Pastimes and Sports in Helsinki

One thing that never ceased to amaze me in Helsinki is the miles and miles of coastline. No matter where we were headed in the city, we almost inevitably ended up by the sea. Sheer magic! I don’t think I could ever tire of this wonderful city.

And there is so much to see along the sea here too. One particularly impressive sight – at Merikasarmi Quay – is Helsinki’s massive ice breakers. With names like Voima (‘Strength’) and Sisu (‘Endurance’), these powerful ships are the strong men of the shipping world. As parts – sometimes even all – of the Baltic Sea freezes every winter, there’s no questioning their vital role in keeping traffic flowing. They’re true VIPs or, rather VIBs: Very Important Boats.

They even have their own letterboxes for goodness sake!

Now this would not exactly be my idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon, but apparently Finns just love washing their rugs by the sea. I spotted several public rug washing areas on our coastal walks. The rugs are soaked with sea water and scrubbed on tables set on floating decks. They are then put through large wringers and hung on wooden drying frames nearby. That’s got to be the weirdest national pastime I’ve ever come across!

Speaking of national pastimes, sports, of course, are an important part of Finnish culture. And not just winter sports as I had imagined.

The Olympic tower, towering over the Olympic Stadium, has been a Helsinki landmark since the late 1930s. The city had been chosen for the 1940 summer games, but due to the war, it was only in 1952 that Helsinki finally got its chance to host the games. When we went to visit the tower, we were given the cold shoulder however, as Coldplay were due to play a series of concerts in the stadium that weekend. What a pity! I’d have given my right wing to have seen the views from the top. But I suppose it’s good to know that they’re still filling the stadium to this day.

We did get to visit one of the sports halls used during the 1952 Olympics and also still in use today. Inside, there were plenty of fascinating old photos and memorabilia from the games on display. I even got to sit on one of the original seats – a hard wooden bench – used in the stadium at the time. No wonder all the spectators were on their feet in the photos I saw!

I was floored to see that one of the boxing finals was between a Finn and an Irishman, the Finn winning the gold medal, the Irishman, silver. I knew that the Irish, both men and women, have a good few Olympic medals for boxing under their belts, but this was their first one ever. It’s a little late I know, but congratulations!

I got to see some live sport too, and it was not one I had ever seen or even heard of before: pesäpallo, a type of baseball unique to Finland. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but there was constant action, and the atmosphere in the grounds was fantastic. It seemed to me to be a lot more exciting than the American baseball I’d seen on TV. Those girls swooped on the ball so elegantly, and any seagull would be proud of the dives they made when hitting home base! Sadly, in spite of all our screeching in support, our team was beaten by the visitors.

Naturally, I prefer to be on the winning team, and I discovered that, when it comes to basketball, I certainly am. The Helsinki Seagulls are reigning Finnish champions. That’s more my game!

With all these goings-on, it was easy to lose track of the Oldies. In fact, I got into a bit of a sweat at one point when I thought I’d lost them altogether. Of course, I should have known. When in Finland, do what the Finns do….

They were in a sauna, of course!