Helsinki, Finland
A surprising day; a day at sea from the Swedish Archipelago to St. Petersburg, Russia. Then suddenly it was realized that no voyage through the Baltic Sea could be complete without a stop in Finland! Our Captain and Expedition Leader conferred; many messages were sent. How can we make a Finnish landing, perhaps an island, even a small island? Nope, it was not going to happen, we needed to clear into the country first. Clear into the country? Where? Helsinki of course. Perfect! We had about a three hour window, no buses, no guides, just on our own, an adventure!
By the end of lunch we were tied up in the center of town, Helsinki town. Directly in front of the ship was an open-air market: smoked fish, luscious fruits, vegetables and those little knick-knacks and trinkets that travelers seem to search the world for. Just beyond the market was the main shopping street in the city. Once we were cleared, it was everyone for themselves as we streamed off of the Endeavour: some to shop, some to walk, some to take pictures and some just to watch and breath it all in. (O.K., perhaps not complete anarchy as some of the staff had small entourages as they trekked through the town.)
The day was cool but dry or at least there was no rain yet. Helsinki was an unexpected opportunity, not just for our guests but also for the Galley, an opportunity to pick up a few things local and special. How about some smoked fish, a truly local dish? There were salmon and flounder, pike and perch among other, less recognizable species. I was with our Head Chef Henrik and Hotel Manager Patrik when, after visiting many stands, they came upon just the right place to do business. A lack of fluency in Finnish proved to be of little problem, just point at the fish and hold up five-fingers. “You want five pieces of fish?” pantomimes the Fishmonger. “No, five entire fish!” replies Patrik in a similar fashion. Henrik and Patrik indicated which individual fish they wanted and I could see that the Fishmonger was a bit taken aback when she realized that they certainly knew their scaly creatures. Yes indeed, not only have our guys been in the business for a long time, but Henrik use to help his father catch these fish in the western Baltic when he was a child! In the photo, that’s Henrik on the left, tall and slim, Patrik in the center with the bold sweater and our Captain, Joachim Saeterskig, who just happened to be strolling by.
Ultimately, much fish and fresh fruit were purchased and help was summoned from the ship to haul it all back. I mumbled an apology about having something to do, as I certainly was not ready to go back yet. So I found the Captain at a nearby sidewalk café where we sipped cappuccinos, nibbled the accompanying chocolate covered caramel; watching people and greeting the returning company of the Endeavour. Our people, guest, staff and crew alike, looked excited and satisfied, some with bags, some without, but each with a story or at least a paragraph.
I guess it is not so strange, life and travel are made up of big things, yet more little things, lots of little things like an unexpected three hours, in an unexpected place, in an unexpected way that turned out well, yes, very well indeed!
A surprising day; a day at sea from the Swedish Archipelago to St. Petersburg, Russia. Then suddenly it was realized that no voyage through the Baltic Sea could be complete without a stop in Finland! Our Captain and Expedition Leader conferred; many messages were sent. How can we make a Finnish landing, perhaps an island, even a small island? Nope, it was not going to happen, we needed to clear into the country first. Clear into the country? Where? Helsinki of course. Perfect! We had about a three hour window, no buses, no guides, just on our own, an adventure!
By the end of lunch we were tied up in the center of town, Helsinki town. Directly in front of the ship was an open-air market: smoked fish, luscious fruits, vegetables and those little knick-knacks and trinkets that travelers seem to search the world for. Just beyond the market was the main shopping street in the city. Once we were cleared, it was everyone for themselves as we streamed off of the Endeavour: some to shop, some to walk, some to take pictures and some just to watch and breath it all in. (O.K., perhaps not complete anarchy as some of the staff had small entourages as they trekked through the town.)
The day was cool but dry or at least there was no rain yet. Helsinki was an unexpected opportunity, not just for our guests but also for the Galley, an opportunity to pick up a few things local and special. How about some smoked fish, a truly local dish? There were salmon and flounder, pike and perch among other, less recognizable species. I was with our Head Chef Henrik and Hotel Manager Patrik when, after visiting many stands, they came upon just the right place to do business. A lack of fluency in Finnish proved to be of little problem, just point at the fish and hold up five-fingers. “You want five pieces of fish?” pantomimes the Fishmonger. “No, five entire fish!” replies Patrik in a similar fashion. Henrik and Patrik indicated which individual fish they wanted and I could see that the Fishmonger was a bit taken aback when she realized that they certainly knew their scaly creatures. Yes indeed, not only have our guys been in the business for a long time, but Henrik use to help his father catch these fish in the western Baltic when he was a child! In the photo, that’s Henrik on the left, tall and slim, Patrik in the center with the bold sweater and our Captain, Joachim Saeterskig, who just happened to be strolling by.
Ultimately, much fish and fresh fruit were purchased and help was summoned from the ship to haul it all back. I mumbled an apology about having something to do, as I certainly was not ready to go back yet. So I found the Captain at a nearby sidewalk café where we sipped cappuccinos, nibbled the accompanying chocolate covered caramel; watching people and greeting the returning company of the Endeavour. Our people, guest, staff and crew alike, looked excited and satisfied, some with bags, some without, but each with a story or at least a paragraph.
I guess it is not so strange, life and travel are made up of big things, yet more little things, lots of little things like an unexpected three hours, in an unexpected place, in an unexpected way that turned out well, yes, very well indeed!
