Finland

Helsinki

September 10-12th, 2008

Helsinki Cathedral, the inside is very modern and simple.

Day 7cont.

We arrived in Helsinki, I got my bag, and we went to find city transportation. We decided to take the bus and bought tickets. The total travel time was 45minutes. We took the bus to the last stop, and then took the tram to our hostel. It wasn’t the easiest thing to find but we managed. After checking in, we went out to explore the city. We took the tram back toward the city centre and got off to see Helsinki Cathedral and Senate Square. The Square houses the Government Palace, University of Helsinki and the National library of Finland. We took many picture of the square and then wondered into the Cathedral. By this time we were starving so we ate at McDonalds, again!! After lunch we headed back to the hostel stopping at the Uspenski Orthodox church, the largest Orthodox Church in Western Europe, along the way. Back at the hostel we took a nap before heading out again. We took the tram back to the city centre to go to the Museum. After that we took the tram further toward the city outskirts. We visited another church, the National Museum of Finland and the Opera House. On our way back to the tram we saw a parade of Finish football fans going to the game vs Germany. They were escorted by police, it was quite the spectacle. We went to a traditional restaurant called Zetor, which is famous in Helsinki. The inside of the restaurant reminded me a lot of Texas Roadhouse! The food was amazing and the portions were very large. After dinner we went back to the hostel and read, then went to bed.

Day 8
Victoria had planned on going to Estonia for the day, and I planned on seeing some movies. However, the ferry to take her to Tallinn got cancelled, so her plans were ruined. I was already so set on seeing movies that I decided to go anyway. Victoria went to this castle on an island instead. I went and saw, Hell Boy 2, Once, and Don’t Mess with the Zohan, all very different movies but good. I had pizza hut for lunch in between the movies. After the movies I went back to the hostel and read for a while before going to bed.


Day 9
We arrived at the airport at 11am, after leaving the hostel an hour before. We did the usual airport routine and boarded the plan. 30 minutes later, we were headed for Poland.


Finland was a 3. Prettier than Oslo but not too exciting. They do have good movie theaters though!