The rest of our time in Finland

 We have been so very busy here in Helsinki that I have been so tired in the evenings when we get back to the hotel, writing a blog post has been postponed. But we are sitting in the hotel on Monday morning, with the bags mostly packed (we head to London this afternoon) and I am making time to add what we have done for the past 4 days.

On Thursday, Krisy picked us up (she has our travel cards for the public transport on her phone as the app wouldn't work on ours). We headed to her apartment by tram, train and bus and spent a relaxing day there. It was lovely to see how she lives, so different from life in Australia and yet in some ways similar. We returned to central Helsinki for a lovely Thai meal and then it was back to the hotel.

Friday was another busy day. Krisy picked us up early and we headed to do some sightseeing. We saw the Orthodox Cathedral which was a lovely building on a hill (many churches are on the top of hills here). 

Helsinki Orthodox Church from the road

 

Closeup of embroidery on coffin cover

Light fitting

Closeup of embroidery on statue of crucifixion

Crucifixion

Ceiling dome

View of interior

After spending time there we headed to the Lutheran Cathedral and were in time to hear a lovely young lady talk about the history of the building and the parish. The church is a very different style to the previous one.

Lutheran Cathedral

Painting behind altar

Pulpit

Pipe Organ

After visiting these two churches, Krisy took us into the historic Library Building which had amazing architecture inside.

The dome in the foyer

Columns in the first reading room

Looking up at the Glass dome with floors circling below

After this we popped in to a cafeteria for a buffet lunch and then wandered over to the square in front of the Lutheran church were a military parade was about to take place. It was done by the Finnish Armoured Regiment and was the Trooping of the Colours. We watched the start and saw them head off to parade around the streets of Helsinki.

Formed up ready to begin

The Colours arriving

Marching off

After the parade, Krisy took us to another Church - The Church of the Rock. Such an unusual building and well worth the visit.

General view of the interior showing the amazing ceiling

The organ

One of the side walls

After leaving the Rock Church, we were caught in a very heavy shower on the way to the tram stop to travel to the Helsinki City Library. Another unusual building, very modern in architecture that uses space and shape to create areas for different activities, and it works. There is even a space where you can use their sewing machines if you don't have your own.

We went to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner and I thought the light fittings very unusual. Greg also was taken with a statue on a nearby building.

Light fitting

Statue near the Vietnamese restaurant.

Saturday was a family day. Krisy and her brother Kari picked us up and drove us to Loppi to visit with her family. The visit started with meeting her parents at the parish church where we were shown around and Krisy and her mum performed 2 songs for us, one a Finnish one, the other an Irish blessing. The church (Lutheran) was lovely and a nice start to our time in Loppi.

Loppi Lutheran Church

The altar and painting behing

The organ

Our own private concert

 It was then time to head to Krisy's parents home where we were fed a delicious typical Finnish lunch of soup, salad and cold meat followed by berry pie.

After lunch a friend of the family went with us to the local glider field to see the International Gliding Competition. He was a member of the gliding club and took Greg and the other men on a guided tour.The Gliding field is privately owned and very well designed, it is the second largest glider-port in Northern Europe.  The competition had attracted well over 100 competitors, gliders everywhere !!!

Back to Krisy's parents home for dinner, another delicious meal of hot smoked salmon (caught that morning), veggies, salad and dessert of strawberries and rhubarb, almost everything picked that morning from their own gardens. Then the drive back to our hotel. A very enjoyable day.

Sunday was another day of touristy sightseeing. We caught a tram and train to the Finnish Aviation Museum in Aviapolis Area Vantaa where Greg had an extremely enjoyable time looking a aircraft, some of which he had not seen before. (Greg will chose some photos and I will include them later)

After spending the morning there, we headed back in to central Helsinki and stopped to check out one of the Malls. Lunch was in a Japanese restaurant and delicious. After lunch we headed for the Sibelius memorial, again getting caught in a heavy shower.

We then headed for a lovely licensed cafe for dinner, again delicous, but the servings were enormous. Back to the hotel to start the packing process, which I am about to complete.