Saturday, June 12
Of course, on Saturday the conference was over and it was time to start thinking about leaving Helsinki. But since my boat didn't leave until almost 6pm, I figured that I had a good bit of time to go around and see the sights some more.
I still got up at the regular time, had breakfast, and packed up my bags before heading into town. Today, it was my goal to go and see Suomenlinna, an impressive fortress complex located on a cluster of five islands out in the harbor. I had formulated this plan on Sunday, but once I found out that there were other people I could hang out with in town, I figured I'd might as well invite some of the others. Of the Americans, Kathernie had plans to go across the sea for a tour, and upon the recommendation of some of the Finns Donny decided to go to Tallin, Estonia as well.
Unfortunately for him, he was only able to get tickets for 2:30pm. So he decided that if he couldn't get on standby on an earlier ferry - a long shot - he'd meet me at the Helsinki city ferry terminal for the boat ride to Suomenlinna at 9:20am. I figured I had plenty of time to get there, but I must have let time get away from me because I didn't leave the hotel until after 8:50. I managed to get my bags locked up at the station right around 9:05, but unfortunately I got on the wrong tram and found myself heading away from the harbor. So I got off at the next stop and practically sprinted to the harbor, and around 9:18 - just in the nick of time - I got to the ship to find Donny standing on board. "I thought you were going to stand me up," he said casually.
So the two of us headed to Suomenlinna. The entire trip was shrouded in mist, so there wasn't really much to see. Even though the islands are only a few hundred meters offshore, there were points on the boat ride over where we couldn't see town or the fort complex, much less the dozens of rocky outcroppings that the boat was (presumably) avoiding on the trip along. After about 15 minutes, we finally arrived. In those first few minutes, the clouds were so thick that the most interesting thing to see on the island were the countless geese. I mean, you could barely see the buildings. But hey, the geese were adorable so it was OK.
Eventually, the clouds began to clear and we were able to survey the sheer size and extents of the fort complex. Suomenlinna was started in the 1700s after Helsinki residents finally started to tire of people coming by and capturing the city. The mouth of the city's harbor is really quite narrow, so the fort was positioned in such a way that all large ships must pass within about 50 meters of the cannons in order to get into the city. It really is quite effective looking, and based on the information placards served the city well through at least a dozen armed conflicts.
As we walked around the island, the clouds finally started to lift. But that was probably because of the tremendous wind that started to blow. Donny did his best Conan O'Brien impression and repeated a quote from the series of episodes taped in Finland, screaming to be heard over the wind, "I can't imagine... why my ancestors... ever left this place!"
Eventually, the wind got so brutal that we decided to hole up in a cannonade and ate some cheese and bread, away from the wind. The seas crashing just outside the fort's walls in some way foreshadowed the rollicking boat ride I was going to have later that day.
On the way back to the main section of the fort, we found a closed ramp up to the ramparts, so we turned right and found ourselves going deeper and deeper into a pitch-black tunnel. The floor was good quality, but the roof was painfully pointy and covered in stalactites from all the lime deposits in the moisture, presumably. The tunnel must have been 100 meters long, at least, so I was lucky to have - if nothing else - my dinky keychain flashlight that I'd been hanging on to for use in late hours in the dorms. But eventually we started to see a glow at the end and found ourselves going up a steep ramp back into daylight. We turned around to look back down the tunnel and both instantly agreed that we would never have gone in if this had been our view at the other end. It was creepy, and disconcerting, but it was probably the most interesting thing I did all week. And once again, I almost certainly would have turned back if I had been there alone. But being in a group just made it fun and laughable and completely glossed over the fact that it was probably a terribly stupid thing to do.
Eventually, it became time for the two of us to split up. He had to get to his ferry, and I to mine, but it had really been great to have somebody to hang out with during the trip. Great guy, that Donny.
His boat was quite a bit earlier than mine, so to pass the time I rode around on the subay and trams, visiting various suburbs of th city, until it was time to return to the central station and pick up my bags from the €4 locker. At this point, I tried to set off on the #4 tram to the ferry terminal, but for a second time in as many ferry trips, a big event was interrupting my journey. This time, however, it was just a bunch of road and, most frustratingly, tram closures relating to Helsinki day. This year, the city was celebrating 460 years since its founding by King Gustav of Sweden way back in the year 1550. And, by the looks of the Helsinki day program I picked up, apparently they're celebrating by having a bunch of samba dance festivals.
So anyway I had to walk to the ferry terminal even though I had a perfectly valid transit pass. Oh well. At least this terminal seemed to be configured for people to walk to. I mean, they even had signs!
So I checked in and found my cabin. This time, for the nominal fee of €16 I had upgraded to a single berth (two beds, but just me) that was probably only 2 feet shorter than the four person one. There was all kinds of space in there, including a couch that converted into a bed using the most clever mechanism. Plus, I had a bathroom with a decently sized shower. I mean, that thing was at least as big as the one they gave us in the dorms back at school.
After stowing my stuff, I went back up on deck to find that the weather had cleared significantly since my trip earlier in the day. The view was great! I could see the fort, and that sign where I'd taken my picture earlier, and a bunch of other things. As we rounded the corner of the fort remarkably close to the island - too close if you ask me. But, hey, that's probably just based on my sailing experience being entirely in the Pamlico Sound of North Carolina, where you quickly learn that if you're even remotely close to land the water is probably shallow enough to get out and walk.
So we rounded the edge of the fort, and were rewarded with one last view of downtown.
But at this point we were fully out in the Gulf of Finland, and the boat began to be ripped by wind. I had trouble just standing still out on deck, and my glasses were about to be torn from my face, so I went back inside and enjoyed the roller coaster-like rocking of the ship.
Seriously, we must have been tipping back and forth by several feet. Walking down long hallways was especially interesting, because you would get the distinct impression that you were walking uphill, and as soon as you'd start to take a step the ground would drop out from under you. It was fascinatingly disconcerting, especially when you throw in the fact that the whole hallway would be rocking side to side at the same time, occasionally sending the inebriated passengers returning from the ship's several nightclubs careening into a wall or down a side hallway.
So I decided to find a place to park myself until it was time for bed, and fortunately for me it turned out that I will have great evening entertainment for the remainder of the trip - the World Cup. What's more is that since I was now heading for Sweden and the central european time zone, I'm even at the same time as South Africa, so all the primetime games remain in primetime. Even better was the fact that today's match was between the USA and England.
After touring the ship to find the best viewing venue, I eventually settled on what in retrospect is the only option that made any sense - a British pub. So there I was, mostly surrounded by Swedes and Finns, but with a few Americans, one Canadian, and a couple of Britts. It was truly a great atmosphere, and really quite an interesting game to watch. The second half lacked excitement from a scoring standpoint, but there were a great many absolutely fantastic plays.
As I left the pub and headed back down to my cabin - only 2 floors down this time, not 6! - every TV I passed had been surrounded by a fleet of chairs. It is just great to realize that I'm in a region where everybody else is as interested in soccer as I am. I am really going to love these next few days.
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