Finnair A350 XWB to Helsinki

[yflyer]

Breakfast, in the form of a snack, was served prior to arrival…







By then, dawn was breaking…



A very strong crosswind that morning….you can see how far to the right the runway appeared in the front-facing video camera...





A perfect crosswind landing on a cold Sunday morning.

I'm not sure how many passengers knew how much was going on behind the scenes to routinely accomplish these landings...for the technically inclined, this Airbus briefing note provides more information.



I caught a taxi from the airport to my hotel, the Holiday Inn Helsinki - West Ruoholahti, just a few km west of the Helsinki city center.

Overall impressions of Finnair from Helsinki to New York? Obviously the A330 cannot compare with a spanking new A350 – I found the SIN-HEL sector much more impressive than the HEL-JFK-HEL sectors. All that said, the HEL-JFK-HEL sectors were fine – just not on the same level as SIN-HEL.

I remain impressed with Finnair, and I would not mind travelling to the East Coast of the USA via Helsinki if the ticket price was right. Is it the best way to get to New York from Singapore? Probably not -- we have many options to get to New York from SIN, but if you do want to spend a few days in Helsinki on a stopover, Finnair is quite an attractive option.

To be continued...

[yflyer]

Not counting the earlier transit stop on the way to the USA, where I remained within the airport airside area, this was my first visit to Helsinki and Finland.

Finland has a population of 5.4 million people -- very similar in that respect to Singapore. That said, it has a land area of about 338 thousand square kilometers, which gives it a population density of 17 people per square kilometer. A little lower than Singapore's population density of 8000 people per square km...

Helsinki itself is the largest city in Finland, a compact city by the sea of about 600,000 people.

My hotel, the Holiday Inn Helsinki - West Ruoholahti, was in a busy commercial/business complex located between a power station and a cemetery.

This is a wonderful location for a hotel -- much better than it sounds from the previous sentence...

There was a large shopping mall in front of it, and it was less than 4km from the city center, with wonderful walking, jogging and cycling routes from the hotel to the centre.

“The sauna opens at 4pm today”, the cheerful lady at the reception said, as she handed me my room key.

The rooms were warmly styled and had a modern theme.

[yflyer]

In the mid-afternoon, I headed outside for an orientation run to the city center.

It was about 7 degrees Celsius so I had to layer on an addition T-shirt and North Face jumper, and Uniqlo heat-tech leggings under my shorts, but with all that clothing on, the run felt very comfortable.

Before long, I reached the water…



…and continued my run along the waterfront...



…and along the coastline…





Some good scenery along the way…





Approaching the city center…





…the historic waterfront and market square…



I was intrigued by the many stone turtles along the pier…



A ferris wheel in the harbour where ferries to Stockholm and Talinn, Estonia, dock.

[yflyer]

Gold-covered domes of the Russian Orthodox Church…



Helsinki Cathedral…



Esplanade Park, a central park lined with shops, boutiques and restaurants.



From there, I continued my run to the north, past Finlandia Hall and the Natural History museum…





The final stop on my run was the Church of the Rock….a church carved out of solid rock…



This was a strikingly beautiful structure…



…with the interior walls still revealing the underlying rock…



Overall, a very pleasant 14.75km circuit of Helsinki, passing many of the city’s attractions.

[yflyer]

That evening, I headed to restaurant Juuri for dinner. This restaurant is well known for Sapas – the Finnish equivalent of Tapas – small plates intended as starters for sharing, or even as a full meal.





The aperitif menu…



I began with a Napue Gin & Tonic…



This was a thing of beauty…and tasted incredible too.

The fresh rosemary gave the G&T an amazing fragrance, that went perfectly with the tingling cold flavours of the Napue gin botanicals…the deep red lingonberries in the glass looked beautiful as well.

There were multi-course set menus available, and accompanying wines…



The a-la carte menu had a short list of very intriguing main courses as well…



But I elected not to go for these, and instead just focus on the sapas…

[yflyer]

Bread and butter to start…



An amuse-bouche…a creamy seafood mouse…



…and then the sapas, which were prepared in the kitchen and served all at once…



…which I accompanied with a glass of rose…





The sapas were wonderful…mainly fish and vegetables, often with a rich, creamy sauce…









Organic lambkin with cabbage…



In retrospect, I perhaps should have ordered sapas with a wider range of tastes – most of those I had were in a creamy sauce, and by the end of it the rich, cream flavours were starting to get a little monotonous, but these were wonderfully prepared dishes.

[yflyer]

The duck with plum sauce I had as a finale was a welcome antidote to all the cream…



…and I washed all of this down with Juuri’s house vodka, which was not a clear vodka, but one with a sweet flavour, served in an icy cold shot class…perfect…



For dessert, I chose the cloudberry with caramel and carrot…





This was my first dinner in Helsinki, and it was a introduction to modern Finnish cuisine.

What an exciting food scene to explore here. It would only get more interesting from this point forward…

[yflyer]

The next day was one of the few days on my trip where the sun came out (briefly)...



That evening, I headed with several colleagues to Ravintola Savotta, a restaurant located just opposite Helsinki Cathedral, which focused on traditional Finnish cuisine...



Creamy seafood mousse as a starter...



