Gah, another incredible city! Loved the Finnish sense of humour, and the architecture / culture - the buildings were early 20th century (the city is relatively new) and the vibe was relaxed and fun. Another one I could easily live in (bit chilly, but amazing how quickly you get used to that - and the Finn's clearly don't care, taking a dip in the heated pools and heading to the Sauna). Next up...Vienna!

Flights

Outbound: Saturday 24 March, Finnair, LHR-HEL, 7.30am. Clean and bright plane - impressed.
Return: Sunday 25 March, Finnair, HEL-LHR, 5.00pm. Early flight so cut the second day very short, sadly!

Airport transfers

Outbound & Return: Finnair City Bus (€6.70, discounted to €4.30 with a Helsinki City Card). Bang outside the terminal doors (just beyond the taxis), cheap and regular - every 20 minutes - dropping off at the Central Station. Big thumbs up.

Hotel

Hotel F6. New hotel in another great location - loved the mahoosive room, underfloor heating in the bathroom, friendly unfussy service AND breakfast was included in the room rate (€185)- result! Not only great Finnish food (organic porridge, smoked salmon, and bread to die for) but I lusted over the complete set of Marimekko tableware.

Activities

No open top bus tour this time as they only run from May to September - expect you would freeze your tits off otherwise. Couldn’t find the ‘panoramic’ tour bus either so explored on foot. Apparently it only takes 40 minutes to get from one side of the city to another (or from one piece of (frozen) water to another at least!) and it was pretty quick to get around. I bought a 48 hour city card before flying out and collected at the airport, which gave me free entry to:

Temppeliaukio Church - hewn out of the local pink granite, with a floating copper roof and water running down the rock face. It would be a very peaceful place if it wasn’t for all the sodding tourists!
National Museum of Finland. A really quick mooch round but quite impressed with the exhibitions - couple of new ones, creatively displayed with modern tech.
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. Stunning building and some funny, wacky sh*t they call art and I'm tempted to agree - mental, but definitely creative.
Design Museum. A small museum but oh so worth it - they had an exhibition on the stunning work of Timo Sarpaneva, 'Lorem ipsum - Talking about Graphic Design', and 'Back to the Present'. There was also a tribute to Finnish design - Nokia, Ponsse, Iittala and Fiskars - who knew those scissors came from Finland?!

I also had a walk round Finlandia Talo Huset Hall, but don’t think I was supposed to - I tried the door and it was open, so I went in and started taking photos as I wandered round. A quick ‘HEI!’ later and I was told it wasn’t open because it was Saturday. Shouldn’t leave your bloody doors open then! I managed to sneak some great photos so it was worth the (mild) bollocking from the animated Finnish lady.

The architecture must also get a special mention - things like the Central Railway Station, designed by Eliel Saarinen and inaugurated in 1919. I was drawn back to this building on several occasions, and the inside is incredible - not showy by any means, but a warm welcome to a fun city.