That’s Hel as in Helsinki, Finland. Not to be confused with Hell, of course, because Helsinki is pretty fabulous and I’d like to go there again. In fact, I may be going there to live.
That’s right! You read me correctly. Hubs is considering a job offer that would require us to relocate to Finland. A bit off the path we set out on when we left the US and planned to reside in his native Germany. But sometimes life steers us in a direction we did not plan on, doesn’t it? Are we willing to be open to a new unplanned & unanticipated direction? I wasn’t at first, but I am shifting my thinking and trying to be open to something unexpected and different. After a weekend visit to Helsinki, I am starting to feel a bit excited about the possibility. We should know in about a week or so if we’ll be going.
As we expected, it sure was cold in February. But it wasn’t as cold as we thought it would be. We spent 2 whole days walking around the whole city and checking things out. I was perfectly comfortable and didn’t suffer in the winter air. We bundled up and were just fine. I did suffer when I spotted BEAR on the dinner menu at a Finnish restaurant. Now, that hurt. Bear? Really? Why, oh, why?
But other than that, only pleasant surprises. Helsinki is a pretty hip city with a fab public transit system, load of parks, lots and lots of water of course as it enjoys a peninsula setting at the base of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city has over 1,000 restaurants, lots of opportunity for shopping, plenty of health food stores & cozy little cafes. It was apparent that people in Helsinki really enjoy getting out and walking around the city, enjoying the sites, fresh air and being among others. Even the cold weather and snow didn’t stop them. Entire families spent the day crosscountry skying or sledding down snow covered park hills. I presume many finish off their winter day by warming up in their very own dry sauna before getting cozy on the couch for a movie. All-in-all, we found it to be a well-rounded city.
We learned that while the winters can be rather long, the spring and summer leave very little to be desired. Warm sunny days on the sea draw every person out to the weekend markets to pick up their fresh produce, say hello to neighbors and friends & to soak up the sunshine. I am big into seasons. I like the variation and look forward to the changes all year long. But summertime has always been, and likely will always be, my most favorite season of all. I’m happy to know that summers in Helsinki are pretty spectacular. Northern Finland offers plenty of summertime activity too with its endless lakes and bountiful forests. And finally, it seemed the people are quite nice & friendly too. We didn’t have too many interactions, but the ones we had were pleasant. We had someone stop and ask if we needed help when they saw us looking at our map. Someone else stopped to ask if we’d like our picture taken together (always so appreciated when there are only 2 of you!), and the hotel clerk was very smiley and talkative, willing to share how she spent her days off & to offer us guidance.
I honestly did not know anything about Finland before this past weekend. As we programmed the navigation system to take us to the airport at the end of our trip, we got a good laugh as they voice said “calculating route to Hel.” HEL is the airport code for Helsinki. But this was a good Hel. One I’m glad to have gotten to know a little bit. And who knows, I may know it even better soon… and even call Hel home.
Here are some photos from our brief but wonderful weekend:
