Helsinki, Finland

After two days at St Petersburg, we needed a rest, and we found it in Helsinki. A smaller city, and a lot quieter, and beautiful weather, was just what we needed.

We had a short day here, going ashore at 9am and leaving at 3:30pm. We had a tour booked and today it was a small bus filled with people. We had a really nice tour guide also.

We started going for a scenic drive around the city, learning that Helsinki is surrounded by water, and built on granite. Many surrounding islands, and also parks within the city, are all hard granite ground.

We visited the town square and surrounding parts, learning about some of the history especially with respect to Russia and how Finland eventually gained its independence.

The town square was mainly populated with tourist buses from our ship.

Overlooking the square is a beautiful church, which we went inside for a quick look. It is relatively understated compared with many, but has a beautiful organ.

We saw a statue which shows shell damage from WWII, which the city decided to leave as is, as a permanent reminder of the war.

Our guide has two children at university, and took us into the University Library to show us the architecture. Multi level, it has a sequence of oval shaped holes in the ceilings, getting smaller at each level. This creates an amazing affect, and lets in plenty of natural light. On each floor, students can sit around the oval to study. The spiral staircase looks great from the top floor also.

We were then given spare time in the city, to wander around the local markets. Helen purchased some soft toys for Libby.

I happened to notice local food vendors selling reindeer meat. I didn't try it, mainly because the prices were very expensive. We are told by our guide that Finland is the most expensive country in the Euro Zone.

Next we were taken to the Rock Church. This is a church created inside a granite hill, with a dome roof. From the outside it looks like a bunker, you would miss it if it weren't for all the visitors. Most impressive indoors and very peaceful.

Finally we were taken to a couple of local parks. We were shown an interesting piece of art, which was fun to take photos of.

I saw this car drive past, and just had to take a photo. I don't know what "Helen" is, but this looks like a company logo.

We returned to the ship about 1pm, which gave us plenty of relaxing time. Overall Helsinki was a quite town, actually reminded me a bit of Wellington, with the water surrounding and similiar traffic levels, and similar population.