Day 3: Restaurant Day

Greetings readership!

After a whirlwind first two days of facility tours, we TREEtrippers used the weekend to explore the city.  Saturday was Helsinki’s annual Restaurant Day, where dozens of locals set up tents to sell food in the local parks. Cuisines from all over the world such as Indian, Thai, African, and Chinese as well as regional cooking could be sampled.  It was a perfect day for first-time Helsinki tourists such as ourselves. 

We then walked down to the Kauppatori, the city’s waterfront open-air market.  Open daily, one can find all sorts of fruits, vegetables, seafood, and souvenirs for sale.  

Within view of the market is Tuomiokirkko, a chalk-white cathedral and arguably the most imposing structure of the city’s skyline.  

We briefly visited the church and continued on to another park.

More vendors were present, and we witnessed our first game of cricket.

Thoroughly bushed from the morning’s adventures, we returned to the hotel for a much needed nap.  Once rested, we met up with our new friends from Aalto University for the evening.  We were taken to a couple of local establishments and later had a chance to sample some late-late-night Helsinki food fare.  The nights are short in a Helsinki summer.  The sun sets around 11 and rises around 3, so witnessing the sunrise is more a rite than a task.  We returned to the hotel with a full day behind us and many more ahead of us.

Stay tuned readership.
Stephen Goulet