Rich and I are big fans of food tours. Whenever we travel we always sign up for a food tour if it is available. Some have been absolutely fantastic, some not really so great, but we always learn a lot about the city and the culture, more than we ever have taking normal tourist tours. So when we booked our trip to Helsinki we did a bit of research on food tours and signed up to Heather’s Helsinki. Heather has been in Finland for around 14 years, married to a Finnish man, and she has been doing tours in Helsinki [...]

It’s Father’s Day in Australia and in recognition of this Rich, who is Australian, has decided to go full into the bad dad jokes. As a new dad, I sense he has been waiting years for the opportunity to share these and all those pent up bad jokes are being released at once. Being in Finland one particular joke got a lot of use, too much use. An empty cup of coffee became a Finnish coffee (get it, finished=Finnish..yeah) a finished sandwich became a Finnish sandwich and a finished hot chocolate became, yes, a Finnish hot chocolate. The first few [...]

Helsinki is a beautiful city. It is grand yet quaint and charming. The buildings are classic yet they have pops of colours with hints of red, yellows and greens. Big sidewalks give priority to pedestrians, and the people are no-nonsense yet extremely friendly. Here there is no need to rush and it is remarkably easy to walk for hours as every street presents something new and unique. One of the hidden jewels right near the downtown is called Café Kuppi ja Muffini. We would have never thought of stopping here if it hadn’t been for Heather as it was part [...]

This week is Design Week in Helsinki, and it must be the best week to be in Helsinki (obviously it has taken me a while to post this blog. Just had so many hot chocolates on this trip. Sorry! But there is an open call right now for participants for the 2016 Design Week so perhaps the timing is perfect). Founded in 2005, Helsinki Design Week is the largest design festival in the Nordic countries. Held annually in September, the multidisciplinary festival presents design from a number of fields as well as fashion, architecture and urban culture. It is a [...]

Karl Fazer was born in Helsinki and studied baking around Europe before opening his own place in 1891. Apart from making candy and chocolate that has become part of the Finnish national identity, he also participated in the 1912 Olympic Games, finishing fifth in the men’s team clay pigeons as a sport shooter. Today when people in Helsinki think chocolate, they think Karl Frazer, and his little pieces of chocolate wrapped in blue paper are both famous and addictive. The store in central Helsinki is a sweet wonderland. They have a large section at the back that serves a breakfast [...]