Got to admit, I was a bit concerned. Our first impressions were average, so we went a bit farther afield and things got a little better. I was thinking what are we going to do for 4 days! Then we saw a red bus! So there must be more to this town... but that will have to wait till tomorrow, we were absolutely buggered and headed back to the hotel, which is quite impressive by the way. Cath sat In the hotel restaurant and enjoyed a lovely dinner of medium rare reindeer.....yes, she ate Rudolf...or Blitzen, or Comet....I had the fish!
After a good nights sleep and a great breakfast, we headed out to locate the red bus and find out what this city has to offer.
Red bus hop on hop off was €26 each for 24hr pass, the city trip averages 1 1/2 hrs. Great value and we always get great use out of the big red bus! Did a fair bit of walking around as well, 12 kms all up but the place is dead flat, so it's not hard getting around on foot. It is a very interesting place. Push bikes everywhere and push bike lanes, as it is very flat. You do have to be careful not to wander into those lanes, as the bikes are very quiet as they scoot along!
Helsinki has five large harbours and way too many little islands to count. But all are very green and every chance the Finns get, they are out bush walking, boating or hunting. This is the land of the mink, moose, reindeer, silver fox, goats, brown bear, ermine etc etc. You can buy some lovely furs at any of the markets about.
Temps range from the mid 20s in summer to minus 30 in winter. All the harbours, bays and rivers freeze during the winter and sometimes you can drive on them the ice is that thick, but everyone definitely walks on it and of course skate. The bathroom floor of the hotel is constantly heated to stop excess water forming into ice and causing accidents!! The winter days are VERY short, with only about two hours of 'foggy daylight', whilst in summer there is only a couple of hours of 'dusk' kind of darkness. Quite weird? Met an Aussie girl working in a brewery living here for 7 years and now married with a child, she's from Adelaide and loving it here.
So have learnt some history about Finland, (remembering who I'm away with). They have a chequered past, due, for the most part I think, by its vulnerable position on the Baltic, and it's history with Russia and Germany made it a strategic chess piece, particularly in WWII. Think knight moves! However, in the 1500s, Finland was a Swedish province. The Swedish language is still recognised as one of their languages. In the 1800s, the Russians belted the Swedes, and Finland became Russian. The city of Helsinki looks very similar in architecture to St Petersburgh apparently? Anyway, in 1917' Finland gained its independence from Russia. However, the two countries poked and prodded each other to 1939 when full out war developed between Russia and Finland. They fought a war in minus 25 degree temperatures!! Then Nazi Germany stepped in, and Finland kind of sided with them, against the Russians. Some 19,000 Russian prisoners of war died inside Finland's concentration camps. But then Finland fought to get the Germans out of their country too!! After the war, Finland maintained their independence and democracy, in a time when a lot of other countries were swallowed up by the USSR.
Apparently the Finns go to Tallin in Estonia to shop! It's much cheaper for them and is 2hrs by boat. Thinking we might do this if we have time?
Monday
Jumped back on the bus and went back to the rock church as we couldn't get in yesterday due to a concert. Helsinki is built on a granite base, and every building and road is made out of the pretty pink granite. But the stuff is so incredibly hard. This church was carved out of one huge lump of the stuff. You go to church inside a boulder!
Sat in market square and had a coffee and jam donut, nothing like it at home. Lovely. Then off on a cruise around the islands and canals, while we learnt more about the place AND listened to the Sharks Bulldogs game. So excited they won! But the tour guides think we are crazy?
We keep seeing fur stoles and scarves and fur edged capes that are so soft and luxiourious, and being sold at the markets and souvenir shops but really expensive. Found out they are fox and get this, mink!
Sold at the markets!
Back to the hotel for a sauna and ice cold swim just what you do on a 13 degree day! (Whilst in Finland....) Then it was off to dinner at a very nice fine dining restaurant called Nokka.
Home to bed!
Tuesday
Soumanlinna
A later start to the day today. A lazy breakfast at the hotel (which are sensational by the way...porridge, fresh forest fruits, omelettes, yoghurts, more forest fruits yum) the a nice walk in the sunshine to the main city wharf for a boat trip to the harbour islands now called Soumanlina (pronounced Swom-a-Lena). We got the public ferry tickets and the obligatory jam donut thingy (forget what they call them, but they are sensational! - they are like a donut sandwich with jam in the middle) and headed across the harbour for a 15 minute ferry ride to grab a real coffee to go with the donut in the sunshine by the water.
Soumanlina was built as a fortress for the city by the Swedes in 1740. Then, the Russians bolstered it after taking control when they belted the Swedes after sneaking up on them by land instead of sea, and during the winter instead of the summer (don't think the Swedes made very good tacticians?). Then the British belted The Russians there during the Crimean War. It looks very secure, but seemingly has never been able to actually defend anything successfully. But it is a lovely place, and the structures have been protected by UNESCO because of historical significance. I think as an example as what not to build if you think about having a war!
Looking at the place, I really don't know how people live here. The island is frozen solid during winter. And, today with the sun shining, the wind was blowing in your face or in your ear and was freezing. It gave me a headache! Regardless, the place was very interesting and we enjoyed the day there. On our way back, the wind continued. We made a joint decision to find a place out of the wind and in the sun. As luck would have it, we found a bar that had two plush seats, in the sun, and NO wind....and they had beer!! So that's where we sat for a couple, before we moved on to a local steak house for dinner. The place was called 'Stefans Steakhouse'...and their specialty was Australian black Angus beef. Just what we wanted. 
So farewell from Helsinki and we will catch up with you from Turkey in a few days!
Your intrepid adventurers
Cath n Greg
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