Touring Helsinki

Tour leader Maria

 We took a free walking tour of Helsinki today. We would recommend them in any city you visit. They give a historical background to the buildings and an understanding of the social aspects and culture of the place you are visiting. The participants in the tour are also interesting. Maria spoke about the nature of the Finnish people. Restrained, quiet and non-emotive are some of the qualities she mentioned, reflected in the statues to the right. The woman on the left is shading her eyes from the sun which, of course, does not make much of an appearance here at the 60th parallel.




Sweden conquered this area and forced their language on the people. (Who knew Sweden had such an imperial nature?). The Finns are not Scandinavian. Their language is related to that used in Hungary and Estonia.The street signs are all written two ways, Finnish (on top) and Swedish (below). Some signs also have an animal which hearkens back to a time when people were illiterate and could identify pictures but not words. The Russians finally conquered this area but they were seen as more benevolent as they brought education and let the Finns rule themselves. The Russian influence is seen in the Orthodox churches.

Laurie's nemesis: anklebuster cobblestone streets

Playing a balalaika on pedestrian mall

Helsinki is built on a number of islands.
There is water and bridges everywhere.

Russian Orthodox Church

Inside Orthodox church

Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral dominating Senate Square

 Tonight we are off to a local restaurant/bar to see the Semi-final game France vs Belgium where we might get really wild and have crickets on our pizza! Tomorrow we fly home.