Happy Holidays!

So, my travel begins. The 2 days before Christmas, I have been visiting some places I wanted to see before leaving this amazing city. I went to visit Helsinki and Porvoo, which is an hour bus drive from Helsinki, one last time.

Helsinki
On Wednesday 22 of December, I took another visit to Helsinki to see some places that were still on my bucket list. I walked in my favourite park by Elaintarhanlahti lake, up to an old monastry that I always saw from the train. I walked around in Kallio, enjoying the sun and esthetic surroundings. Around sunset, which in Helsinki is around 3pm, I visited the Christmas market a last time, as well as Cathedral Tuomiokirkko. A really beautiful scene! And after this day, I found out there is still so much I haven't seen.

Porvoo
I've visited this cute town back in August with some of my friends, but I wanted to visit it again - especially with Christmas nearby. So, I went there on Thursday 23 of December. When I arrived, I walked around for a bit, taking pictures, and looking around at some souvenir shops. I had lunch in a very cute cafe and walked around just outside the centre. Porvoo is a very beautiful, small, esthetic town, great to visit in every season in my opinion. Even though I like being able to do what I want, I learned that good company is nice.

A Foreign Christmas
I had decided to stay during Christmas, initially to stay with exchange people who had the same plan, but in the end I asked my brother Jeroen to come to Helsinki and spend Christmas together. Jeroen arrived 24 of December and stayed until 27 of December. We visited Helsinki and Tallinn, ate self-cooked dinner, called home to catch up, and exchanged gifts. It was nice to have company again, especially having some family over during Christmas abroad. We had a very nice time together. On the next page you can see some of my favourite Christmas pictures. Helsinki looked absolutely magical and cozy during the dark days. There was a Christmas market and a lot of cozy lights spread through the city. Also, Tallinn was wonderful to see with snow and its cozy Christmas market. Oh and the Finnish glühwein, Glögi, amazing! The non-alcoholic Glögi tastes just like the Dutch homemade stewed pears. And all the shopping malls are decorated in the Christmas spirit, as well as the Finnish homes. It is very typical for Fins to put up a star with a light at the window. And in multiple places in Helsinki are Christmas trees where people can hang a note in the tree with a self-written text or hang a self-crafted ornament.

Happy New Year!
Same as for Christmas, I spend celebrating the new year in Helsinki. Unfortunately this time alone. It was okay until I went to the cathedral to look at the fireworks at 0:00, where people started to look weird at me. I ignored it and tried to just enjoy the new year's eve. During the day, there were no fireworks as far as I could hear, or at least a very little. An hour or so before 0:00, the firework shows from the city started. And then at 0:00, there was a lot of fireworks, for Finland at least, which was nice to look at but, to be honest, I expected it to be bigger. It felt really weird, the entire day did not feel like it was the last day of 2021, and the same for the 1st of January. But I always have that during New Year :)