Day - 21: Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Starting Location: At Sea En-route to Helsinki, Finland
Interim Location: Helsinki, Finland
Ending Location: At Sea En-route to Stockholm, Sweden
We were two hours late arriving in Helsinki due to the late departure from St. Petersburg. Actually there was no impact on ship sponsored tours as all were completed well before the scheduled departure time, however for anyone with privately planned tours, the itineraries had to be adjusted to match the new schedule.
Like many cities today. the idea of a city center Ferris wheel is appealing. The Helsinki version is dwarfed by those in London and Singapore.
My only other comment on statues would relate to the difference between male and female statues. Though I did not conduct a detailed accounting, it would seem that across Europe from London to Amsterdam, from Berlin to Copenhagen and from Russia through Helsinki and Stockholm, the statuesque image of males is typically in some kind of regal, militaristic, be-medalled garb whereas most statues of women were much more simplistic, translation - just plain naked, naked in places that are just sooooooooo cold.
The open-air market was alive with both local and tourist trade. The growing season is peaking in Finland and the fruits and vegetables as well as the flowers were there to prove it. We bought some blueberries and raspberries and though no better than those at home, they were good and sweet.
The Rock Church is a relatively new structure carved into a huge hunk of granite within the city. Interesting yes, spectacular perhaps to a geologist but definitely a unique approach to church/cathedral design in Europe.
Tour group from a German cruise ship "Aida" traveled through Helsinki riding ship supplied bicycles. Must be a younger crowd than that populating the M/S Marina.
Okay, one more statue for Finland, one that goes against the grain in a way, it's the statue honoring the peeing boy or as our guide tells it the "naughty bad-bad boy".
Well by 5 PM it was sailing time and we were ready to go, well almost. Seems that the ship was missing two passengers, Mr. X and Ms. Y. About 20 minutes late the duo strolled up the pier and were welcomed aboard by one of the ship's officers.
By 5:30 PM we were underway for Stockholm.
Interim Location: Helsinki, Finland
Ending Location: At Sea En-route to Stockholm, Sweden
We were two hours late arriving in Helsinki due to the late departure from St. Petersburg. Actually there was no impact on ship sponsored tours as all were completed well before the scheduled departure time, however for anyone with privately planned tours, the itineraries had to be adjusted to match the new schedule.
Like many cities today. the idea of a city center Ferris wheel is appealing. The Helsinki version is dwarfed by those in London and Singapore.
After a cursory bus tour we took about 30-minutes of walking time to explore the city's central square and walk through the waterside open market.
In the square, stood another famous "green" guy. The image to the left would indicate that a secondary purpose of such statues is for the use of birds, a great perching point to view the surrounding square.
My only other comment on statues would relate to the difference between male and female statues. Though I did not conduct a detailed accounting, it would seem that across Europe from London to Amsterdam, from Berlin to Copenhagen and from Russia through Helsinki and Stockholm, the statuesque image of males is typically in some kind of regal, militaristic, be-medalled garb whereas most statues of women were much more simplistic, translation - just plain naked, naked in places that are just sooooooooo cold.
The open-air market was alive with both local and tourist trade. The growing season is peaking in Finland and the fruits and vegetables as well as the flowers were there to prove it. We bought some blueberries and raspberries and though no better than those at home, they were good and sweet.
As best I can tell, Helsinki has two "high-volume" famous places, aka tourist attractions, the "Rock Church" and the monument honoring Jean Sibelius, the most famous composer/musician of Finland.
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| Panoramic of the Rock Church |
As for the Sibelius Monument it's of a modern art design as can be seen from the pictures with the central point of the monument comprised of a 601 (+or-) pipe structure resembling a cathedral organ.
Tour group from a German cruise ship "Aida" traveled through Helsinki riding ship supplied bicycles. Must be a younger crowd than that populating the M/S Marina.
Helsinki lays claim to being the home to Santa Claus and here's the reindeer to prove it.
They're everywhere, that would be Coca Cola, McDonald's and the Finish version of the Canadian Goose.
Okay, one more statue for Finland, one that goes against the grain in a way, it's the statue honoring the peeing boy or as our guide tells it the "naughty bad-bad boy".  |
| Borrowed from Internet |
Well by 5 PM it was sailing time and we were ready to go, well almost. Seems that the ship was missing two passengers, Mr. X and Ms. Y. About 20 minutes late the duo strolled up the pier and were welcomed aboard by one of the ship's officers.
This is the result of well meaning passengers throwing bread/cereal to the sea gulls.
Tonight we enjoyed dinner and shared our cruise experiences with a couple we had met on cruise day-01 as we stood in the queue to board the ship. Following dinner, it was time to pack and have our luggage ready for collection which was completed by 11 PM. Lastly we gained back one of the hours lost making for a relaxing last night and not so rushed final morning for our departure.
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