Trip Day 18 - last day in Helsinki

Friday August 25

The most difficult task when writing a blog is which photos to include - and which not. On top of that is the fact that there are many photos I didn't take. I wished I had...

The hotel for example is very unique. The breakfast place is in the basement with a vaulted ceiling made with bricks. Typical Scandinavian food laid out and I found the vitamin shot (this one a bit too sweet).

The bus picked us up for a City tour. Our local guide Cornelia was most likely again OAT/Stephen a great find. Somehow all of our guides make it interesting, personally and even funny, not just dry out of a book.

First we stop at the monument for Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. 

Stephen said we would get the most interesting photo by going underneath. I pointed the camera up. He suggested to do it the selfie way and quickly tapped on my phone which gave us unwittingly this one. 

The bus continued. The Olympic Stadium with the statue of Paavo Nurmi. More interesting stories.

Next stop was the Helsinki library. The Oodi Library is unbelievable. I am trying hard to find the right word for it. Every little detail is amazing.

At the bottom of the stairs which winds up words are written on the side like what kinds of 'dooers' there are in the world. I don't know how to translate that. Comforters, feeders, writers, laughers, builders, nurturers.... I think they were all suggestions from the people.

There was a place to get food and drinks of course for an affordable price. There were places to sit comfortably. Place to play chess or other things. You could borrow balls to play outside.

Upstairs were very many different 'departments'. There were many glassed-in conference rooms you could schedule with screens to connect your computers too and all modern amenities. There were recording studios you could 'borrow' and even musical instruments. The instruments were not for take-out though like the books one story higher.

There were also sewing machines, sergers, printers, cutting machines and even 3-D printers for minimal fees. Oh yes, I forgot the kitchen were you could have cooking classes. I think you could also borrow drills and saws. I don't know what else I forgot.

One story higher were the books with an amazing children's section. Can you imagine to find books to borrow in about a dozen different languages?

Cornelia had shown us downstairs how you return your borrowed books just by scanning them. Veera, the robot, takes them and sorts them and brings them upstairs to their propper places. We were lucky to see a Veera in action. 

Ha-ha, I was just taking a photo of the top of the stairs when Marc had the same idea. Or did he photo-bomb me?

Besides all that you also had a lovely view all around.

Next the bus took us along the water and Cornelia pointed out highlights of the city. We are having plans (since the weather is so favorable) to take the ferry over to an island.

The bus makes another stop. Here we decide whether we want to stay on the bus back to the hotel or whether we want to discover more on our own.

This is a lutheran church looking very impressive but we did not go in.

Back in the harbor area. There was an open air market and a Market House. We strolled around a little and I wondered what those green little things were. Mini kiwins! We tasted a sample and it was very delicious. Later, before walking back to the hotel, I bought one of those little containers. I needed them washed to enjoy!

This is the old Market Hall. We decided to try to find lunch there. There were stalls on each outside and in the middle. This means that there was a ring to walk all around and we did it twice because we could not decide what we wanted.

Here only a tiny sample what all was in the offering.

Decisions are made double difficult if you are not really hungry too. James had a reindeer 'subway' and I a shrimp spring roll (or so). A local beer (liquid bread) is always good for the thirst.

But then there was this thing. Raparperi piirakka tradition = Traditional rhubarb pie.

Ha-ha, we charged it outside in the sun.

Since we were on 'free time' now and had received a one day transportation ticket we decided to not wait for him to show us but find our way to the ferry. We were lucky that we didn't have to wait too long and we had a nice chat with a ferry person.

Suomenlinna is quite a large island, actually several with bridges between them. It is a sea fortress with lots of buildings including a church. People live on . 

From the pier we had to walk through this gate first.

We were just a few minutes too late to go into this church. On our way back the door was open but we learned that there was a wedding going on in there.

There was a Linna Bar and we were very thirsty. I didn't even have my hat on.

We sat in the shade and enjoyed a very delicious ice cream and water.

Poor soldiers who had to live in this some time ago. That could not have been fun.

We were just deciding to find our way back when ...

"That looks like a nice way" she said.

"There must be a nice view" she said.

"OK" he said.

Ha-ha, and it was an easy way and a very nice view.

But then we really were on our way back to find the ferry again. My iphone said it was a 'Barnacle Goose".

At the pier we met Betty and Marc and we made our way back together. 

At the hotel I had to go again across the street because I suddenly remembered that I should take at least one photo of the outside since we are leaving tomorrow.

We were all asked to be in this conference room at 6 pm. Stephen had prepared a very nice slide show of our trip. Of course there were several loud laughs in-between.

At 7 pm we had our farewell dinner. Betty thought that the garnish looked like a butterfly.

Since everybody was leaving at different times the next day there was the big Good-Bye. James and I had ordered a taxi for 5 am. But we still had time for a nightcap with Betty and Marc. We had many laughs and adventures together in these 2 weeks+. It would be lovely to see them again.