We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day. The sun made the water look like it was full of silver. We are in Helskini, Finland.
This is a much more industrial looking area, not the beautiful buildings and surroundings that we had yesterday in Stockholm. Helsinki, situated on a penisula, it is a natural sea port and the capital of Finland with a metropolitan population of one million people. They say the port is blocked by ice from January until May. I guess it magically disappears in June because we didn't see any. Interesting little tidbit, ice skating originated in Finland. It started with the early settlers strapped blades to their boots for crossing the frozen lakes that dot the countryside.
We left by motor coach at 10:30. We started by passing the shipyard and along the coastal roads.
Our first stop was to the Senate Square. We spent about 20 minutes there taking pictures and listening to some musicians playing in the square.
We then went to visit Olympic Stadium where the 1952 Olympics were held. It was interesting that the stadium and tower were built in 1937 for the 1940 Olympics but due to World War II, the Olympics weren't held and they had to wait until 1952 to host the games.
They are very proud of the tower and stadium but it just looked like an old building with a monument out front of their famous runner, Paavo Nurmi, called the "Flying Fin".
We then went to Sebelius Park named for the composer, Jean Sebelius. That is where the interesting monument is that nobody knows what it really is. Our tour guide said it is up to your imagination -- some think it's an organ, others an angel, but all think it must be related to music. Me, I just think it looks like a bunch of pipes hanging together.
Our next stop was to the most unusual church call ed the Temppeliaukio Rock Church that was built in 1969 out of natural bedrock. The church is used for both religious services and as a venue for concerts. It is a Luthern denomination. We learned that there are only 10 Catholic churches in Helsinki and two Mormons live there!!!
We were then dropped off for shopping which was the best part of the day. We spent the entire time at a department store called Stockmann's. We ate lunch at a little cafeteria called Fazer and then tried to figure out which floor was what. This was quite a store -- they sold everything from electronics to garden flowers -- bags of geraniums were for sale. I was ready to buy them and then realized I was thousands of miles away. They also had a grocery store in the bottom of the store. As you can tell from the bags Dee is carrying, we found a few souveniers. We made it back to the ship about 4:00.
We had another animal appear on our bed. I think this one is obvious -- a rabbit.
We are off to the best place overnight -- St. Petersburg, Russia. We will be docked for two days so think this will be the highlight of all the places we have seen.
Once again, we lose another hour. We are now going to be 9 hours ahead of OKC time. It is very difficult to know when to go to bed because it is still light at Midnight. I see suns setting and coming up almost together so I am really mixed up!
More tomorrow.
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