As many of you know, I love to travel and try out new things. So, when I found out that Finnair, a member of my Oneworld Alliance, was flying direct from Tel Aviv to Helsinki this summer, I thought it would give me a great chance to try it, and another new carrier for me, Turkish Airlines, on a journey to the northern lands.
I landed on an early Friday morning into Helsinki airport, after a restless sleep and a poor meal on board (Finnair was in the middle of a strike). I charged my phone, walked around, waited 5 hours, and then boarded a prop jet to Turku (little did I know, it was only 2 hours by train). But I found my way, got to the bus stop, and realized that I had not converted my change! Lucky for me, I asked a kindhearted lady where the change place was, and she told me not to worry and that she would take care of the fare, else I would miss the bus. She then walked with me until we found an exchange place, refused to take money back, and gave me tips on what to do. She helped me get in the mood for what would be an amazing trip.
That Friday, I took a stroll around the city and then made my way over to the Turku synagogue, where I spent Yom Kippur. It was an amazing experience, and the people were so warm and friendly. After leading a havdalah service, I ran out of the synagogue to catch my train 15 minutes later. Needless to say, after downing half a cup of wine after fasting for 25 hours, I needed to stop a few times.
I continued north to visit Santa in Rovaniemi, the 1st of what would be 4 night trains. I got my rail pass' money's worth. I crossed the arctic circle, went back south to use one of the oldest Finnish saunas still in use in Tampere (Rajaporrti), played golf in two time zones and across two countries in Tornio, shopped at the northernmost Ikea in the world in Haparanda, Sweden, and so much more! It was a whirlwind, but luckily, I was able to snag a sleeping car from Tampere north to get a bit of shuteye. The night before, someone decided to continually speak on their phone while sitting on the overnight car.
On Wednesday, after a restful evening on the train, I arrived to Helsinki, went to check out the city and some of its sights (including the Helsinki synagogue and the Chapel of Silence), and met my classmate and friend as she arrived off her flight from Tel Aviv. We proceeded by train back to Turku after a warm welcome to return, stayed there and celebrated Sukkot with the community, and then made our way by boat/cruise ship to the island of Åland for the weekend. It was very cold to camp out there, and we were glad to take a boat from there on Saturday night to Sweden. Due to port confusion, we even were able to get a stateroom with a porthole!
On Sunday and Monday, we went around Stockholm and saw much of the old architecture and history of the city. Even though I have been to Spain, France, and Holland, never have I seen a city so quintessentially European. It was absolutely extravagant. We walked around plenty, had a few hobo meals of tuna, veggies, and crackers in the park, and finally spent a night (my only one) in an actual hotel. We left the evening afterwards, and that was that!
Some of my reflections on the trip:
1. The Jewish communities in Europe still feel persecuted and under an anti-Semitic grip, and, it would appear, rightly so. There has been a continual rise of anti-Semitic activity in Sweden with the rise in immigration from Arab countries (not to mention the innate conditions). In Finland, it was generally more relaxed, albeit still secure, mostly due to Finland's historically low anti-Semitic history and its small numbers of Jews, of which most have made aliyah.
2. The people of Scandinavia are very much all about their own business, but when push comes to shove, they were almost always extremely helpful and attentive to our needs, with an air of professionalism that I have never truly experienced until then. The cities are diverse and well-kept places, with smaller numbers of homeless people than other countries (in fact, with my understanding of Finnish policy, they are totally provided for and because of that, we did not see any at all on the streets). The Finnish north is proud and strong since, after all, when dealing with regular temperatures of -30 in the winter, what else could you be.
3. Language education in Finland is astounding. They are required to learn Finnish, Swedish, and English, plus may learn others in high school and very often do. And their English was really amazing, perhaps even more so than the Swedes, even though they do not take Finnish.
4. It's cold in Scandinavia. I was there during an unseasonably warm fall and I still needed a heavy jacket some days. I could only imagine December there.
5. Santa is obviously Finnish. I mean, I met him, he was a kind, old, and jolly guy of the Caucasian persuasion, knew exactly what to say, and was planning away toward Christmas in just a few months. He had all his stuff together. I liked his accent very much.
6. Finnish food and language are weird. I tried "squeky cheese" or "breadcheese" with cloudberry jam, which is traditional fare. It tasted like jam and squeaked. But okay, the language is at least fun, if not impossible. It's only slight relation is to Estonian. And Angry Birds is an obsession, as they have the world's 1st Angry Birds theme park and Angry Birds stores and merchandise all over. What a fun place! Reminds me of the manga obsession in Japan.
7. Fart in Swedish is "pace" or "speed," while infart and utfart are "entrance" and "exit," respectively. It's funny. I'm four years old.
All in all, I loved my trip and would love to go back. I saw my first end-to-end rainbow just before dusk on Friday night in Åland as the sun gleamed down on the city. It was absolutely stunning. That said, I still did not see the Northern Lights, and hope to return someday to do so. But as for now, cardio calls, and it's back to M2.
Chag sameach to all who are celebrating the holidays!
-David
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