Helsinki......Summer has Arrived

Saturday 

 

Saturday morning we said good by to our G-Adventure tour friends. Some were leaving later that day and some were staying on a couple of days more. We had booked a taxi to take us to the Helsinki train station.....it arrived at 10:00, we were at the station with 15 minutes and sat waiting in the stark station until we boarded the train at 11:00.....I thought there would be something there to look at but there wasn't. This train station is just for trains going in to Finland....there is another one just for Moscow. We met a couple from Sydney Australia in the station and then sat across from them in the train. The ride was 3 1/2 hours. Of course there was customs officers on the train to take our departure card and stamp departure date in our passports and then when we crossed the border into Finland there was more to stamp our entry into Finland......my passport is getting pretty crowded!

Helsinki Station

...and it's garden

We arrived at Helsinki station about 2:00....very nice station....a garden where the trains come in! Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast we got something at the station before we set off to find our hotel, Hotel Anna. It took us about half an hour to follow the GPS and not get distracted by shops and sights!

Summer has arrived!

We got settled in our room, had a bit of a nap (remember we were up til 3am and then up at 8 Saturday morning) and then put on the walking shoes and started to wander and explore the area...of course finding a nearby cache. We went back down to the Esplanade where there is a long park......it was filled with people picnicing, playing enjoying the sunshine that has finally arrived! We found a supermarket to get salads and a couple of other goodies and were back at the hotel at about 8 and relaxed.....it was a long couple of days!

Sunday

 

A good nights sleep was what we both needed!  The breakfast began at 8, which is another hot smorgasbord  of delights. (Macarons for breakfast!) And sunshine outside. 

Macarons for breakfast!

Around the corner from our hotel, we were able to purchase a day ticket for public transit...tram, bus, and ferry within Helsinki for 8€. The first cache was at the end of Tram route 10, plus a short walk.  This took us through a residential area and onto and industrial area. It was a cache that was a puzzle where I had to figure out what and where it was located by a picture of the object (and this picture was taken before you could get the information of the picture's location) , the final coordinates taking us to a scale model of Saturn. Apparently there are models of all the planets around Helsinki all to scale model and all to scale distances around a sun the is on a hill and the planets are scale distance from it....all locations can be accessed by foot, bike or car  http://www.ursa.fi/tahtitieteesta/aurinkokuntamalli.html It's not on the tourist maps and we would never have found it if we weren't geocaching!! (I know you are all laughing!)

My coordinates were right on!!!!

Next stop on the return was the Church in the Rock which is quarried out of the natural bedrock and services are held there regularly....many ,many tour buses!

Church in a rock!

Copper ceiling

Entry on one side

Sunbathers on the top!

As we visited  these sites quite early, decided to head to Suomenlina Island via a 20 minute ferry ride.  The market square was bustling with both tourists and locals...counted 5 cruise ships in port.  Checked out some of the market stalls as we crossed the square to the ferry dock.  Found 2 seats in the shade and out of the wind for the sailing. 

Suomenlina is the sea fortress at the entrance to Helsinki harbour built in the 1700s.   A UNESCO World Heritage sight, Suomenlina is preserved as an example of European military architecture of its time.  It is a very peaceful place to visit with endless amounts of flat rock areas perfect for sunbathing or picnicing.  It also affords excellent views of the city.  A couple of hours were spent exploring, caching and picnicing on the island.

Back on the mainland, the smells of the open air food vendors in the square were calling to us.  As the market closed at 5 pm, the decision was made to have an early dinner.  For 10€, a plate full of veggis, roast potatoes and a huge portion of salmon was presented to us.  Some of the salmon was used for sandwiches for the next days lunch!!! By now we needed a rest, so onto the tram again to our hotel.

Dinner

Two hours later, a walk to the seawall was our goal.  The temperature was still in the mid 20s and all areas were full of people enjoying the summer evening.  Pam was able to discern that her gps was bang on for coordinates at a special cache enroute.  We had hoped to find ice cream when we first got to the seawall.  That didn't happen and we continued walking past the Nordic ferry terminals back into town.  By now it was almost 9 pm and places were closed.  Just at the end of the Esplanade a small kiosk was closing, but they still had soft serve available.....humongous cones that lasted for our walk home.

Our elevator is the kind where you open the door like a regular door, walk in, press the number and the elevator moves.  Once the elevator stops, one must push the door open.  Maybe by the time we leave we will not be standing waiting for the door to open on its own!!!