Vieraskynässä D - D as a guest blogger

Buttermilk Bisquits -blogissa on ollut muutaman kerran Bisquitin miehen kirjoittamia mahtavia tekstejä, ja inspiroiduin niistä sen verran, että pyysin tuota omaa hollantilaistani kirjoittamaan jotakin pientä tänne minun ja toivottavasti myös teidän iloksenne. Suomeksi hän ei kuitenkaan halunnut ruveta kirjoittelemaan (höh, sanon minä), joten ihan englannilla mennään..


At the Buttermilk Bisquits blog there have been couple really awesome posts by the Dutch husband of the Finnish Bisquit and I was so inspired by them that I asked my own Dutchman to write a little something here for my and hopefully your pleasure. He didn't want to write in Finnish though (too bad for me, but good for you who don't speak Finnish) so it's all in English:

At the kind request of Miss S here, finally a post by the infamous D. I’m here today to share my experiences on Finland, Helsinki region in particular, with you, from a 20-year-old Dutchman’s point of view. Here we go...

Up until now, I’ve been to Finland 4 times. First time was in June, right after my 19th birthday. A mid-summer visit followed short after in August, a cold one in late October/early November and a wintery 11-day sleepover in February to top it off. Good thing I signed up for that Flying Blue membership at KLM... I’ve got quite some miles saved up already.

My favorite stay was in February. I like snow, I like winter and I like cold weather. Simple as that. Helsinki was covered by about half a meter of snow and temperatures got as low as minus 24 ºC. (about -11 ºF) The Finns are obviously more experienced when it comes to winter and snow. All cars have proper winter tires, roads are mostly clean; they even keep the airport going (translated from Dutch) when the whole of Europe is having problems.

The most memorable visit was the first one, the one where I was greeted by S and company. Picked up from the airport, driven into a beautiful city that was completely unknown to me at that point, driving past old and new, gorgeous cathedrals and shabby 80’s concrete blocks, amazing green fields, a limitless amount of trees, a harbor that was quite the size and shopping streets with all the major brands, including the cozy Iittala store on Pohjoisesplanadi, which I eventually did visit in February.

The one thing that spoke to me while wandering around the city center was the accessibility of everything. Everything is within walking distance. From the railway station to the Uspenski cathedral near the harbor is a 15 minute walk. You can walk from square to square and it’s almost impossible to get lost. Whichever way you go, you’ll either hit a major road or you meet the water. Perfect.