Although my watch noted the time was about 4 a.m. on October 1, in Finland it was already 3 p.m. — we had flown towards the sunrise, and the current local clock time was eleven hours ahead.
At the airport, I met Kristian, a man with the Finland-based tour company 50º North Nordic AS, who was holding up a sign that read “University of Alaska Fairbanks”. Other members of the tour group I had signed up for joined us soon after.
Kristian drove us to the hotel where we had a free rest of the day. We had to meet for an orientation and dinner the following day, Monday, October 2, so had until then free as well. Most people headed out into the city on Sunday after checking into the hotel, but I was exhausted from getting ready before I departed for the trip and had unwisely not slept except on the plane. I swayed as I walked and it felt like gravity was repeatedly pulling my eyelids down. I knew I needed to sleep if I was going to not get sick on this trip. I was in bed by 6 p.m. local time.
Monday, 2 October 2023
I woke refreshed and ready for the day on Monday. My plan had been to just wander around the city taking in the sites, but a couple of other group members had a specific goal in mind, and invited me, and others, along.
Helsinki, Finland and Anchorage, Alaska are at similar latitudes: Helsinki at 60ºN and Anchorage at 61ºN. Fairbanks, Alaska is at 64ºN. It is warmer here in Helsinki than it was in Fairbanks when I left. I enjoyed being comfortable in a short-sleeved shirt again.
We crossed tram tracks and walked on cobblestone sidewalks to Amos Rex, a museum with an underground gallery that currently had a modern art exhibit by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda. When paying for the entry fee, my credit card was declined (of course).
I said ‘of course’ because, in my 13-year experience of having this company’s credit card, every time I attempt to pay with my card in a different city for the first time, the fraud department flags the charge and my card is declined — even though I had used that same credit card to purchase the flight or train tickets to take me to that new city! Argh!
My friend L. had gifted me 20€ before I left, however, so I had cash to pay the entry fee. And after the museum visit I called the company to tell them it really was me who had used the card.
The art exhibit was in an underground gallery with walls and ceiling painted black, and the room was so dark that a person could run into a wall. It took a while for my eyes to adjust. White arrows of light were projected onto the ground at doorways to show which way to walk through the exhibit. It was a combination of art, technology, and science that I had not expected.
After that, one of the women and I headed out on our own to find the Helsinki City Transport Ferry that would take us over to a fortress island. During its 270-year history Suomenlinna Sea Fortress was ruled by Sweden, Russia and Finland. The Baltic Sea island once housed a Fortress that was designed in 1748 to help fight off Russian invaders, but in 1809 the island became a Russian military base before it was ever truly finished. Russian merchants helped build the island and fortress, adding beautiful buildings. Russia transferred the island to the Finnish government in 1919. Now, the island is not a military base (although I did see a couple of “keep out: military zone” signs on the island). About 800 people live on the island, which has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1991.
The buildings are interesting to look at and the grounds are fun to explore. If we had not needed to be back at the hotel for the orientation, we would have stayed and explored more.
At the orientation, our local Finnish contact did not show up in person, but Zoomed in instead because she had come down with COVID. Oh, no! She and our group leader from Alaska were in the process of finding someone to take over for her so that 1) she could get well and 2) we would not be exposed to the virus.
Ready to get to know each other and to start our trip, we headed off to a tasty dinner in a local restaurant.
After dinner, three of us crossed the plaza to climb the steep staircase of high stone steps (about 50 of them!), walked around the enormous Lutheran church, and then walked back down the steps and headed ‘home’ to the hotel.
