Traveling: Helsinki

Sunday, 30 September 2018

Helsinki 2018 - Part 1

Flying To Helsinki

Wednesday - August 15th 2018

Everyday life was stressful and so it was time for another short vacation. August 15th is a public holiday and so we took Thursday and Friday off and flew to Helsinki, Finland. Tuesday after work we drove to Munich airport where we stayed for one night at the Novotel. Our Lufthansa flight should have left Wednesday early morning, but due to technicla problems it was delayed for an hour. Around noon we arrived at Helsinki airport and from there we took the train into the city. In Helsinki we stayed at the GLO Hotel Kluuvi which was conveniently located in the city centre just a couple of minutes away from the train station. Checkin was quick and easy and soon we had our room keys. Our room was small, but nice and clean and we enjoyed our stay there.

GLO Hotel

Our Room

Nice Shower

Helsinki

After we checked in, we headed into the city to get something to eat. We hadn't been to McDonald's for almost ten years now, but in Finland McDonald's is offering a vegan burger and of course we had to try that. So we stopped at the nearest restaurant and ordered the burger and all I can say is, that we loved the burger. It was really good and hopefully it will make its way to Austria too. Afterwards we got some drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate the start of our short getaway. A couple of drinks later we jsut walked around the city. On our way to the harbour we stopped at Helsinki Cathedral and at Uspenski Cathedral.

Helsinki

Lunch at McDonald's

McVegan

Hard Rock Cafe

Helsinki

Helsinki Train Station

Helsinki

Helsinki Cathedral

Helsinki

Helsinki Cathedral

Helsinki Harbour

Helsinki

Uspenski Cathedral

Helsinki Harbour

On our way back to the hotel we checked out some shops and stopped at Starbucks for coffee. Back at the hotel we refreshed and got ready for dinner. Helsinki was such a vegan friendly city and so we had many choices for dinner. However, we chose to go to O'Leary's Pub, which we already knew from Stockholm. Later we got some drinks at a bar until we returned to the hotel.

Helsinki

O'Leary's Pub

Dinner at O'Leary's

Tuesday, 25 September 2018

Helsinki 2018 - Part 3

Visiting Suomenlinna

Friday - August 17th 2018

The weather really beautiful and so we decided to take the boat to Suomenlinna Island, a former fortress to defend Helsinki against enemies. But first we had to get a coffee to get us started. Ferries to the island were departing around every twenty minutes and once we had our tickets, we were on our way. The island itself wasn't very big but beautiful and there were plenty of things to discover, and so we spent the whole morning walking around the island. Since we were getting hungry, we headed back to the city.

Helsinki

Suomenlinna

Ferry to Suomenlinna

Helsinki

As I mentioned before, Helsinki is very vegan friendly and so it was no suprise that even the Hard Rock Cafe had a vegan option on the menu. Claudia and I both ordered the vegan burger, which was really good. After lunch we continued our sightseeing tour and walked to the Sibelius monument. on the way we stopped at the Temppeliaukio church, better known as the Rock Church. In the late afternoon we returned to our hotel to rest a bit and to get ready for the evening. Since we were still full from lunch, we decided to share a falafel plate for dinner. Afterwards we got some drinks at a lovely bar, where we spent the rest of the evening.