Helsinki

The train station for the trains going to Finland was a short metro ride from my apartment.  Even though it was a Sunday, it was fairly crowded because of the holiday weekend.  Here is a photo of the station with a statue of Lenin in front of it.

The train ride was really smooth and really comfortable.  I didn't have any problems with my passport checks on the train, although the Finnish officer did ask me a lot of questions.  The train seemed to be full of mostly Finnish passengers. Here are a few photos of the the train & the Helsinki station.

The great weather continued when I arrived in Helsinki.  It was their warmest day of the year on the day I arrived.  The Holiday Inn where I am staying is about a mile from downtown, but only a 5 minute subway ride to get there.  I am doing a 3 night stay in Helsinki & I used my points, so there is no cost for my hotel.  I got upgraded to an executive room which was really nice & on the top floor.

There aren't many big tourist attractions in Helsinki, but the town is really nice & completely different from the faster paced life in Moscow & St. Petersburg.  Most of the Finns speak English & seem to be very friendly.  There was a nice area for running that started just behind the hotel.  It was mostly a cinder trail that went along the waterfront, there were a lot of runners out which was a nice change from Russia.  I also noticed there are bike paths everywhere through town and they are very popular.

On my first full day in town, I walked through the main tourist areas & had lunch at waterfront area where there are tents set up selling seafood, soups, & meats such as reindeer & moose.  I had a salmon lunch one day & moose the next day.

In addition to the places I visited downtown, I went to the stadium that was used for the 1952 Olympic Games.  I couldn't go inside since it is undergoing a much needed renovation.  I did take a few photos from outside of the stadium.  

I went out to eat at a nice pizza place downtown, it was really good.  This was my first stop for pizza after traveling for 11 days which must be a new record for me.  Helsinki is really expensive, the subway fare is $3 (I paid $12 for a 2 day pass) & I bought a can of coke for $2 at the discount grocery store!!

On my 2nd full day in Helsinki, I did a run downtown around 2 lakes.  It was a nice run except for one steep hill, I guess I need to drink some of that reindeer milk that Finnish Olympic champion Lasse Viren credited for his success to improve my endurance.  After cleaning up at the hotel after my run, I headed out on a short 10 minute ferry ride to the Suomenlinna Islands.  The islands are an old military fortress, so it was a nice place to walk around for a few hours & to take some photos.  

This is the main waterfront area. 

Here are few photos from the churches I visited in town.  The white church is one you see in all the tourism photos for Helsinki.

The rock church.

Overall I enjoyed my time in Helsinki, it was nice place to visit, but very expensive.  My next stop is Tallinn, Estonia which is a 50 mile ferry ride across the Baltic Sea from Helsinki.  Here are some more photos from Helsinki.

"Real" Southern Fried Chicken from the Deep South (of Helsinki).  I did not get to eat here to see if it was any good.