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Rick Steves' Best of St. Petersburg, Tallinn & Helsinki in 9 Days Tour
We arrived in Helsinki and headed straight for the Seurasaari Open-Air Folk Museum (another of my favorite Rick Steves tour stops!). This was such an interesting museum! There are over 100 buildings that have been essentially airlifted from other parts of the country to show you the variety of architecture that can be found around this huge country. Churches, manor houses, farms, oh my! Plus a quick stop for ice cream, yum.
Our next stop was the intriguing Sibelius Monument, a favorite of Grampy, our resident music geek. 600 pipes of various widths pay homage to Finland’s most famous composer, Jean Sibelius. Try finding a pipe wide enough to stick your head into (don’t get stuck!) and play around with sounds.
Our final stop of the day was the Temppeliaukio Church. Let me say, WOW. This church, built in 1969, was blasted out of granite and sits inside a hill. It is sparsely decorated, but the copper roof (13 miles of wire!) and stunning architecture pull your attention without unnecessary adornment. If there had been a concert that evening, we certainly would have attended! The acoustics are incredible.
After a delicious group dinner, we headed to bed, ready to continue exploring Helsinki the next day!
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Helsinki: Gallery
We certainly needed our walking shoes this day! We started out along the Esplanade, heading towards the grand dueling cathedrals, stopping in the market square to admire the Tsarina Stone (the first example of me pointing to a double-headed eagle and quizzing my mom about what it represents, Imperial Russia). Our first reminder that Finland is extremely close to Russia, this monument was erected in 1835 to celebrate the visit of Tsar Nicholas I and the Tsarina Alexandra. This stop also presented a great view of the harbor and the market (more on the treats to be found in there later!).
We stopped in the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral, taking a moment to admire the golden iconostasis and glittering icons. The view of the harbor wasn’t too shabby either! Our walk took us along a river front road, reminding me of East Coast cities in the U.S. The Lutheran Cathedral provided a stark contrast to the luxuriant interior of the Uspenski Cathedral - it was clean, white, and sparsely decorated.
We passed some grand buildings, including the Central Train Station. Imagine a building straight out of an Ayn Rand novel, huge figures holding globes stand watch over the entrance.
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Not pictured is our stop at the Kamppi Chapel, a completely silent space in the center of a busy city square. Definitely worth a stop!
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Helsinki: Gallery
This next stop was just plain FUN, the new Helsinki Public Library! I was amazed by the offerings - you could reserve time to work on sewing machines, vinyl cutters, 3D printers, you name it! The library was huge and filled with people. I was certainly jealous that there isn’t anything like that in my neighborhood back home.
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Helsinki: Gallery
If you love seafood, this is the market for you. Oh my goodness, smoked salmon, roasted salmon, salmon salad, the choices are endless! We went with a few plates to share and some delicious rose (hey, this is vacation after all). Mari’s stop features gluten free pastries and bread, a treat for Grammy! Be warned about sitting outside, my carefully cropped photo hides the net covering the seating area. Seagulls are vicious and will dive at your food! We escaped unscathed but had some close calls. The food was worth it!
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Helsinki: Gallery
After lunch, Mom and I joined the crew heading out to Suomenlinna Fortress, the island guarding Helsinki from unfriendly visitors. It acted as the base for the Finnish navy throughout World War II. Today, it is a fun spot for a summer outing, we saw families with picnic baskets, children playing in the fort, and couples strolling with ice cream. We walked around the island, following the visitor path. At one point, we waded into the water and oh boy, the Baltic is COLD!
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Helsinki: Gallery
We joined up with the Gs for a beverage at Cafe Kappeli, a glass-fronted gabezo-like strucutre on the Esplanade. While I will admit the long days throw off your sleep schedule in the summer, it makes for great touring!! We were tickled to run into our local guide grabbing a drink with her friend.
Tomorrow we head to Russia!
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Helsinki: Image
Helsinki: Text
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