Helsinki was ‘awesome’. That’s Ry’s word – but after a funny conversation at dinner last night we realized it’s THE American word to describe something. British say BRILLIANT or LOVELY. Irish say everything is GRAND. Anyway, it really was… awesome. We followed the crowd out of the ship until they veered to the right for the 12Euro shuttle into town. We decided to walk.
We followed the beautiful shoreline and then into town where we hopped onto a trolley and headed to the Market Square. Without even looking around we jumped on the ferry to Suomenlinna…. an island sea fortress… It was a 15 minute sail.
From the ferry, leaving the Market Square…
We wandered through the series of islands connected by bridges and ended up on the most southern island. Great views, rocky cliffs and the remains from when the island was a fortress to protect Sweden (who owned Finland) from Russia. It was really fun and something completely unique. Finland is just beautiful.
A little photo shoot of Katie… Age 12
Then Katie took my camera…
We caught the 1:00 ferry back to the Market Square and checked out what the vendors were selling. We hadn’t done any shopping in Stockholm so it was a fun change.
We found a cool ‘cut out coin vendor’ and spent half an hour finding out which coins were from which country and deciding which one we wanted. Katie got a Deutschland Mark necklace. Ryan got a Deutschland Mark key chain. Chris got a Soviet Union Ruble Key chain.
I loved the Canada ones but ended up getting a Swedish Crown necklace. Fun souvenirs.
This one is Katie’s…
Then Chris urged me to buy a watercolor painting of the Helsinki harbor. Actually he liked the fountain one best but I just love a picture with water – it reminds me so much of all these Scandinavian port cities. This is the one I bought…
But I loved all of them – especially this one but it was larger and 85 Euro…
Interesting information about Helsinki and it’s architecture…
“Helsinki is the only European capital with no medieval past. Although it was founded in the 16th century by the Swedes in hopes of countering Tallinn as a strategic Baltic port, it never amounted to more than a village until the 18th century, Then, in 1746, Sweden built a huge fortress on an island out side it’s harbor (the one we visited earlier in the morning) and the village boomed as it supplied the fortress.
After taking over Finland in 1809, the Russians decided to move Finland's capital and university closer to St. Petersburg – from Turku to Helsinki. They hired a young German architect, Carl Ludvig Engel, to design new public buildings for Helsinki and told him to use St. Petersburg as a model. This is why the oldest parts of Helsinki feel so Russian – stone buildings in yellow and blue pastels with white trim and columns. Holly wood used Helsinki for the films Gorky Park and Dr. Zhivagio, because filming in Russia was not possible during the Cold War.” Rick Steves Scandinavia
We took the tram around town and enjoyed seeing life in Helsinki. Beautiful Russian-styled architecture, lots of colorful flower shops, ornate and stately churches, modern shopping, big brick schools and playgrounds full of children.
We got off to see the Church of the Rock – a church built entirely within a huge granite rock. It was quite something.
We had to be back on the ship at 4:15 so we found our bus back with plenty of time, so we wouldn’t be cutting it too close. Chris always does an amazing job of navigating us through the city – and I so appreciate it. He did get the kids pretty fearful of what might happen if we were late so Ryan and Katie were pretty anxious to get on the right bus.
As soon as we went through security and were back on the BRILLIANCE OF THE SEA we ran up to the Seaview Café to order some late lunch at the Italian Restaurant. Katie – farfalle Alfredo. Ryan – Classic Penne Paste and Tomato Sauce. Chris – Spaghetti and Spicy Tomato Sauce. It just makes me laugh because of course that’s what each of them would order. They are so predictable. Me – a Panini.
Now the kids are swimming and sitting in the hot tub and Chris and I are relaxing in the Solarium. Chris is trying to read a book with his eyes closed. I’m writing and staring out the full length windows as the cruise ship maneuvers its way through the small islands and sea dotted with white sailboats. Dinner is in an hour…
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