In Helsinki we started the "Nordic Odyssey" part of our trip, where we follow an itinerary planned by them, but they provide no guide. The itinerary sets out the accommodation they have booked for us in each city, and various train and boat tickets they have booked. It is up to us to get ourselves to where we are supposed to be to catch those boats and trains, and check into the hotels.
We took a taxi from the dock to our hotel. The taxi driver seemed to get lost and go in the wrong direction, which Kevin was able to point out to him. These days every tourist has Google Maps in their pocket! He eventually found the hotel, and did a U-turn to pull up in front. Unfortunately this led to some nearby police pouncing on him, and we left him looking rather sorry for himself, trying to talk his way out of a ticket.
We have a fairly fleeting visit to Finland - just one night and a day to look around the city. It was a nice day, although we needed our puffer jackets for warmth.
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| Plenty of reindeer-themed goods in the street market. |
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| They have those rental bikes here too. |
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| And trams. |
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| Helsinki Cathedral, or "Helsingin Tuomiokirkko" as the locals would say. |
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| Drones not allowed in the central city. |
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| The "Havis Amanda" statue, with sealion fountains. |
After looking around the city centre, we bought tickets on the hop-on hop-off bus near the cathedral, and did a circuit around the area. We got off to visit the Temppeliaukio Church, which occupies a big cicular pit carved out of solid rock. It was the outcome of an architectural competition in the 1960's and is now a popular attraction.
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| The Temppeliaukio Church is in a circular pit carved out of solid rock. |
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| The ceiling of the church is lined with a gleaming coil of copper - 22 kilometers of copper tape! |
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| We took in the atmosphere of the church, where a pianist performing classical music. |
The Hotel Haven was very nice, although there seemed to be a lot of men in suits with earpieces in their ears standing around. We discovered this was because there was some sort of high-level EU meeting going on in Helsinki and the men we saw were security.
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| The very comfortable Hotel Haven. |
About this time we realised that Nordic Odyssey tour must have booked us into somewhat grander hotels than we would have booked ourselves. Still, nothing do now but enjoy the luxury!
Tonight we sail overnight to Sweden.
