Once we had dropped our bags at our hosts adress, she informed us about everything we could see and do in Helsinki. The nice places to see, eat and drink. Then we went on our way, to see Helsinki in one day. It was also to get out of the way so our hosts could prepare for their party (but that doesnxb4t rime so no fun). 

First stop The rock church, pretty famous because of the architecture

Second stop white church (inside and outside), made even brighter white with the snow and the sun

Third stop Orthodox church, which did have colors on the inside

The funniest thing was at every church there was a tourbus full of tourists, either from Japan or Russia (strangely the tourbus of Russia had ‘ Oostenrijk’  written on it which is Dutch for Austria) .  And  at the same time  inside the church they would be making wedding photos. Imagine that at your own wedding.

Helsinki was sunny but still cold (for my Dutch standards) ,-8 or colder. This meant you needed to go inside every so often to stay warm. So we did what the bums in Helsinki do, we took the tram. Tramline 3 goes in an 8 shape, so eventually you end up at the same place anyway. Perfect to warm up, and in my case have a little Siesta.
The coldness also contributes to the many ugly indoor shopping centres Helsinki has. Ok they have nice shops, and it keeps you from freezing while you’re shopping but it looks horrible on the outside, next to the trainstation which does look very nice. Even the Finnish donxb4t like it, just listen to the song on my blog

However, the coldness has not gotten to the hearts of the Finnish people, at least none of the Finnish people Ixb4ve met. They are able to see the coldness with humor and laugh about it, which I think is very good. We met so many Finnish people at the party, and they were all so nice and open. We talked and sang and played guitar. Nobody seemed to have trouble speaking english, but I actually didnxb4t mind if they spoke Finnish, it is such a funny language and a total mystery to me. This is also what makes it fun to listen to, itxb4s like gibberish. The party was in honor of a flatmate (Hanna) of our official host (Marjut). It was almost her birthday, and they combined it with the goodbye party of one of their best friends.

One thing, me, Maria and Rupi all noticed was the difference in partying of Swedish and Finnish people. The parties we had in Sweden it was all about getting drunk and before that everybody was not really talking to each other. In Finland everybody talks, even before the alcohol enters the body. Finnish people seem to be better at handeling alcohol, they donxb4t drink to get drunk, they drink while having a good time. Mind you these are all observations from one Finnish party I have been to. It might just be that we met the only group of open Finnish people in the whole of Finland, but that would be very unlikely now would it .

I want to thank our Hosts, Marjut, Hanna and Maja again for their incredible hospitality!!!