Stockholm to Helsinki

Stockholm to Helsinki

IMG_5241The previous night out at multiple bars ended up going quite late, so I took this morning to sleep in a bit at Emre’s, and catch up on a few things for Helsinki. Then, I navigated through the Stockholm metro, and made it to the airport to catch my afternoon hour long flight over to Helsinki, Finland.

When I got to Helsinki, my friend Sari was there waiting for me at the airport. She was hosting me for the night during my 23 hour layover. We rode the bus back to her apartment in the suburbs of Helsinki, and then took the train back into downtown to grab dinner. After a good dinner, we went around the corner to the bar that Sari’s friend works at, and spent the rest of the night having some fun drinks with friends.

The next morning we got up, got on our bikes, and set out on a long ride all around town. We biked down to downtown Helsinki, and had crepes for breakfast right on the water, at a small farmers market setup right next to the ferry dock. After crepes, we got big bags of peas and cherries from the market, and then hopped on the ferry over to Suomenlinna, an island in Helsinki which had one of the original forts/castles. We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring around, finding hidden bunkers, canons, and meeting some parasailers using the stiff breeze from the ocean to glide around the island. We also found an experimental German uboat from WWII, which was open to the public. I spent a while geeking out in the submarine “Vesikko”, while Sari chilled, called me names, and ate Blueberry pie.

After a short ferry ride back to town, we picked our bikes back up, and did a huge loop around the city – stopped at the 1952 Olympic stadium and checked out the view from the top of the tower, got coffee overlooking the lake, biked around the main church, and hung out in the park. Overall it was an fantastic bike ride, and a great day in Helsinki.

After biking, we went back to Sari’s place, and I packed up and hopped the bus back to the airport, and Sari went out for a run.

That was my final day traveling – I hopped on the plane and flew back to new york, severely jet lagged, and looking forward to getting back to the office and city life.

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