Europe 2019: Helsinki, Finland

Europe 2019

Helsinki, Finland

Leading up to our stop in Helsinki, I was struggling to find things to do. People say it's a great place to visit, but it was a bit of a disappointment for me really. I think if it had been summer time or even more into the winter months there would have been some options, but this fall stop offered little more than a chance to stroll around and shop.

We just got Ho-Ho Bus tickets and didn't book any excursions. We only used the bus to get from the ship to town and then back to the ship later. It wasn't very far, but not walking distance.

There were a few little monuments and fountains here and there, but for the most part the city doesn't seem to have any can't miss landmarks. There's a place known as the Rock Church that I would have liked to have visited, but they were having a service that day.

So we just walked around and took it in. If we saw something that peaked our interest we headed over but otherwise it was a slow day.

We started out with a morning snack at this little outdoor cafe. Samantha will always order the "pink thing" if it's an option.

There were these little birds around the cafe and I spent probably 10 minutes feeding them out of my hand....and then I noticed a large sign that said "Don't Feed the Little Birds". Oops.

Desperate for entertainment, we spotted Skywheel Helsinki. It's basically just a harbor-side Farris wheel, but the views were nice and Samantha enjoyed it. We were also the only people on it so they just let us go around a bunch. All these pictures look blue because the glass is tinted blue. One of the pods is actually a sauna that you can ride in for an hour. 

I should mention at this point that one of the things you should do when visiting Helsinki is hit a sauna. It's huge here and part of the culture - even daily for some Fins. I would have gladly done it but we had Sam and it just didn't seem like a good idea to try it with her not knowing how things worked.

We found another cafe and had another snack (when you're bored you can always revert to eating). I'll say it again - These Scandinavian folk really know how to make hot chocolate. I would drink it like some people drink coffee if it tasted this good back home. 

Other than that it was just shopping. There were some outdoor markets, but I didn't really notice bargains anywhere. Branelle found another Christmas store, and I feared for our children's college funds.

Samantha and I sharing differing opinions of Aunt Andi. ;-)