Day 4
Up early for a 6:45 departure for our ferry across the water to Helsinki. This is not like the Staten Island Ferry or the Ferry to Tiburon in San Francisco. This is a 5-star cruise ship with 4 levels of food offerings, games, places to relax and to watch the Baltic Sea slide by for 2 hours as well as a 2-level department store selling everything from fine jewelry to snack food and souvenirs. I have given up on trying to charge my Apple Watch and buy a simple analog watch so I can actually know the time. Sometimes the old ways are better.
The transition from Estonia to Finland is an easy one. I do not immediately sense much difference in style or temperament of the city. Once in Helsinki we visit some standard tourist sites: the modern sculpture to celebrate the life and work of the composer Jean Sibelius, who composed this country’s most famous song, Finlandia. The Rock Church, a modern church built on and into the granite that forms the basis of the land mass here. I ask the person working there if it gets cold in the winter despite the heat vents I can see, and he replies that indeed it does and they need to wear their warm jacket inside in the winter.
The Finns had a wise policitian/philosopoher in its late 19th century history who recognized that their country could not compete militarily with either their Swedish or Russian neighbor – and so the way forward was to concentrate their resources on providing education to the populace. This has paid off as Finland’s economy has done well and it presently has a very high level of technology expertise. We spent time in Helsinki’s magnificent new library with a wealth of resources for patrons, not only books but music studios, large printing labs, and educational facilities. It is truly a national treasure.
For lunch we head to the open market by the port where in addition to native crafts, there are food stalls selling reindeer meat burgers, moose steaks, fresh salmon, and everywhere small boiled potatoes. The fruits being sold are strawberries, two kinds of blueberries, apples, raspberries and lingonberries, a very sour fruit, Forest mushrooms of various kinds and sizes are a big item as well. I walk a block from the market to the large and beautiful square of Alexander II, with his statue front and in center of the Government Palace.
And now on to our main destination, the Jewish Community Center of Helsinki, where we are welcomed by the head of the community who tells us something of its long history. Jews arrived in Helsinki when it was controlled by Russia and Jewish Russian soldiers, often forcefully conscription, upon finishing their service were given permission to settle in an area of Helsinki. The Jewish community were given some land in about 1900 and the synagogue we visited was completed in 1906. Today there is also a school for elementary level kids where they learn Hebrew as well as Finnish and English, a Kosher cafe, and meeting rooms. There are about 1400 Jews in Helsinki now and this is the only synagogue which is considered Orthodox. The sanctuary itself is very beautiful and has been restored fairly recently to its original colors, green and blue with an interesting band of color and with a magnificent dome.
We once again have had fabulous weather. We head back to Tallinn on our luxury cruse ship for a quiet evening to relax and repack to leave tomorrow for Latvia.