# Tell me about visiting Helsinki, Finland **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686 "2013-04-03T02:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/21 "2013-04-04T10:50:55Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Take a boat ride around the islands and check out the Soviet Foxtrot submarine moored in the harbor. That submarine is sadly at the bottom of the Atlantic now. They were hauling it to the US to appear in a film, the Harrison Ford movie K-19 I believe, when it sunk. There’s a Finnish submarine that was used during the war you can visit in Suomenlinna though. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish\_submarine\_Vesikko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_submarine_Vesikko) > [@terentii](#): > > There are also docks where people come to do their laundry on the weekends. They’re washing their carpets with pine soap as is the tradition. Watch an old Finnish film and there’s bound to be a scene where the lovely love interest, usually a maid, washes her employer’s carpets. I don’t think anyone actually wash their clothes in the ocean anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/22 "2013-04-04T18:26:24Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Thanks folks. I’m thinking that Austin, TX is a lot closer, cheaper and more fun for this trip, then. I really appreciate alla y’all posting. Just keep an eye out for North Korean missiles. I like Austin also, but Helsinki is much less weird. ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/23 "2013-04-04T19:41:51Z")
You could also check if the timing works for a Baltic Cruise. The one I took several years ago did stop in Helsinki but also Tallin, St Petersburg, Stockholm and a few others, all of which were more interesting than Helsinki. If the timing worked to be in Helsinki at the same time as the festival, it might be a cheaper way of seeing a lot of places in a short period of time. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/24 "2013-04-04T20:48:05Z")
> [@kbear](#): > > You could also check if the timing works for a Baltic Cruise. The one I took several years ago did stop in Helsinki but also Tallin, St Petersburg, Stockholm and a few others, all of which were more interesting than Helsinki. If the timing worked to be in Helsinki at the same time as the festival, it might be a cheaper way of seeing a lot of places in a short period of time. I did this just about a year ago - starting and ending in Copenhagen, and hitting all the places you mentioned, as well as Helsinki, and a port in northern German where most people took a tour of Berlin. We skipped that since we did it before and since our daughter who went with us now lives in Germany. The plus side is that, as you say, you see a lot of places quickly. Even better is that, except for St. Petersburg, the ship docks very close to the center of these cities, and getting to them is very simple. The minus side is that you don’t have a lot of time anywhere. We stayed in Copenhagen before we departed, but I would have liked more time in Stockholm. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/25 "2013-04-04T22:50:00Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Why would obvious (in my opinion, anyway) jokes not be jokes? Because this is the internet, and you just never know. And I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see a restaurant actually called Ravintola - it could be some sort of hipster ironic place. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/26 "2013-04-04T22:54:22Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > That submarine is sadly at the bottom of the Atlantic now. They were hauling it to the US to appear in a film, the Harrison Ford movie K-19 I believe, when it sunk. There’s a Finnish submarine that was used during the war you can visit in Suomenlinna though. > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish\_submarine\_Vesikko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_submarine_Vesikko) > > They’re washing their carpets with pine soap as is the tradition. Watch an old Finnish film and there’s bound to be a scene where the lovely love interest, usually a maid, washes her employer’s carpets. I don’t think anyone actually wash their clothes in the ocean anymore. What a pity about the submarine. ☹ My last visit to Helsinki was about 15 years ago, though I stayed at a friend’s apartment for a couple of weeks in '93. That’s when I did all of my major sightseeing. I still have photos of the weekend wash crowd. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/27 "2013-04-05T00:04:40Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Why would obvious (in my opinion, anyway) jokes not be jokes? > > In that case I think I know where it might be. If we think of the same market building it is presently closed for an overhaul. Indeed. Finn Friend had no luck googling it, and mentioned that it might be closed. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/28 "2013-04-05T03:56:45Z")
Young girls selling flowers, doing the marketing, or just hanging clothes to dry all look like they’re Miss Universe material. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/29 "2013-04-05T08:03:31Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > I don’t think anyone actually wash their clothes in the ocean anymore. I’ve seen people do it not too many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/30 "2013-04-05T11:51:01Z")
Don’t bother, we don’t have quarries. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686/31 "2013-04-06T01:01:00Z")
> [@auRa](#): > > Don’t bother, we don’t have quarries. [ORLY?](http://finstone.fi/engl/stone_statistics/quarries.php) :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-visiting-helsinki-finland/654686.md?page=1)