Helsinki

We woke up late and headed into town around 10:30. Finland seemed clean and beautiful, but town was too far away to walk. We had to take the shuttle into the station and then began our walk to the Senate Square. The day is sunny and for Finland very warm. Usually it only gets this hot in mid July -- we are told. It is a comfortable 70+ degrees. Near the water was an open market where Finns were selling the wares. Lots of hand knit items, woven pieces, felted items, leather and fur was on sale. Soumi is the Finnish name for Finland and that word is everywhere.

A beautiful park runs for blocks down the center of the street to the market area. It slopes ever so slowly down toward the water. Slight inclines are easiest whether you are going up or downhill. There is a bike lane which is where I am pushing Kathy's chair, since it is nice and smooth and there are no cobblestones. I noticed that the strollers, and other equipment in Europe have much wider wheels than Kathy's chair. This is an obvious concession to the fact that everywhere in Europe are cobblestones!

We stopped and had coffee at a Finnish cafe. It was self-service and had little tables in the shade on one side. Most Finns selected tables in the sun. I imagine that if you spend the better part of the year in darkness with overcast skies you learn to take every opportunity for sun. Unfortunately, I did not find Internet cafes and it is frustrating to use the shipboard Internet. I think it may be that this area of Helsinki is too wealthy for such mundane things. The shops that we saw as we walked along were very upscale. Down one side street there is the University and on the hill at the very end of the street is the Cathedral. It is a red structure that stands out against the other architecture.

Once back aboard we relaxed a bit and then had a late lunch. I am a bit weary today, but have no excuse for it. I went up to the crows nest in the late afternoon as we left for Stockholm to watch the ship depart the harbor. Last night when we left St. Petersburg I was watching as a ship pulled up alongside. At that time I didn't know what purpose this served, but today I learned that this is a routine event. A pilot joins the ships officers to guide the ship safely through the channel and out to sea. When his job is completed the pilot's ship pulls up next to our ship and he descends a ladder and jumps onto his pilot ship. A somewhat exciting maneuver for those of us who are not seaworthy.
There were many little sailboats in the harbor as we left, and many islands to navigate around. The seagulls seemed to be escorting us out to sea as well, and flew very near the boat, perhaps hoping for some treats from passengers who were assembled on the observation deck. The sea is deep blue unlike the brown-green near St. Petersburg.
This ship is far more luxurious than the Royal Caribbean cruise we took in the Mediterranean, but there are some things that seem to be done better by the poorer cruise... 1) Attentive staff -- we never had to ask for anyone to clean our suite because the RC folks kept track of our whereabouts--- 2) Also we noticed that the RC folks were always posted so that you had to use hand sanitizer whenever you entered the cantina. No one insists that you do that anywhere on deck...which makes me nervous whenever I go to eat in the main cafeteria..
Tomorrow is Stockholm and we got another hour back tonight as we head back toward the west.