mannerheim. C.G.E.Mannerheim was the greatest finn of all, if you didn’t know. Just click the “in english” buttons here: http://www.yle.fi/suuretsuomalaiset/ and here: http://www.mannerheim.fi/. His motto was “Candida pro causa ense candido”.
• Romanov http://www.ravintolaopas.net/romanov/.
• Saslik http://www.ravintolaopas.net/saslik/.

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Kyösti Rantinoja