Helsinki

Another day, another destination. We are sad to be leaving Tallinn with its friendly people and quaint olde-worlde charm, especially as we are just starting to get the hang of a few words of their language. (Who are we kidding - Estonian, along with Finnish and Hungarian belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of languages and bears little or no resemblance to the other major Euopean tongues (but of course you all knew that).

We are excited at the prospect of another new destination and, as I write, I can feel a rumble as the engines on the Tallink Ferry are revving up to back us out of the harbour and point us in the direction of Helsinki. Can you believe that we have WiFi access on board, each passenger having a password printed on the boarding pass. It's interesting to see many of the other passengers hauling aboard massive amounts of booze and fags which probably says something about the likely cost of booze and fags in Finland. Estonia allows EU travellers to take out a massive 90 litres per person of wine and beer plus generous spirits allowances as well. By the look of it some are planning on getting through a fair bit during the crossing.

Fast forward two hours and we have arrived. The crossing itself was quick and easy with The Gulf of Finland like a millpond. Temperature is dropping though and, although full sunshine and 19 degrees it actually feels cold. Finding our AirBnB apartment was a piece of cake: walk out the front door of the terminal into the waiting tram. Five stops and we were outside the front door with our host Sami waiting for us. After he let us in we headed downtown for a look around. Tomorrow is Helsinki Day and lots of stuff is supposed to be free (read long queues). Enjoyed a beer by Esplanadi park listening to live music. Free concerts all day tomorrow. For their part, the locals are out in droves and in various states of undress trying to soak up the rays while they can. Beautiful now but pretty dark and miserable for much of the year I suppose. I think we're going to like it here as well.

The Esplanadi is bordered by two streets with large grassed areas and a central gravel walkway. Hundreds turned out to soak up the sun. 

So today we discovered why all the locals were out in force yesterday enjoying the sun. It started to rain last night and hasn't let up since. Drizzle only really and not sufficient to keep intrepid travellers indoors. We took a guided tour around the city, stopping off at a couple of major tourist attractions including the "Rock Church" and the Sibelius monument. He was Finland's formost composer and has quite a few places named in his honour. 

Inside the Rock Church. The ceiling is a dome made from wound copper wire - 22 thousand metres of it!

Then it was down to the harbour for a meal of salmon soup and grilled fish. Down by the harbour is the Russian style Uspenski Cathedral with its 13 gold domes.

Uspenski Cathedral

On either side of the bridge are hundreds of padlocks have been attached to the railings by young couple pledging their undying love.

The Finns clearly have sea-faring in their blood as you can see from some of the beautiful old two and three masted wooden ships in the harbour, not to mention a plethora of stink-boats as well. 

 All this holidaying makes one tired and so a nap was in order before heading back out for more excellent adventures. On the way we stumbled across the "Church of Silence" at Kamppi, where we are staying. An attractive wooden structure both inside and out and one of many examples of Finland's avant-garde architectural flair. The external facade is constructed of horizontal spruce strips bent at differing radii and inside is lined with alder planks. Reminds me of a velodrome track.

The Chapel of Silence