Welp, I'm back from Finland. What an amazing trip. Everyone that I encountered was incredibly friendly, helpful and (luckily for me) fluent in English. The days were long and the weather was perfect which led to a lot of walking around the city.
Something that really struck me was how wide all of the sidewalks are there. Main roads have the sidewalk split up with a path for pedestrians and a path for bikes. Many of the side roads have these same large sidewalks but with no need for designated lanes the stores and restaurants sprawl out into the sidewalk and integrate into the city. Summer in Helsinki is short so people who live there soak it in like crazy while they can.
I took the above photo in the Kallio neighborhood of Helsinki.
