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| So many tiny islands. As we drew closer to the mainland, more and more of them were even occupied. |
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| This one had homes on it. |
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| The tour buses were lined up and waiting for us. |
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| Today, the flag of Finland. |
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| Me, deciding I want to retire to a Finnish island someday. |
Unlike Stockholm, which is a bit of a drive from the port, Helsinki is at the very edge of the coast of Finland. It would be easy enough to stay in Helsinki after the formal excursion was finished, and head back on my own.
As in Sweden, we had a guide who was absolutely cheerful and lovely--as well as knowledgeable about her city and country. Finland has a population of about 5.5 million, which is small on the world scale. Helsinki itself is home to under one million people, so while it is a lovely world capitol with wonderful things to see and do, it is decidedly more relaxed than larger cities like London or Paris.
Our first stop was at a park that is home to the Sibelius Monument. Perhaps Finland's most famous composer, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is most well-known for his "Finlandia," Opus 26, which I am listening to as I blog this.
The music nerd in me was excited to see the monument, though I confess I know far less about Sibelius than I do, say, Mozart or Beethoven.
The park is lovely, even on an overcast morning. The monument itself is comprised of what look like organ pipes, which caused some controversy, because Sibelius didn't compose for the organ. Still, it's a lovely monument.
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| Requisite Instagram selfie |
Our visit was brief, as we had another monument that Helsinki is quite proud of to visit--the Rock Church, or Temppeliaukio Church. Our guide could say this flawlessly; for my part, I'll just keep calling it by its common English nickname.
Most of Scandinavia, see, is one big slab of granite. This was true in Sweden, and if you look in the park pictures above, you'll see one of a large slab of rock. The Rock Church was built by blasting a huge hole and building over it.
As churches go, it's not the most ornate, but it is pretty cool how they did it.
We had to park down a bit of a hill and walk up to the church, passing souvenir shops and all manner of businesses. The church itself was crowded, so I can't say I really enjoyed my visit, as every five feet I had to stop for yet another person in front of me to take a selfie. Dad and I spent about five minutes inside and then ventured back out so I could pop into one of the shops.
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| "You know who lives in Finland?" our guide asked us. "Santa Claus! He lives in Finland!" |
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| The Rock Church from outside. |
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| The ceiling of the church. |
While I was in the shop--which, like the church, was also packed to the gills, and very frustrating for a woman with anxiety who hates crowds, it started to rain outside. Dad headed back to the bus, leaving me to wonder when I finally extricated myself from the madness indoors. I stood around several minutes, figuring he must have gone back, but not wanting to leave without knowing for sure. Finally, I risked the super-expensive cell phone call. Indeed, he was on the bus, so I hustled back down the hill and joined him.
Our next planned stop was to visit the large square in front of Helsinki Cathedral, where we would get an hour to ourselves with the bus parked nearby. First, however, we circled around a little as our guide told us more about the history.
My favorite memory of the guide from that day was when she picked up from another member of our group, "Fin-tastic." She laughed heartily and said, "I love it! It's Fin-tastic!! We are Fin-tastic!!"
Dad and I set off to have some lunch at a traditional Finnish restaurant we found across the square from the cathedral.
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| Helsinki Cathedral |
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| Add caption |
I was curious about the reindeer. I've had venison and moose before, and I know that reindeer meet in Finland is probably sustainable. Still, I didn't want to get on Santa's bad side. And I certainly was not ready to try bear meat (plus, it was very, very expensive). So I ordered the cabbage rolls, and they were delicious.
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| Our guide bragged about Finland's super-clean water. |
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| This was a little appetizer of a flat rye bread with a reindeer puree. Delicious. |
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| Instead of the World's Cleanest Water, I opted for Finnish wild blueberry juice. No regrets. |
After lunch, Dad headed back to the bus to return to the ship, while I stayed behind for a bit to look around on my own. The sun was coming out, so after taking a few pictures of a sun-lightened cathedral, I walked back down to the water where our guide had pointed out an outdoor market.
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| Finland is known for its berries, and this stand had samples. I chatted with the woman behind the counter and tried different varieties. They were all lovely. |
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| I loved this artist's watercolors, and bought one for myself. |
After the market, I walked down main shopping street, enjoying the gardens along the way.
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| This fuschia is absolutely luscious. |
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| Diary of a Wimpy Kid in Finnish. |
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| Finland's answer to Copenhagen's Little Mermaid, the Havis Amanda. |
My last stop was to wander inside Helsinki's version of Harrod's, Stockmann. I didn't stay long, but I did get pictures of the door, because why not?
Across the street from Stockmann, there was supposed to be a shuttle pick-up point for the ship, but after wandering, finding other Princess people who were just as confused as I, and even asking two very friendly traffic police if they knew (they didn't), I gave up and went back to the square in front of the cathedral, where I'd seen taxis waiting.
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| One more picture along the way. |
I very much enjoyed Helsinki, though I didn't get a tremendous amount of time there. It is a small city, very charming, and clean--as all the Scandinavian cities are.
Now, however, it was time to rest up. We had two very long days in St. Petersburg ahead, and a very early call time the next morning.
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