Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
FARFRUMWURKEN
The end gets nearer in sight. Only 8 days left for the cruise portion but still so much to see. At about 8:20 a.m. I got a call from Tom that sounded like death warmed over. He has come down with a cold so he wouldn't be making our 9:00 a.m. tour. You see, Helsinki was Jamie’s city – she had done all the prep work, sites to see, she was to be our guide for the walkabout tour of this city that dates back to the 1500’s.
Deb and I put on the rain clothes and headed out. We decided rather than walk the 25 minutes from the port to the downtown core we’d take the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus that was waiting at the port. It would only be 20 more Euros’ than the shuttle so why not take advantage of the all-in-one package. The cobblestone roads here in Helsinki are the worst we’ve found to date. The bus rattled and rolled along the downtown streets over these larger than normal cobblestones.
Again, as has been the case it was overcast with a little rain when we started out. We took the typical ride – once around the complete circuit of town to get a flavor for where the attractions were and then got off at the appropriate spot on the 2nd circuit. As we made our way around town, we happened to spot the PUB Tram. Here in Helsinki there is one tramcar that is painted red and is an actual bar on the rails – how cool and progressive.
We decided that we’d get off at the ROCK CHURCH and then walk the rest of this small city that housed 450,000 Helsinkian’s. Because it’s not a big city, this can be covered off pretty quickly. You can easily see that this city was a favorite of the SPB crowd for vacations as there are so many similarities to the buildings and infrastructure here in this Finnish capital.
It seems that in their infinite wisdom, TravelPod has decided to take down my travel blog – seems that they felt it had crossed over their Terms of Use and until they review this I’m not sure what I’ll do to communicate to friends back home. It was only until we ducked into a Mickey D’s that I saw that all my previous posts had been moved to "draft" status. I sent them several stern emails, hopefully they get the picture before the end of the trip.
Back to Helsinki – they are directly across the bay from Tallinn, Estonia. This capital city lies on the southern peninsula near the Gulf of Finland. The Rock Church is an architectural wonder, carved into the hillside with a copper ceiling, which looks much higher than it really is. On to the Esplanade – it is a nice not crowded boulevard surrounded by modest but elegant buildings typical of European cities by the Baltic Sea. A small old open market is at the end of the Esplanade – here you can find everything reindeer. From bottle openers, to hides to reindeer burgers – we passed on everything continuing to search for our Helsinki magnet. As a matter of record we currently hold 12 city magnets on our metal stateroom wall missing both Lisbon (forgot) and Cherbourg, France (too rainy).
We heard later at our specialty dinner that T&J did venture out “walking” all the way from the ship to the Rock Church, which is quite a distance from the port. All afternoon I wore masks when I encountered the sick Thomas. I think I worried a few other cruisers when I showed up at the Tamarind Restaurant wearing a surgical mask. This got put aside pretty quickly.
Dinner was great – amazing Asian food with very pleasing presentation. We then proceeded down to BB King and then off to Kenn Nunn in Piano Bar before checking off to bed. I’ve set my alarm for 5:30 to capture some of the islands that we go through in order to dock in Stockholm to start our two-day adventure in this Swedish capital. It reminds me very much of the Thousand Islands back in the east – little cottages and docks sit on the edges of quaint little properties – something I truly miss since moving to the west as it’s not common in Vancouver.
Deb and I put on the rain clothes and headed out. We decided rather than walk the 25 minutes from the port to the downtown core we’d take the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus that was waiting at the port. It would only be 20 more Euros’ than the shuttle so why not take advantage of the all-in-one package. The cobblestone roads here in Helsinki are the worst we’ve found to date. The bus rattled and rolled along the downtown streets over these larger than normal cobblestones.
Again, as has been the case it was overcast with a little rain when we started out. We took the typical ride – once around the complete circuit of town to get a flavor for where the attractions were and then got off at the appropriate spot on the 2nd circuit. As we made our way around town, we happened to spot the PUB Tram. Here in Helsinki there is one tramcar that is painted red and is an actual bar on the rails – how cool and progressive.
We decided that we’d get off at the ROCK CHURCH and then walk the rest of this small city that housed 450,000 Helsinkian’s. Because it’s not a big city, this can be covered off pretty quickly. You can easily see that this city was a favorite of the SPB crowd for vacations as there are so many similarities to the buildings and infrastructure here in this Finnish capital.
It seems that in their infinite wisdom, TravelPod has decided to take down my travel blog – seems that they felt it had crossed over their Terms of Use and until they review this I’m not sure what I’ll do to communicate to friends back home. It was only until we ducked into a Mickey D’s that I saw that all my previous posts had been moved to "draft" status. I sent them several stern emails, hopefully they get the picture before the end of the trip.
Back to Helsinki – they are directly across the bay from Tallinn, Estonia. This capital city lies on the southern peninsula near the Gulf of Finland. The Rock Church is an architectural wonder, carved into the hillside with a copper ceiling, which looks much higher than it really is. On to the Esplanade – it is a nice not crowded boulevard surrounded by modest but elegant buildings typical of European cities by the Baltic Sea. A small old open market is at the end of the Esplanade – here you can find everything reindeer. From bottle openers, to hides to reindeer burgers – we passed on everything continuing to search for our Helsinki magnet. As a matter of record we currently hold 12 city magnets on our metal stateroom wall missing both Lisbon (forgot) and Cherbourg, France (too rainy).
We heard later at our specialty dinner that T&J did venture out “walking” all the way from the ship to the Rock Church, which is quite a distance from the port. All afternoon I wore masks when I encountered the sick Thomas. I think I worried a few other cruisers when I showed up at the Tamarind Restaurant wearing a surgical mask. This got put aside pretty quickly.
Dinner was great – amazing Asian food with very pleasing presentation. We then proceeded down to BB King and then off to Kenn Nunn in Piano Bar before checking off to bed. I’ve set my alarm for 5:30 to capture some of the islands that we go through in order to dock in Stockholm to start our two-day adventure in this Swedish capital. It reminds me very much of the Thousand Islands back in the east – little cottages and docks sit on the edges of quaint little properties – something I truly miss since moving to the west as it’s not common in Vancouver.
- comments
Keli I miss your faces!