I like Helsinki! Coming back to it after visiting Tallinn was a treat, feeling like I knew a place, like it was already mine. I had places I knew, a hostel I liked, more trust in the trains, favorite saunas to revisit. I could spend more time looking around, less time scabbling for balance. It was shinier.
The architecture in Helsinki is very self-confident, this lovely mash-up of all the different eras of the last century, those informed by royal sensabilities, civic pride, and the creative management of economic depression.
I saw my first Scandinavian sunset here. I learned a new transit system in a language I can't even begin to pronounce. And honestly, when it gives me chances
to sauna twice a day, how could I not like this city?