This post is dedicated to my real life boyfriend, HOS, the absolute love of my life. Don't get jealous baby, you'll always be number 1 (and let's face it, Helsinki can't do what you can!)!
I have a new boyfriend. He's oh-so-handsome, I would go so far as to say beautiful. He is elegant, charming, good fun, down to earth, incredibly cultured and breathtakingly romantic.
My new boyfriend is Helsinki.
It was love at first sight, actually, from the moment I checked into my wonderful hotel, Hotel Fabian (just off the famous Esplanade), and I never left his side for 6 glorious days.
You can see in all those pictures above, just how handsome he is. We strolled hand-in-hand exploring together...the beautiful white Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral, and the magnificent red brick Orthodox Uspensky Cathedral, the pathways along the waterfront, the beautiful back streets to uncover wonderful architecture and the cutest shops...sigh.
We wandered through the main shopping district admiring the beautiful old shops, and stopping now and then to purchase something irresistible or just to look in the windows or admire the pretty food counters and cafes...sigh again.
We got physical, too, hitting the pavement a little faster through parks and magical old suburbs discovering more and more each time...laughing as the rain drizzled down on us one day, and basking in the freezing sunshine the next.
There was one exception to this joined-at-the-hip romance. The Yrjonkatu Swimming Bath. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh...the Yrjonkatu Swimming Bath...what a really really wonderful place. This is a beautifully romantic place to be, and you can't be there with your new boyfriend because there are days for girls and days for boys. You see, these roman style baths, built in the 1920s and more recently renovated, are for swimming in the nude. Yep, in the nude. It's the ultimate skinny dip. You can swim laps and have a sauna, a cup of tea, and a sandwich...all sans clothes. It's absolutely wonderful. I went twice and enjoyed every single second of it. The women were wonderful, all very chatty in the saunas, no embarrassment, just pure enjoyment and relaxation. WONDERFUL.
The baths have a 25m pool and a sauna plus the original 1920s changing cabins on the lower floor, then there's a wonderfully romantic first floor balcony overlooking the pool that has private "rooms" with little tables and chairs to have a refreshment and watch the swimmers. Magnificent. You pay almost double to have access to the second floor, but it's worth every single Euro, you get a little bed in your room (pic above), but you also get to use the wood sauna, electric sauna, and the steam room, as well as all the ground floor facilities. So beautifully romantic...sigh...it was like being in another era, another world. It's one of the top five experiences of my trip. You must go. Make the effort to find the place, it's sorta hidden right in the centre of town, you can see the doorway there above (second last pic). Go on, be brave.
So...my sweet new boyfriend waited patiently while I indulged myself in the wonders of the water...then we just picked up where we left off...wandering, gooey-eyed, through the cobblestone streets in the freezing cold...snuggling up to each other, enjoying what could be, my new favourite city in the whole of Europe. Sigh. Wonderful Helsinki, you are very very special to me.
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