The second day in Helsinki was another walk with our city guide, Cornelia. She was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and proud of her country and the city of Helsinki. We went on a 15 minute ferry boat ride out to Suomenlinna. It’s a unesco world heritage site and is a cluster of 6 small islands. The biggest island includes an old fortress, the Finnish Naval academy, museums, a World War Two submarine, restaurants, and old wooden historic homes. People live on this island and 1000 naval cadets train to become officers on this island. The naval academy is different than the US naval academy. Cadets train for 11 months to become officers and upon completion a large percentage become reserve officers and are subject to recall to active duty until they are in there 50s. Our tour guide’s son just completed the 11 month training program and chose to become a reserve officer.
The ferry makes trips to Suomenlinna every hour.
Finland coast guard shipOur city guide, Cornelia and one of many old Cannons on display.A large dry dock,used for boat maintenance and also used for winter boat storage. The storage season is just around the corner.A Finnish navy boat Walking back to our hotel. Many bikes and scooters used in Helsinki. The green electric scooters are rented out. You need to get an app on your phone, load your credit card and then you grab a scooter and go. You are charged by the time you use it and just leave it at your destination. The bike is an electric assist transport bike. Sometimes children, even adults ride in the front and often there will be groceries or other goods being transported. These are privately owned, not for rent.Beautiful cobblestone streets with nice old Art Deco buildings. Many city parks with sculptures and pondsThese are rental bikes, similar to the lime green scooters. Download the app with your credit card info and jump on a bike and off you go.Hanna, a 5th and 6th grade teacher, gave a good presentation about the Finnish school system. Finland has been ranked the number one school system in the world several times in recent years. Preschool (our kindergarten) starts at age 6. That’s a year later than we start in the US. First grade starts at age 7 and many can’t read at all when the start. Class size… she has 21 this year, last year she had 30 with an extra teacher but in a small classroom. She told us that Michael Moore did a documentary about the Finnish school system. That might be interesting to watch. They have 190 days of school per year, similar to ours. The schools don’t have buses and they discourage parents from dropping them and picking them up. Most students, even youngest ones, go to school by themselves, walking, riding bikes or scooters, or taking public transportation. There are no school sports teams. All sports teams are club teams, not associated with a school.
The Finnish people are ranked as the happiest in the world. Our city guide, Cornelia, agrees. She said they pay between 40 and 60 percent income tax but they also get almost free healthcare, free or low cost higher education, govt funded retirement, and very good basic school systems(best in the world according to some tests). Also basic services are very good, such as public transportation, public parks, and remember the great library in the previous post.
Rod and Patty Jenkins are retired and enjoy traveling. We hope you enjoy our posts as we we see different locations around the globe.
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