The Cougar Patrol

We woke up at 5 am on the last day of our St. Petersburg stop to head over to the train station and catch a train to the third stop on our tour, Helsinki, Finland.  This would also be the last stop for the Wingman before he had to head back to the states, and we really only had 24 full hours to enjoy the city before getting on our way home.  And we certainly had a fun time. 

            This was the only train ride we took on the trip that occurred during daylight hours, so we got to see a bit of the Finnish countryside.  I have to say, it’s a pretty nice place.  I definitely got that rustic feeling from seeing the farms and fields pass by the window.  The border guards weren’t too friendly though.

            This is the main train station, pretty neat architecture.  Also, it was like one block to our hotel from there, which was nice.

This is the main church in downtown Helsinki, it sits between the senate and presidential buildings.  You may remember that Finland’s president is a dead-ringer for Conan O’Brien, and he did one of his best shows over there.  Anyways,  we went into the church, and no, God did not strike me down, because it’s a protestant church, and the Catholic priests told me Jesus doesn’t live in those (I kid!  I had to dodge lightning bolts!).  

The steps out front seemed to be quite the gathering spot, and reminded me a lot of Kennedy stadium in Bridgeport.  They were also REALLY steep, and about 2 inches higher than normal steps.  

They were setting up for the annual music festival, which was supposed to be a huge party.  It was obviously taking place the next day, when we were leaving.  Awesome timing, huh?  Even worse, they were doing the Red Bull Flugtag the next day.  Yeah, I got to miss that.  Sweet.

The Organ inside was the only decoration they had.  I guess Lutherans have this rule about no fancy shmancy stuff in their churches.  Oh well, can’t please everyone.

This is Rudolph.  He tasted yummy.  Seriously, eating reindeer meat was a highlight of this trip.  It’s very tasty.

Helsinki is on the water, and the harbor is rather beautiful.  It’s very busy with big ferries running around the Baltic to Tallinn, Stockholm, St. Pete, etc.  It’d probably be a fun place to take a cruise to.

Here’s a good shot looking back from the fort towards the inner harbor area.  At this point, we’re on the Baltic Sea.

The big attraction we went to see was Suomenlinna/Sveaborg, and old Swedish fort from the pre-Napoleonic wars era designed to fight off Russian advances  on Finnish soil, which at the time was part of Sweden.  Guess what?  Yeah, it didn’t work.  It was a cool for though.

This is the only submarine remaining in Finland.  We got to go in a nd take a look, it was pretty cool.  It was, of course built by the Germans, since the Finns and Germans were allied against the Soviets in WWII (wasn’t like the US was gonna stand up for the Finns).

We got to go exploring through the tunnels of the fortifications for a bit, which was pretty fun, although there were a lot of tight spaces.  Still it was a nice day to be out on the island and seeing the sights, including the church, which was under construction.  They even had a brewery.

This is one of the large ferries the crosses the Baltic, I* considered taking one to Sweden, until I remembered all those stories of ferries sinking in storms and killing 800 people.  No thanks.

It was a really, really beautiful day.  The skies were about as clean and as blue as I’ve ever seen.  I’m not a pro photographer, but this shot of the clouds I think captures the sunset pretty well. I suppose it would’ve been nice to have a few more days in town to enjoy it, but Stockholm filled the gap for me.

Later on, we ventured to Icebar, a bar made completely out of ice, where the temp is below 32 F.  Yes, it was cold, More importantly, Yes, it was awesome.  The whole thing was made out of ice.  Gotta love it.

Finally, we visited the Church of the Rock before leaving for the airport the next morning.  It was carved out of solid granite, and is pretty impressive on the inside.  Quite the tourist attraction, too.

That was pretty much it for Finland.  The wingman and I parted ways at the airport, after he left his Blackberry on the bus and I got dinged going through security with a knife in my bag.  Luckily, the bud drive returned his phone to the airport, and I didn’t get hauled off to a third world country and waterboarded like a terrorist.  Next stop?  Stockholm, Sweden, home of one currently single and mind-numbingly beautiful princess, Madeleine.