TRAVEL

The writer, on his business travels, searches for something new beyond the tried and tested.

My notions of Finland once tended towards snowy weather, saunas and mobile phones. So when I finally got the chance to travel to Helsinki for a business conference last year, I gladly took it.

First impressions

Finns are said to be stoic, but I was to find that they also have an impish sense of humour. The Helsinki Visitors Guide tells you how the capital sees itself — friendly, trendy, green, relaxed and maritime, “where Eastern and Western cultures meet”. It is very much a cosmopolitan capital, more so than I expected, to be honest. But, unlike many cosmopolitan capitals, compact.

When I arrived it was drizzling, but an efficient bus service and genuinely helpful staff at ticket and information desks smoothed my transfer to the downtown zone.

So, after exiting the bus near the main rail station, I ambled to my home for the next three days, the StayAt hotel apartments, a modernised 1912 building in Museokatu near Helsinki Parliament in the Toolo part of the city. Although my temporary home didn’t exactly overlook the Parliament grounds, it was accessible to the station. My conference venue at Helsingfors was just one stop away.

What’s best about Scandinavian cities is that they are very walkable places, and were “green” long before this became fashionable. On a first visit to a city, it’s always revealing to walk around to get a feel of how the streets are laid out and to see slices of local life.

You get to observe the detail in people and buildings that’s missed when you whizz past in a coach or car. And the opportunities to strike up conversations with others more than make up for slightly aching knees.

Helsinki is a historic city offering several worthy sites and sights, while preserving its original cityscape, cleverly intertwining past and present in a sensible but striking way. As the historian E. H. Carr said: “A society without history is like a man without a memory.”

And, although Helsinki is contemporary, its memory is clear.

Work calls

I, like many of us, am a little cynical (all right, very cynical) about conferences, and this one’s tag-line: “Refresh yourself”, was not very inspiring. Like me, you are probably used to the drill of self-important selling, slick literature and “sought-after speakers”. The promise of the website usually fades once we register.

But Helsinki delivered in an understated, authentic way. It is a world-class congress city, not just a trendsetter in design and technology, but also in events.

This congress had a distinct division between practical seminars and those with a more scientific tone.

Coffee and lunch were served at “Market Square” in the middle of an unusually bright and busy exhibition area, recreating the feel of a good old market for food, services and ideas. Genuinely engaging and fun hosts, excellent planning and exciting venues added to the mix.

Social programmes also skilfully supplemented the normal networking, using outstanding locations and quirky entertainment such as boot throwing and a total cello ensemble (with memorably comical renderings of an F1 race as well as an imitation of Kimi Raikonnen) to nurture a night of fun and meeting new people.

I also appreciated the relaxed socialising, circulating and chatting around various music and food corners, as opposed to sitting static and served at a table the whole evening.

Attention was paid to little details; thorough thinking before implementation; no frills, fuss or fanfare. This is how the Finns do things.

Return trip

Work trips are often short and harried, but I definitely would like to return and explore Helsinki at leisure. It is a city of contrasts, calculated to entice. Its history, grand structures, modern amusement centres and ocean all coexist harmoniously and innovatively.

But there is plenty more to explore, such as the Senate Square, the city’s cultural centre, highlighted by its neo-classical architecture. Then there is the real Market Square. I was told that here, along the city’s bay area, the busy street is packed with stalls selling food, souvenirs, fresh produce, paintings and jewellery, and is the centre of marina social activity.

Aleksanterinkatu is the city’s commercial centre, perfect for a late afternoon stroll. Linnanmaki Amusement Park is one of Finland’s most popular theme parks, connected to the Sea Life Centre, a new attraction created to spark marine conservation awareness. Suomenlinna, a World Heritage Site, is a startling sea fortress popular with both tourists and locals, as is Hietaniemi Beach, if you want to get out but stay close to the city.

Although I did not manage the compelling city tour, I did experience the best the city had to offer in small doses. The Welcome Party was at the Helsinki City Hall, located in Helsinki’s neo-classical centre overlooking the Market Square. This building, large for its time, was originally designed as the Hotel Seurahuone in 1833. It contained business and banqueting premises and was refurbished in the early 1920s to become the City Hall.

The Conference’s Gala event was at the renowned Finlandia Hall, located to the north of the capital’s Municipal Museum, on the shores of Toolo Bay. Its imposing concert and convention halls stand near a park with large chessboards and chessmen, as well as the Finnish National Opera House.

A memorable Farewell and Garden Party at the Hilton Kalastajatorppa featured beautiful parkland, too, together with a superb sunset backdrop and very fine views of the truly exhilarating Finnish waterscape.

And my favourite feed — fish — naturally featured strongly on the menu. In particular, the smoked salmon mousse with sea buckthorn syrup, herring relish and apple, and crayfish toast certainly whetted my appetite.

But there was just one mishap — on the last night’s ride back to the hotel on the courtesy coach, I lost my phone (don’t ask how).

Retracing my steps later, searching the coach with the driver’s help, and calling those who had been with me all yielded nothing. Yet all was not lost. When I contacted the congress organisers, I got a matter-of-fact response that my phone was at the hotel and that I would be receiving it in the post, which I duly did within two days.

That’s the kind of people they are. Finnish.