Helsinki!

Helsinki was our first port of call without an excursion booked.  The ship docked at 9:00, so our plan was to go to the 9:15 trivia, and then take the shuttle from the docks to the center of Helsinki.  Mike, Ivy, Troy, and I were the only ones who showed up for trivia, and this time Mike and Ivy knew the answers to the questions, so they helped us think through the questions. After sitting around and talking about past travels for a while (they’re both crazy world travelers), Troy and I broke off to figure out the shuttle.

The shuttle dropped us off in the center of town around 10:30.  Our plan was to go down to the open air market and take the ferry over to Suomenlinna to explore the island for a few hours.  When we got to the marketplace, we just missed the ferry, so we walked around for 20-25 minutes and did a little souvenir shopping (got my magnet!).  Then, we boarded the ferry and took off for Suomelinna.  Finland reminds me a lot of Maine – the colors, plants, water, and scattered islands are all very similar to Casco Bay.

Suomenlinna was a sea fortress that opened in 1748, when Finland was part of Sweden.  Then, in 1808, the fortress changed hands in the Finnish War, and became a Russian Naval Base.  In 1918, the fortress is annexed by Finland during the Finnish Civil War.  Eventually, (after very little military success), the fortress has been named an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the island has five museums, several hundred private apartments, a cathedral, a brewery, restaurants, and a number of other attractions.

Troy and I started by going through the overview museum, which highlighted the fortress’ less-than-spectacular military history, and the process of turning it into a national monument.  For the material that the museum had to work with, they did a great job.  We then walked to the northernmost part of the island, where we stopped for lunch, and wrapped around and walked to the southernmost part of the island.  We took a longer route and walked around the coast, where there are still a number of canons, and took in the incredibly gorgeous scenery.  We also timed this perfectly, because we got to Kings Gate, which was our ferry pick-up point, approximately five minutes before the ferry and six minutes before the rain.

By the time the ferry dropped us off on the mainland the rain had stopped, so we walked up to market square, got a glass of wine, and sat to people watch for a little bit.  Finland really makes it incredibly easy to be a tourist.  In many of the places we walked through, there were young adults in green serving as tourist information points, which was hugely helpful.  We caught the bus back to the ship around 3:30, where we got some food, hunkered down, and prepared to watch the ship leave port.

Later on, Celebrity threw a “white party” in the grand foyer.  Everyone wore white, the foyer was done up nicely with sheeting and ice sculptures, and they had a lot of fun entertainers (juggling, dancing, etc.).  It was super crowded, but we were glad we stopped by.

Stockholm tomorrow!