After we freshened up at the hotel, it was already 3:30pm. Luckily, the city centre is only half an hour away from the airport via train. The entrance to the train station is located in the middle of the concourse between terminal 1 and 2. We bought the one-day travel ticket (€8) which gives access to all buses, trams and trains in the city. Right now, you have to take one of two lifts down to the station as the escalators are not opened yet. There are two train lines at the airport station, I and P. Both lead to the city centre (very little difference in travel time) so just take whichever one that comes first.

It was snowing heavily and whilst on the train, we noticed the daylight fading. Hence, we decided to skip the famous Rock Church and concentrate on sights nearer to the central train station. We took tram no. 2 from the front of the train station and hopped off when we saw the harbour. Both tram 2 & 3 are regarded as the sightseeing trams as they will pass by most of the city’s main sights. They cover the same figure 8 loop around the city in opposite directions with the central train station at the midpoint.

Market Square (Kauppatori)

Market Square is located in front of the south harbour. Usually there are booths selling souvenirs and food here, but the vendors have packed off for the day. It was really cold. My fingers froze every time I took my gloves off to take a photo but it was strangely exhilarating. There were hardly any people around and everything was covered in snow and ice. In the dwindling light, there was an aloof beauty to the landscape. Worlds apart from Singapore.

A hot dog stall! I LOVE street hot dog vendors. Never can resist getting one when I’m in Europe. Brings back fond memories of when I was an exchange student and all we could afford for hot meals were hot dogs off stalls like this. This one didn’t disappoint. We ordered the Balkan Hot Dog which had egg in it. Freaking good! Especially in the cold. But eating a hot dog with snow and wind in your face, and gloves on, was quite a clumsy affair. Haha.

Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral

Completed in 1868, the Uspenski Cathedral is the largest orthodox church in Western Europe. From the market square, we could see its golden cupolas and redbrick facade glowing in the distance. If you have never been to a eastern orthodox church, the interior is worth a visit. It’s not large and it’s currently undergoing some maintenance works but you will still get a sense of its gold grandeur.

Further along, there was a locks bridge. Seems like there is one everywhere these days.

Senate Square

The imposing Helsinki cathedral dominated the square.

Gave up sightseeing after that. It was slightly after 6pm and we were hoping to do some shopping. We took the tram back to the railway station where we saw a large concentrations of malls. Alas, most shops were either closed or closing. Apparently on Saturdays, majority of the shops close at 6pm. We only managed to get into a couple which were opened till 7pm.

Ended off with a hot chocolate in a pretty café we came across.

Then it was back to the train station and back to our airport hotel.