Helsinki in March

I’m posting this as I’m sitting in the Stockholm airport waiting for my flight to Atlanta. I really can’t believe how quickly these last few days went – and how much I enjoyed them. OK, I arrived Helsinki a day early (late afternoon on Saturday the 14th instead of late afternoon on Sunday the 15th) in order to have some extra time to adjust to the time change prior to being required to actually think clearly and work. I usually adjust quickly to the time change when I travel – London in December was a fluke, I think. Anyway, on Sunday I walked around the city for several hours. It was cold, but I had come prepared (well, mostly). I brought a coat, my pink hat I bought in London (where I wasn’t prepared), and gloves. As you’ll see, my footwear wasn’t actually snow-ready. Anywho, I saw a couple of beautiful churches: Uspenski Cathedral and the Helsinki Cathedral (in Senate Squre).

Statue of Alexander II

Uspenski Cathedral

Helsinki Cathedral

Kim suggested I visit Suomenlinna fortress (an inhabited sea fortress built on six islands just off of Helsinki). It’s a short 15-20 minute ferry ride from Helsinki’s Market Square. Since it was also highly recommended on several travel websites I checked, I made it part of my day. It was amazing to see. Unfortunately, as there was still quite a bit of snow and ice on the ground, my poorly chosen footwear (see below) was soon completely soaked (as were my pants about 6-8 inches from the bottom). Since I had a week of work ahead of me as well as a weekend in Sweden, I really didn’t want to get sick (Kim’s poor family did that enough for all of us), and since I had been out and about for several hours already (something like 7 or 8), after arriving back at Market Square, I called it a day and walked back to the hotel.

Picture of the water from the ferry - yes, that's ice

King's Gate

Picture of Helsinki from Suomenlinna

Can you see the water line on my pants?

I was able to see some other sights during the week, which was nice: the Parliament building and the Rock Church (finally, on Friday). Also on Friday, before my flight to Stockholm, I decided to find the LDS temple – so I hopped a bus (after asking directions from the hotel staff, of course) and found it, after only getting a little lost.

Just some random street - I thought it looked cool

The Parliament building

This is a park I walked past every day on my way to work

Statue of Mannerheim (president of Finland after WWII)

Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church)

There was some orchestra rehearsing while I was at the Rock Church. The acoustics were amazing.

Helsinki LDS temple

I really did have a great time. The guys I worked with were total smart alecs (how do you spell that?), so we got along fine. I thoroughly enjoyed Helsinki and would like to go back any time.