Helsinki, Finland
Whichever way you look at it, St. Petersburg was always going to be a hard act to follow.
Helsinki is an interesting city, with lots of interesting features and locations, yet it all felt so very different to what we’d experienced over the two previous days.
Tracey and I had been assigned to a City Tour, which basically means a lot of sitting on a coach while it drives you around and the guide tells you as much about the city as she can within the time allowed. Not our favourite kind of excursion, but I think everyone was feeling the effects of all the walking in St. Petersburg, so some quality coach-sitting time seemed quite a welcome contrast(and coaches just send me to sleep).
Our first stop was to a park featuring an unusual monument to Helsinki’s most famous composer, Sibelius. It’s an abstract piece of work that looks much like a bunch of organ pipes glued together. The good people of Helsinki complained when it was erected that Sibelius didn’t compose organ music, and that the monument was far too abstract to be appropriate, so a more figurative feature was added to it, showing the composer’s face. It’s difficult to get a good photograph of it with all the Japanese tourists taking selfies next to it, but I think I did okay…
As we drove around the city, our guide told us about the the population’s biggest pastime, and passion; saunas. She also explained how the sea freezes over in the winter, so all the boats in the harbour have to be taken up and put into storage. The ice is so thick that you can walk across the harbour to the various islands there. More importantly; I was relieved to hear that they cut holes in the ice so that those taking saunas can follow them up with a spot of winter sea-swimming, which is hugely popular in these parts. She told us that if they can’t get into the sea, then they can always roll in the snow… presumeably in their pink and crinklies. I worry about the Finnish…
Our next stop was to The Rock Church. This isn’t a church where they play rock music, but a church that is literally built out of, and into, the rock. It’s a strangely beautiful building, with an ornate dome ceiling made out of copper strands (apparently).
Finally, we arrived at Senate Square; a large square sporting a monument and lots of Japanese tourists taking selfies. Along the bottom edge runs trams, and along the opposite edge, a large flight of steps takes you to the Cathedral. We had 35 minutes to explore at leisure, so I went to take a look inside the Cathedral and wandered around filming the trams before it was time to reboard the coach to take us back to the ship for lunch and a leisurely afternoon of blog updating and tea drinking.
