1936 On the Continent

for persons who cannot leave town and do not pretend to rank with the real bathing resorts.
Night Life
    Tea at
Societetshuset, Kämp
or any other hotel, the English Tea Rooms in Unioninkatu, Fazer’s (rather weak “English tea” with an enormous helping of toast and marmalade, but
the
place for pastry); elsewhere preferably coffee.
    Dinner at any of the hotels and restaurants mentioned. So many people leave town in the evening that this meal is quiet everywhere. The gourmand might consult the head waiter at
Societetshuset
for any special delicacies in season; good as the cooking at the other first-class places is, none of them can compete with
Societetshuset
or
Kämp
on the higher levels of cookery. At this time of the year no one dresses for dinner.
    The same applies to supper and dancing. The popular place is
Kaivohuone
, in Kaivopuisto Park, which provides a few variety turns during the evening; tables should be booked in advance.
Brändö Casino
, in the suburbs, also has dancing in the evening.
Kappeli
has a German beer-garden aspect in the evening, but is liable to be overcrowded.
    As for other amusements, there are none of an evening nature in summer—I have already said that it is the outdoor holiday season, when there are no theatres, opera performances or concerts. The Finn compelled to remainin town spends his evenings at
Kaivohuone
or
Kappeli
, or at the suburban resorts (
Munkkiniemi, Alppila
restaurant,
Korkeasaari
—the local Zoo). The evenings, with their mysterious half-light, are also a good time for walks, Kaivohuone Park, Observatory Hill, with its view of the harbour and part of the town, or just streets. A few picture theatres remain open, but it is not worth their while to show anything but old films.
Everyday Life
    Daytime amusements include golf (up to midnight at midsummer) on the Tali Golf Course, a few miles out of town, tennis at Westend, Hagalund, or at Munkkiniemi, an occasional international football match, athletic meets (for these consult the hotel porter or the Tourist Association, as the dates cannot be given so far in advance), a visit to the old fortified islands—nothing extremely novel. Indeed, the visitor for whom the interest of a new city is soon exhausted had better set out on a tour of Finland or visit one of the bathing resorts. But before proceeding to these, a few more particulars about everyday life in Helsinki.
    Taxis are very cheap in Finland, and a shilling covers a fairly long ride, but trams and buses are, of course, much cheaper. The routes may be studied from a map of the city—or, as most of the trailers are open in summer, one might simply take any route as a method of sightseeing. The tram fare is one mark (a penny), and all the traveller has to do is to hold out the mark when the conductor comes and then hold on to his ticket; tickets, by the way, are also sold in bunches at a slight reduction, so that if by chance one is out of change, the best thing to do is to hold up a finger when tendering a five-mark or ten-mark piece, otherwise the change may come in the form of tickets. Closed cars, if with automatically closing doors, are entered from the rear and left by the front door. From trailers one simply steps down, unless the trailer is a closed one and entered from a platform at the back, in which case one enters and leaves by the same door. Town buses are also entered from the back and left by the door beside the driver; the fare in this case is one mark twenty-five pennis. On bus rides out to thesuburbs, tender a five-mark piece and take back the change, and so save asking the fare, which will probably be two marks.
    Money, by the way, can be changed at any bank with full confidence that the correct rate will be paid. Look for the counter marked “Exchange.” A pound is worth 227 marks—a mark is thus slightly over a penny—and in most circumstances a 100-mark bill will go at least as far as a pound in London. Notes are of 1,000, 500, 100, 50 and 20 marks denominations, bronze alloy coins of 20, 10 and 5 marks take the place of silver coins; the mark and its fractions, 50 and 25 pennis, are nickel coins; and then, about as useful as farthings in England, there are 10 and 5 penni copper coins.
Making Friends
    The visitor who can present a letter of introduction has the best chance of getting to know the Finns, for that opens the way to Finnish hospitality. There is a Finnish-British Society, but its members are scattered in the summer. The