We had a little bit of time in the morning to enjoy the old town with a slightly less amount of people, but it was a bit brisk out even in the sun. Shortly after 11, we checked out and headed for the ferry passenger terminal, a short Uber ride away. We arrived about thirty minutes prior to its departure, and noticed it was roped off. A man told us we were too late. Boarding was closed. This was a bit perplexing. We talked to a miserable lady working the ticket kiosk and she was adamant that it was not possible to either accommodate us or refund the tickets.
In hidden print in a pdf file that was sent to me when I booked the tickets, there is a line about boarding closing 30 minutes prior, but that almost seems like more of a thing that is stated, but not honored. Thirty minutes is excessive and we weren’t the only people dealing with that issue as many more trickled in behind us to be turned away. The people working for the Eckero ferry line are frankly just miserable human beings who get off on making other people miserable. Let’s not pretend that a two hour ferry between two EU countries is the same as a major international flight. And even then, the boarding wouldn’t close until ten minutes prior…and usually later. I wrote a cheeky one-star review on TripAdvisor, but I was far from the first to bring up these issues.
Many people described the boarding cutoff requirement as if the ship was going into space or some other dramatic expedition. We ended up having to eat the cost of the other ferry tickets and booked another one that left 90 minutes later. It was a different company, that was also generally perceived better. We boarded as soon as we were allowed to (40 mins prior). That is a narrow window if they cut it off 30 mins prior. In fact, we left 15 minutes early making the boarding window approximately ten entire minutes. And now we know. There was however no security, no passport control, and not even a ticket scan, so we could easily have gotten on the other boat, but here we are.
We embarked on the two hour voyage on calm waters. I was able to do a bit of Italian studying and it didn’t take long before we were arriving at the dock in Helsinki. We ubered to the Hilton Helsinki Strand. Our view looks out to the sea. Our tv in the room has speakers that are only located in the bathroom. I don’t understand. It is also noticeably colder in Helsinki than where we just were. Hoodies or jackets seemed necessary to fend off a chilly breeze. We went for a ten minute walk from the hotel to the Helsinki Cathedral, probably the most iconic building in Helsinki.
Senate square is the name of the large open plaza in front of the church, flanked on both sides by an old university building and what was the Finnish senate back in the day. Fun fact: at the Museum of the Occupation in Tallinn, I took a quiz that assessed which country’s style of government was most appropriate to my world views, and Finland was my closest match. And now you know. Just across from Senate Square was Cafe Engel.
We had a typical plate of Lihapullat, or meatballs as they may be more familiarly known. It was nice to order something that came with other things. It seems common in Europe to order something and just get that one thing. For example, on Saaremaa, we ordered steaks, and that’s all you get. Just the meat. No side. Not even as much as a garnish. It is a nice change to have some foods that complement the meal so one is not just eating meat. We enjoyed some potatoes, pickles, and very tart lingonberries. It was almost too much food. Nicole liked this meal more than any others on this trip and that includes last night’s margherita pizza. Yet even she couldn’t finish her meatballs.
We returned to the Hilton to check out the executive lounge. They didn’t have much and we accidentally grabbed some zero sugar 7-Ups that disappointed. Our hotel naturally has a sauna which we scoped out before committing to anything. There were separate saunas for men and women, which would make the socializing aspect of Bricole a bit more complicated. Furthermore, Finnish sauna etiquette often entails full nudity. That’s all fine if you’re used to it, but I was a bit apprehensive. After all, there is a thing as too many meatballs. Tomorrow, we have a full day in Helsinki, a city that isn’t really known for a lot. We tend to have nice relaxed days in cities that have nothing, so hopefully tomorrow brings more of the same.
passports & pepto bismol 