Farewell Helsinki: Hyvästi Helsinki. 6/4/2019

June 4, 2019
Kesäkuu 4 2019

Greetings—  as we watch the BBC and all the activities in London around Trump’s visit.

By the time you receive this note, we will have landed in San Francisco and be back to our normal routine. We will also be exhausted because we have to leave the hotel by 5 a.m. to catch our first flight. But the early hour will be made easier since the sun will be completely up! We head out on FinnAir to London and change carriers, planes, and terminals as we fly from London to SFO on United. Not perfect planning, but such is life.

Our whirlwind visit is coming to an end, but not without some more great memories. And some reflections on our days in Helsinki.

Started the day with breakfast at Ekberg (a bakery tradition in Helsinki on the Bulevardi – since 1852, and a place I frequented very very – probably too — often when living here). While the morning pastries were fairly consistent with what I remembered, the place has changed (not in appearance, but in the way the ordering and layout works, because they have a sort of take-out section in addition to the restaurant format). Then we walked for a bit down Korkeavuorenkatu in the design District (where I had tried something on and was deciding whether or not to purchase, so went back to make my decision — affirmative!); Mike sat in a quiet park on a bench (social seating) and then we met up to take the tram to Hakaniemi – a neighborhood within Helsinki that has undergone some change (gentrification) since we lived here and even since being here five years ago, and the wonderful Hakaniemi Market Hall is being renovated and is not open at the moment. We strolled through a park and stopped for appetizers and a glass of wine at a new restaurant that “floats” on the lake inside the park. Maybe I haven’t mentioned that the city of Helsinki, like the entire country, is laced with waterways and green spaces.

Then we walked into the Kallio neighborhood and to the top of the hill where the Kallio Church is located. Both Kallio and Hakaniemi were historically working class neighborhoods but are now definitely quite upscale with great little restaurants and cafes as well as small shops. It’s clear that these neighborhoods are going the way of Punavuori (the Design District) which some refer to as the “Brooklyn of Helsinki!” Just imagine.. all those years ago, I lived in a neighborhood that is now referred to as Brooklyn (my home town in NY). And then we walked back to the hotel (about 3 miles), stopping along the way to veer off course to see different streets and places, including Kaisanmienpuisto, and across a little bridge on Pikasilta. Walked past the university library which is yet another great sophisticated, unpretentious building that fits neatly with the adjacent buildings. By the time we got to the hotel we barely had time to pack before meeting Antti and Heidi to head to the little boat we would take to get to Sirpalesaari, a tiny island about 3 minutes from the Eira neighborhood in Helsinki (which was pretty close to where we lived, and which has been an industrial section of the city).

The restaurant has its own small boat that goes back and forth to the restaurant. We had drinks outside and then took a walk through the boat area to see Antti and Heidi’s little fleet of three wooden boats that they use at their summer cottage. All Finns have some kind of summer place to go to from the city when the weather is warm. Apparently all the boats at the club were just put into the water the day before. Weather was perfect so it was great to walk around the club and through the large structure where boat owners are working on their boats on land And then we headed inside for dinner. Had a great meal, including an appetizer plate of various fish and meats, followed by lamb with great fresh veggies.

We had a chance to talk more to Antti and Heidi and to encourage them to travel to the states. Hopefully they will come in 2020.

Interestingly, today the Parliament was sworn in and they decided to do this at the new central library (the one we visited on Saturday) and they arrived by tram (a statement about their commitment to the environment and climate change). Mmmm somehow I can’t imagine our congressional reps doing that. I do, however, assume they all arrived on a special tram, but still…..

Over dinner, we talked about some issues that have emerged in Finland since we lived here. For example, when we lived there, there was truly no diversity. Nearly everyone was a Finn – born and raised in the country… all White. The only exceptions would be those who married Finns and moved to the country. I remember that there was one African American artist, Howard Smith, who had emigrated to Finland and he not only stood out, but everyone knew him and his name. I believe he later married a Finn and is still living in Helsinki (in fact, I’m told he now lives in Fiskars Village). Anyway, over the years, Finland has accepted several different groups of immigrants coming from distressed areas such as Somalia. Now, decades later their children who were born and educated in Finland and who speak Finnish fluently as products of the Finnish public schools. But are they Finns? Naturally, our friends believe they are, but there is discussion. It’s such a new experience for this small, traditionally isolated country to absorb people who do not look like them and who have different cultural backgrounds. I must admit that when we lived here we did consider staying (it was during the Vietnam War and we were not really happy about returning to the states), but quickly deduced that (at least at that time), we could never “become” Finns. But now, they are trying to absorb different people into their culture.

The Finns have managed to tackle and avert numerous social problems, including homelessness, healthcare, child care, and more. Being a social democracy has worked well for Finland. Granted, it’s all at a small scale, but it does seem as if we can learn a lot from them.

For a few changes over the years – parking meters downtown, including on the street we lived; food diversity and a host of new restaurants. Until about 2010 (or thereabout), there were really only Finnish restaurants and a lot of little baaris (cafes that served simple food, coffee, and wine). As I recall there was a Russian restaurant and maybe one not very good Chinese restaurant. And now, there are restaurants serving foods from all continents, interesting mixes of Nordic and ethnic dishes – so many choices it’s difficult to make a decision about eating. And if I think about language – when we lived here, English was not commonly spoken (except by those with higher education) and while the Finns were fluent in both Finnish and Swedish and often German in those days, English was less common; today everyone speaks English quite well (and they still speak Finnish, Swedish, German, and often French as well). And another change is that there are now very large cruise ships that stop in Helsinki right near the “kauppatori” – the market place. This has displaced a lot of the small boats from which fishermen used to sell small fish directly to customers.

After our great dinner at Saari , we took the boat back to shore, and then walked to the tram and headed to the hotel. It was a beautiful night – about 10:30 pm and still light out. Finished the packing and grabbed a few hours of sleep before getting the 4 am wakeup call. Taxied to Vantaa Airport and began our long travel day. Until 2024… when we return for our next five year visit.

See you all in the U.S.

Fern

 

P.S.  It’s now mid-day on Thursday and I’m about to push “send,” but realized this morning, as I drove to the office, one other strong difference between Finland and the U.S. — Finland is very focused on public spaces and the public sphere, for which they invest tax monies. As I drove, I looked at Oaklands streets filled with potholes with lots of litter scattered about and the edges of streets and highways looking raggedy and filled with weeds. Finnish highways are all beautifully landscaped and trimmed to perfection, mowed, and weeded. No trash on streets, no garbage pails overflowing with trash on public streets, and no potholes (in spite of having difficult winters and cars in winters all of tires that have “spikes” on them). There’s also no homelessness in Finland – they build sufficient number of houses to ensure that all are housed, even those with little or no income – and that housing is indistinguishable from the houses where very wealthy people live. So no tents alongside streets and highways. Finally, they have a guaranteed income and don’t have a 340:1 differential between company executives and low paying workers. Sure there are people who have more money than others; sure professionals earn more than those with other skills. And yes, they pay about 50% of their income on taxes, but look what they get for it: good schools, free higher education, excellent free healthcare, subsidized excellent free child care, good infrastructure, long maternity leaves, good public transit (buses, trams, subway, over-ground trains), subsidized dental care (including braces, I believe), well-maintained parks, and more. But – don’t try to emigrate… it’s not that easy, and you need to be able to speak either or both Finnish or Swedish (it’s a bilingual country with all signage in both languages).

Jäähyväiset Finland… Farewell Finland; until next time.. 2024! if not sooner.