Finland

One of the beautiful plates of food we enjoyed

One of the beautiful plates of food we enjoyed

It’s easy to be part of the clean plate club when the food is so good and the portions modest. We’ve had great food here – very local, a lot of attention to detail and presentation. Even just on the train from St. Petersburg, the reindeer salad I had – yes, smoked reindeer… – was amazing, a word that would never be used for food on a Russian train.

Yesterday we stopped for lunch at a small shack on a small beach while biking around some Helsinki islands. At any similar place in the U.S. your options would likely be hot dogs, hamburgers, and french fries, all of them previously frozen. Here we each had a salad with fresh greens topped with lots of salmon, feta cheese, and olives. It was heaven.

The boat tour of Helsinki

The boat tour of Helsinki

Minutes from the city center

Minutes from the city center

Finland has been a treat for me; just like being back on the Iron Range. The weather, the forests, and heaven knows the accents. And we’ve done well with our couple of days here – on Saturday we took a 90-minute boat tour of the Helsinki archipelago and yesterday we rented bikes and went around a few of Helsinki’s islands. It was the first time we’ve rented bikes on the trip and we had a great time; I’ve just gotten over four days of a sore throat and my sprained wrist has healed enough that a few hours on a bike wasn’t a problem. On top of that, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a cloudy and occasionally rainy day, the sun came out and it was beautiful. The weather has been really amazing so far – we’ve been out of the country for over five weeks and have not yet had a single rainy day.

Not a bad day to bike

Not a bad day to bike

Instead of rain, it was just about perfect bicycling weather – mid 60s and mostly sunny. After our lunch I even laid in the grass for a while reading, and later found a perfect rock to lie on in the fading sun; apparently in a previous life I was a turtle.

Jim on the trail

Jim on the trail

As Mark has mentioned, the difference between Helsinki and Russia has been remarkable. How things can be so different just a couple hundred miles apart is quite a testament to the impact policy choices have over time. But we’ve had enough of this Scandinavian, western Europe civilized life. In a couple hours we get on a boat to cross the Gulf of Finland and sail into Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. After a couple days there we’re going to catch a bus to Tartu, described in Lonely Planet as the heart spiritual capital of Estonia. You can’t deny that we’re getting off the beaten track!

Along the beautiful canals of St. Petersburg

Along the beautiful canals of St. Petersburg

Palatial architecture along the canals

Palatial architecture along the canals

Wonderful ornamentation on the bridges

Wonderful ornamentation on the bridges

Helsinki's lively and beautiful harbor

Helsinki’s lively and beautiful harbor

Dramatic lighting at 11:30 pm in Helsinki

Dramatic lighting at 11:30 pm in Helsinki

Yesterday we said goodbye to Russia as we boarded a Finnish train in St. Petersburg, bound for Helsinki. This was a day of many contrasts.

First a word about St. Petersburg, a truly beautiful and unique city. I spent the summer studying Russian there in 1986 when it was Leningrad. All these years later, and after considerable political and economic upheaval, the city looks surprisingly the same. It is a city of stately pastel-colored buildings lining endless natural and man-made waterways. This is a city for walking, where every curve of a canal yields another gorgeous vista.

Fortunately, the Communists did pretty limited damage to the place. They mostly just let all those gorgeous old buildings slide into gradual decay. During my stay 27 years ago, the city’s magical allure was still there, lying just under a film of grayness and bureaucracy. Today much of the sparkle has returned through the buzz of economic activity, breath-taking renovations, and even just the fashions on parade.

There is one thing we certainly will not miss about Russia: its government’s grotesque displays of willful ignorance. During our visit, both chambers of the Russian parliament unanimously passed legislation to ban ‘gay propaganda.’ They also passed a law to ban adoption of Russian children by same-sex foreign couples. Much better to let those kids suffer in their orphanages than grow up in loving homes in the modern world.

It’s all such a bizarre contrast with the joyous news of progress from back home and so much of the rest of the world — including Helsinki where we happened upon a vibrant Gay Pride parade today. Yet it fits so comfortably into the broken record of Russian history. For centuries Russia has been conflicted about whether to be part of the modern world or to thumb its nose at the West and sulk in some state of willful backwardness. Today, one autocratic leaning figure is leading Russia again in the wrong direction. I didn’t want to get too ‘political’ while we were in his autocracy, but today I’ll say what I think: President Putin, you unequivocally suck.

As we boarded that train for Helsinki, the contrasts between wealthy, modern Scandinavia and its plodding Eastern neighbor became palpable fast. The sleek Finnish ‘Allegro’ train was so shiny and fast. As its speed hit 200 km/hour, we were whizzing through the countryside like never at any point in the 5,000-plus stretch across Russia.

The restaurant car was friendly, clean, and efficient. On the trains in Russia, they would have a huge menu with dozens of dishes listed under lots of categories. But since they never had most of those dishes we learned to ask, “which things do you have?” On this Finnish train the food was delicious (with steep Scandinavian prices to match), and they apparently don’t put things on the menu unless they intend to serve them. Interesting approach.

Here in Helsinki we are now practically in a state of “reverse culture shock,” marveling at how modern, efficient, and beautiful Scandinavia is.

And the food! Scandinavia has been at the forefront of the world’s food scene the past few years, and we were amazed by dinner last night. Once you get over the sticker shock — food is just insanely expensive here — it’s an incredible experience. This innovative cuisine focuses on super fresh produce, and they somehow do magical things with it. Every dish at dinner last night was stunning. Hope this holds up for a few days!

Gay Pride in front of the Helsinki Cathedral

Gay Pride in front of the Helsinki Cathedral