A week ago I visited Helsinki with my mother to see Nightwish there, I have been to Helsinki 5 times now, but I've never stayed for a night. First we went there by ship and got a bit seasick, but I was better by the time we arrived. We walked to the hotel that was in the center to kill time and see the place better than out of the tram. We were very lucky, because all the churches on our way were open. First we went in Uspenski cathedral. We were the last ones who were actually let into the church, the group of asian tourists after us were only given a peak at the door, because they started preparing a baptizing ceremony. The cathedral was much smaller than we thought. We sat there for a while, looked around and watched the preparations.
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Then we walked to Helsinki Cathedral. Just as we entered, they started tuning the organ. I love organs. The interior wasn't as colourful as Uspenski, but it was still pretty.
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Then we walked to a nearby souvenir shop just to see if they sell maps. Luckily, the gave them away for free, so we both got one. It was a nice shop and I was really tempted to buy something, but I thought I'd save for later. At the same time with us, there was also a bunch of guys who ended up buying a huge robotic reindeer toy.
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After that, we just walked towards the hotel and looked around. I know there is a lot of granite found in Finland, and granite makes the prettiest buildings, so I loved the architecture. On our way, we noticed a really funny security camera that looked like a bird. While we took pictures of it, I bet whoever was on guard had a little laugh at us. We also saw a street musician. Sure, that's nothing rare, but this guy was quite good and fun to watch.
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When we got to the hotel, we found out that we still had two hours left until check in was opened, so we decided to go to Kamppi to shop. We looked in every store that couldn't be found in Estonia. I bought the nicest headphones from some electronics store. I needed new ones for a while and I thought I'd start saving for them after the trip, but obviously, that wasn't needed anymore. 🙂
I was also happy to find cybershop on the top floor, because I was hoping to visit one on my trip, since there's no such stores in Tallinn. In cybershop (and Morticia right next to it) we looked mainly for dresses, because I need something to wear to my graduation. We found some really cool ones, but sadly, none of them looked perfect enough.
We were quite tired after that, so we went back to the hotel and rested for a couple of hours, until I realized the time is right to start heading towards Jäähalli, where the concert took place. I put on all my fangirl equipment (if the band t-shirt can be called that... ) and so we left. It was hailing and we were soaked when we got there, but we didn't mind.
The doors were already open, so we entered and gave away our clothes. My mum's water bottle was confiscated at the entrance for safety reasons. First, we went to our seats. The seats went very high, the spaces between the rows were very small, resembling very steep stairs. With the help of some alcohol, it wouldn't be hard to go flying down, I thought when I saw it. Our seats were only one row from the ceiling, so all the heat was there and to see the stage we had to look down. Before the concert started, I also bought some drinks and popcorn and a pretty necklace with the symbol of the new single. A sweet memory indeed. The warmup band, Poisonblack, was quite boring in my oppinion. I was really happy when Nightwish got on stage. My mother, who isn't a Nightwish fan, enjoyed the show as much as I did. During the show I kept telling her the names of songs, the albums and some stories behind them, until some guy from my other side (who also turned out to be Estonian O_O) said to me that they shouldn't have performed the old songs. I don't think so, but he can think what he wants. The show was really awesome.
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The next day we had a look at the shops again, but sadly, still didn't find anything very special. Then we took a tram back to the port to take a ferry to Suomenlinna, a fortress island 15 minutes from Helsinki. When we arrived, we first visited the church. Just when we were there, there were rehearsals of some concert that was gonna take place the same evening. We sat down for a bit to listen and look around.
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After that we went walking around the island, but we were tired and our feet were soaked by then, so we didn't stay for very long. We agreed to come back next summer. When we arrived back to Helsinki, we had a lunch and then the time was right to get on the ship back home. When we left, it was already dark, but the sky was so clear I could see the TV tower of Tallinn from between the islands of Helsinki. That doesn't happen very often. On the ship, I bought a giant lollipop (which was actually a pack of 15 smaller ones) to share with my friends. I look very very strange in the picture, I know, but for some unknown reason I like it enough to post it here. 😃
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I really enjoyed the trip, but the Nightwish concert was definitely the cake under the cherry. 😃
In the past, I've been to Linnanmäki theme park several times. Now I'm much more determined to go and see other places than Helsinki.
Two days after the trip I got sick, probably because of the soaked feet, but the trip was still worth every hassle 🙂
P.S. Oh my, this ended up long as a book O_O If you actually read it through, you earned my respect 😛