Helsinki, Finland, June 1999

I.'s comments:

Helsinki, which was supposed to only be a brief stop, turned out to be a wonderful place. We loved the 19th-century feel of the architecture (actually a nice change after medieval Prague and Tallinn) and the endless cafes. The weather was a bit cold--after all, Helsinki is as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska (brrr...), but still a wonderful place.

We were very lucky to have an unofficial tour given to us by an amazingly generous friend of a friend who is living there doing research for his Ph.D in Finnish military history.

One very odd experience in Helsinki --- whilst walking down a crowded shopping street, we passed two men dressed in Victorian outfits (very much like Sherlock Holmes actually) who were "riding" ostriches. They actually were on stilts and in ostrich suits (as well as the Victorian get ups).We had no idea why they were dressed this way. A tiny yappy poodle also seemed upset and confused by these bizarre creatures. The dog couldn't decide whether to attack or cower. All very mysterious.

PassionFruit's comments:

We got a really wonderful tour of the city from Nick, a friend of a friend and a perennial PhD candidate from Minnesota who's an expert in Finnish military history (actually his specialty is 6 years near the turn of the century.) Here are some of
my favorite tidbits that he told us, none of which have to do with his specialty.

Finland has 2 official state religions. One is Eastern Orthodoxy, which not
that many people there follow, and the other is (I think) Lutheran Christianity. So all the church-related staff are state employees. And the churches are state property.

Finland also has 2 official languages, Finnish and Swedish. All the official communications are duplicated in Swedish. That means every street sign comes in 2 flavors, the Swedish mounted right below the Finnish. And although they're usually mostly the same, sometimes the 2 names are completely different. This is a result of the treaty they worked out with Sweden when they separated from it. Now only about 6 % of the population speaks Swedish as its first language, but the law remains.

The taxes on new cars are extremely high. Nick thought a new car might cost a couple hundred thousand dollars with taxes included (when pushed he wasn't quite sure.) The funny loophole is that anyone who works for the UN is allowed to buy a car tax-free and after keeping it for a couple years sell it an enormous profit to a Finn who doesn't work for the UN. This is one of the incentives for joining the voluntary Finnish delegation to the UN peacekeeping forces.

My last favorite tidbit is a story about a statue in the center of market square (sensibly enough, this is the square right on the harbor where the daily farmer's markets with fresh produce, fish and flowers are held.) The statue is actually a woman
above a fountain. She was really controversial when she was commissioned at the turn of the century, because she is both naked and modeled on a Paris
prostitute. One of her biggest critics was a guy who lived in a building facing onto the square. The sculptor therefore installed her so that she faces off to one side -- with her bottom aimed right at the detractor's front door.