Matti Pyykkö
Saimi Hoyer
English
Helsinki has a ring of its own.
Saimi Hoyer is a person of opposites. Urban and agrarian. Loving the spotlight and loving to step away from it. A cosmopolitan nature enthusiast who struts through the mushroom forests of East Savonia as comfortably as over the catwalks. A book-loving aesthete who also takes care of plumbing emergencies herself.
Hoyer has looked at her birthtown of Helsinki with different eyes in different moments. As a child, as a student at the music-focused Sibelius upper secondary school, as an expat popping in to Finland, as a career-changer, and nowadays as a "provincial" visitor to Helsinki, as she puts it.
"I used to have a love-hate relationship with Helsinki, now I just have one of love. I used to sigh from relief when I could leave the city for the peace and quiet of the countryside. Now I find it exciting to go to Helsinki to see what is happening. I feel it in my guts when the train pulls into the railway station. I used to leave Helsinki and head to Punkaharju feeling empty. Now, when I go back to eastern Finland I feel full. I'm blooming with ideas and joy. Helsinki is the best possible travel destination for me right now."
In her modelling years, Hoyer worked in cities like Tokyo, London, Paris, Milan and New York. She worked for the famed fashion houses Givenchy and Burberry, and posed on the pages of iconic magazines like Vogue and Elle. "After living abroad for 10 years, Helsinki looked like a little town to me. But I have to say that already back then Helsinki had a ring of its own. Now that I look at it, I especially like how it rings at the moment. Helsinki has developed a lot as a city."
Hoyer tends to form strong attachments to people and places. "I lived for a long time in Hakaniemi, and it became an important place for me. I used to walk endlessly along the shore there. Many see Hakaniemi as somewhere to just pass through, but I miss it physically. Sometimes when I cross Hakaniemi on a tram, I feel it in my heart."
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I have a lot of speaking engagements in Helsinki. Because I'm part Helsinkian, I want where I’m staying to feel homey. F6 is beautiful and it's right in the middle of everything. I feel comfortable there, it's my home in Helsinki. There is a brilliant breakfast, the right feeling, and more than anything the brilliant staff who always make me feel like I'm arriving home. I've developed a strong emotional bond with this place.
When I eat or drink in Helsinki, there is one place above all others, Ysibaari, as the locals call it. In my crazy years as a model I focused on the drinks, and nowadays I'm more about the food. You end up having amazing conversations even with strangers, and you can run into just about anyone. It's one of the points of my Helsinki triangle. A place with plenty of emotional ties. When I visited Finland in my years abroad, I would just find a table at Ysibaari and meet up with friends and acquaintances there."
Many people visiting Helsinki don't know this place. I know however from personal experience that when countryside folks in Helsinki start to feel anxious, they should head to Metsä Skogen. It's a world of its own, the forest is always present and can be felt with all senses. When you make a visit, you can perhaps also understand the value of your own place of residence and of nature. I feel that we should value our own surroundings much more here in the countryside and we should also market it. Why let others do it for us?
I've always been a huge fan of books. I go to the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa bookstore to enjoy books and a peaceful atmosphere. There is a constant flow of people yet you can still sit down to read and stay in your thoughts. I always drink jasmine tea and eat a warm ham and cheese sandwich. There is a waiter who knows me and already knows what I will have.
I have found button mushrooms growing even right in the city centre on Pieni Roobertinkatu. But if you enjoy mushrooms, I recommend looking for them in Sipoonkorpi instead. The common storyline is that mushrooms get picked quickly from the national parks in the metropolitan region, but Sipoonkorpi is always a safe bet. Everyone always heads to Nuuksio out of habit, but Saimi's tip is to make a trip to Sipoonkorpi!
Teurastamo (The Abattoir) is a well-worth sidestep from the city centre. The atmosphere is lively and has an enjoyable Helsinkian edge to it. A place with all kinds of things. You can visit the Väyrynen bakery stand, they have fabulous rye bread. You can drop off your teenage kids at the nearby skate park at Suvilahti where they will happily spend several hours.
Pompier Espa is one of my regular haunts in Helsinki. I sit there in a state of ecstasy, the food is mind-blowing. Pompier is a very special place in the sense that it has never failed me. I see that as a sign of a good restaurant. You get proper service and the staff knows what they are doing, even offering advice when needed. A general tip for Helsinki is that it is worthwhile to open your mouth and ask around. The locals are happy to share interesting locations.
I like to visit small boutiques, they are such treasure chests. Kati Niemi's hat shop is exactly like this, such a charming venue. You can find dozens of different straw hats, for instance. I have so many hats, including four different straw hats. A hat is an accessory, it tells a lot about a person. It gives you character, or takes it away.
Visiting the Roiniset butcher's shop is a kind of pilgrimage for me. I'm such an impossible person that I have even had their products sent to me here in the woods. That's not a place to let Saimi loose! I go to Roiniset to satisfy my cravings for Italy by buying Italian sausages, for instance.
Wine in the Woods is a tremendous concept, a splendid alternative to a night on the town. Good wine and the forest, I can hardly come up with a better and more enjoyable combination. The Wine in the Woods trips are guided by Antti Huttunen, who is also the founder of the Finland, Naturally website and has filmed a nature-themed tv show at the Nuuksio National Park and here in Punkaharju.