TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013: So I sit on a Berlin- bound Lufthansa flight after spendia mere nine hours in the Finnish capital and I am extremely exhausted after a whirlwind three days through the Baltics and Finland. Like so many other places in Europe I visited, I had no expectations going in, which is actually really nice because it is hard to be disappointed and easy to be excited at the smallest sites and experiences.
Before I visited Helsinki, I had heard that Finns are insular, that they won't really talk to you, that Helsinki in and of itself is dull and can be seen in little more than a few hours. The reality is, I found native Helsinkians to be really friendly and the city to be incredibly beautiful (albeit more modern than most European cities). I love the Scandinavian architecture and Helsinki has a beautiful waterfront and well-developed ports. Yes, the city is somewhat expensive (not like Switzerland or Denmark, but still...) and it is very modern and lacks a lot of the medieval architecture that covers the landscape like Tallinn. However, it has character and some beautiful parks. It did rain incessantly while I was here and that made it difficult to explore as much as I wanted to, but once the rain broke and the sun came out, I did a fantastic 9-mile run through downtown and various parks. Had I known going into the trip that the Helsinki Marathon was this weekend, I would have ended my trip here on Sunday and run it! Oh well :)
Now, I hit the final stage of my trip, back to my favorite European city, where I will spend two great nights before heading back to the States. Last year, I made the mistake of coming to Berlin before flying home and then trying to squeeze in another city. That will not happen for me tomorrow, as I will hit up museums and soak everything up! To quote JFK: "Ich bin ein Berliner yo "!
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