Finland: Helsinki

Oddly enough, Helsinki feels like a relatively new city. it is absolutely lovely with most of the buildings in the art nouveau style, and spectacular churches dominating the skyline. Strange to be in a European city that feels younger that the states though

This was right outside our hotelI loved all the details on the buildings

I forget what this building is, opera house or something. Right off the central station square though

This is part of the college I believe, just below the giant church that is in the first picture.

That is the Lutheran church by the way, and this is the orthodox church.

It really was a pretty town

A lot of the islands in the harbor had tiny houses on them

an evening skyline

I took a trip out to the island fortress Suomenlinna, a UNESCO site. Went with Gier, a lovely Norwegian boy I met at the conference

Got to see the little islands from up close as we floated by

The island fortress was not what I was expecting, but was a neat place to explore

It has a little town on one island

complete with church. Amusingly, I saw a picture of what this church used to look like when it was owned by the Russians and therefor orthodox. Boy did the Lutherans take off all the charm and make it boring!

A view back towards Helsinki

It was fun prowling around all the old fortifications

The place was full of Fins out for a picnic, not a bad spot for it

some slippery looking rocks though

I really like this picture for some reason

Boys will be boys, always...
a missed opportunity

The kings gate

Headed back, we got to see some hot air balloons flying over town

I really liked this church and was really sad that I never got to see the inside. Just kept getting there too late or early, grrrr

another midnight sunset

and then, the storms started brewing...