Hangin' in Helsinki

It was an early start for us this morning as we had to catch a train to the airport to make our flight over to Helsinki, Finland. All of our connections went smoothly and we were in Finland by noon. Even though we needed to be on a ferry to St. Petersburg, Russia in about five hours, we took this opportunity to see a bit of Finland and quickly hopped on a bus to the city center.

Once in the heart of the city, we walked down the main Esplanade and found a spot to grab a quick bite to eat near the city's Lutheran Cathedral. After finishing our panini's and ice cream, we headed into the church to take a look at the interior.

After popping in to see the Lutheran Cathedral, we walked over to the much more elaborate Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral that was built in 1868. Although beautiful inside, some of the tourists were more interested in Henry and were following us around taking pictures of him!

 

With a little time left in Helsinki, we jumped on a tram to go see the Temppliaukio Church (Church in the Rock), which was built in 1969. Barren of decor except for a couple crosses, this church was built by blasting out solid granite and is capped with a copper skylight dome. It was interesting to see such a unique church, but made our visit short since we had to make our way over to the ferry terminal.

Checking into the Russian ferry and securing our 3 day visas went smoother than expected and we enjoyed some beers on the deck while pulling out from the Helsinki port. We chatted with some of the other travelers aboard and then ate at the Italian restaurant aboard. We thought it was just ok, but Henry loved the pasta and ate almost half of Sam's gnocchi! The rest of the night was spent relaxing in our room and making some plans for our first day in St. Petersburg tomorrow!

We arrived in St. Petersburg safely, found our hotel after running around in circles for awhile and with time the hotel let us finally check-in to our room. With limited time in the day today and the morning/early afternoon being quite hectic, we will post this blog and skip one for the 20th... adding anything exciting that happens this evening to tomorrows post. Hope everyone is doing well back home.