A traditional apertif called Virran Viemaa -- Floating Down the River...at the rate I was guzzling drinks on this trip, I was beginning to think that was going to be a distinct possibility for me...



We settled on the classic menu...



...but not before a long debate over whether or not to swap out the reindeer rump main course for the slow-braised bear meat, which was a Finnish delicacy that was available that day...



In the end there were no takers for the bear...we would be feasting on reindeer that evening...

But first the starter platter, a huge selection of traditional Finnish appetisers to be shared by the group...



...these were delicious.

I also ordered a bowl of traditional salmon soup, served in a wooden bowl...a real treat on a cold evening.



The lightly smoked reindeer rump was served on a common platter, to be shared by our party of three...



This was amazingly delicious, the reinder meat was lean, yet tender and exceptionally juicy, with superb texture. Absolutely wonderful.

I washed it all down with dark Finnish beer...



Dessert was ice cream with berries and liquorice...



This was our one traditional Finnish meal on this trip, with the highlight being the smoked reindeer rump. The setting in the restaurant was rustic, to match, with exceptional service from our waitress, who spent a lot of time explaining the history behind the cuisine, and helping us with our menu choices.

[yflyer]

I spent a little bit of time after work doing some shopping in the city center as well.





Marrimeko has an outlet close to Esplanade Park...



The large Stockmann department store has a supermarket where you can get a variety of fish roes...





As well as reindeer meat...

[yflyer]

The next day, in early November, Helsinki had the first snowfall of the year...a comparatively light dusting compared to what would come later in winter...



This was the view out my window at the Holiday Inn...



It was now about 0 degrees...the sun was setting in an hour...I decided to head out for another run...

[yflyer]

By then, the streets were covered in white...



I used pretty much the same route as on my previous run on the initial stretch, but it all looked so different now in the snow...



With temperatures hovering at around freezing point, and a chilling wind blowing in from the sea, this run felt like something of an adventure...



Where was the trail? At some places, it was impossible to make out the footpath...



What a great time to be outside...zero degrees, running in the snow...



And just when I was thinking what a feat of endurance this was, I noticed a mother taking her baby out for a stroll...what the...




These Finns are tough!

But that probably put things into perspective. It's only folks like us from Singapore and other countries in the tropics who fear cold weather. The locals here deal with it on a daily basis...

There were kids out playing, people were out walking their dog...



In other words no big deal.

Jogging at zero degrees? Perfectly doable as long as you are properly dressed up. I had 4 layers on. Very comfortable. More comfortable than running in Singapore midday heat...

That said, wear gloves, and somehow keep your face warm. By the end of the run, my ungloved hands were numb to the point of barely being able to text on my iPhone, and I was slurring my speech on account of my numb face...

[yflyer]

I continued my run into the city...passing by the harbour and the Silja Symphony cruise ship...



The Helsinki Market Square and waterfront looked very different in the snow...



...a magical wonderland of white...







Less than a day of snow...the first of the year...and the city had been transformed...





More of the turtles...which I learnt were just transport barriers...there was no deeper historical or mystical meaning behind them -- just a more cheerful and fun design for a functional object.

[yflyer]

I ended my run in the city center...







...not far from Olo restaurant, where I would be having dinner later that evening...





I took a taxi back to the hotel and took a hot shower before heading back to Olo for dinner...

[yflyer]

By the time I returned to Olo later that evening, I was ravenous...



A warm welcome as I was shown to my window-side table...



Olo only serves a tasting menu: a choice of a longer or shorter menu, aptly named the Longer Way (Default choice) or the Shorter Way. Both came with optional wine pairings.

I had earlier specified the Shorter Way when I made the reservation.





I chose the regular wine pairing to go with my meal. At Olo, the wine pairing actually cost more than the meal itself...partly because alcohol is quite heavily taxed in Finland, but also I think because I learnt that the Finns take their wine very seriously, and took a lot of care when choosing the wines to go with their menus.

The first course...



The espresso shot that came with the meal was from a very unique coffee bean from Nepal, only available at Olo, the waiter explained. This was the smoothest tasting coffee I had ever sipped...

What were those tiny balls that looked like stones?



They were smooth, with a melt-in-the mouth texture...

This one was smooth chicken-liver mousse within the light shell...bursting with flavour...I am referring just to the mottled one, the others were stones for decor and not meant to be eaten...



The first wine of the evening was a Muscadet...





This was to go with the next course, which was semolina porridge with reindeer heart (!)...



Delicious...

The next course was a tartar of white fish with a single organic turnip...



Mmmmm....that organic turnip was great! As was the fish...

[yflyer]

Instead of wine...a beer was brought to my table to pair with the next dish...





A slab of traditional Finnish country butter...



...and then a steaming hot bowl of creamy garlic soup, and a small loaf of bread...



"Remember the pot of dough that was on the table when you first sat down? That has been baked into the bread that is now on the table", the waiter explained..."The best way to eat this dish is to dip the bread in the soup..."

And that is exactly what I did...



The next wine was Meinklang Blauburgunder, an Austrian pinot noir...



...which went with the next dish, which was a tartar of baby lamb, parsnip cream, dried egg yolk...



The tartar of baby lamb tasted superb...



What an amazing meal this was shaping up to be...