Helsinki

Trip Start May 20, 2008

Trip End Sep 15, 2008

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Where I stayed

Hotel Seurahuone Helsinki

Flag of Finland Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Friday, August 1, 2008

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1835-first public statue in Helsinki	1854 Lutheran Cathedral is most famous landmark	4 aces helped me profit 11 Euros Comments!	9 gold medals and 22 world records!
A reindeer kabob! Not with the holiday spirit	All out of Power Bars again	All types of sea travel with so many islands	Almost no scooters;big on dark breads
Bad flavors&over $3.50;first spottings of PB's	Band stage used all summer for small shows	Bar was on the corner near my hotel!	Beautiful cafe on Esplanade Park full of flowers
Biggest department store carries everything	Bike would be best way to get around;trails	Bob could turn all those bottles into artwork!	Bridge to Seurasaari Island;only pedestrians
Can see 2 cathedrals dominating central city	Central business and shopping districts	Church in the Rock actually built into rock	Church in the Rock mobbed with tourists
City Hall built in 1833 originally as hotel	City Hall with Lutheran Cathedral overlook harbor	City is very green;rained most of my visit	City's busiest street named after Mannerheim
Community bikes for 2E deposit across city	Daughter of the Baltic has become city symbol	Drains cut into sidewalks tripped many	Esplanade Park designed in 1826 for gentry
Finland has about 5.4 million people	Finlandia concert hall;architecturally impt. ?	Finnish and Swedish are official languages	Good hotel rate since I visited on weekend
Gorky Park and Dr. Zhivago filmed in Helsinki	Greater Helsinki has 1.3 million people	Heavy pedestrian traffic everywhere I went	Helsinki didn't exist until 1800's;better planned
Helsinki famous for neoclassical architecture	Helsinki has 103 cell phones for every 100 people	Helsinki is made up of dozens of islands	Helsinki modeled after St. Petersburg
Her backside faces the city budget office	Huge displays of flowers throughout city	I love color and design of City Hall	I'm taking the Viking ship to Stockholm
Ice cream is constant fixture in Europe	Kids went by themselves to park right in town	Large,new shopping complex;common style	Lasse Viren ran for 4 gold medals
Light rail expanding in Helsinki too	Main train station right across from my hotel	Main train station Saarinen 1916 masterpiece	Many pedestrian-only shopping streets
Market square held at harbor entrance	Modern art museum left&postal museum right	Most popular attraction is Linnanmaki amusement pk	My first swim in an Olympic stadium
National Library has one side of Senate Square	National Museum;not a church	Of course I didn't try any of these delicacies	Old Market Hall filled with food vendors
Olympic complex has almost all facilities together	Olympic Tower for 1952 games	One of oldest bldgs from pre-Russian days	Only European capital with no medieval history
Opera House;heavy on Russian operas	Parliament is imposing building;not with others	Plain t-shirts on sale for $30!	Plentiful parks seem standard in Europe
Poor picture of copper roof of church	Presidential Palace in the heart of harbor bldgs	Random sculpture helps make city attractive	Roundtrip bus ride is over 7 dollars
Seen lots of Goth kids;I am near train station	Senata Square is finest neoclassical one in Europe	Sibelius Monument iconic tribute to composer	Similar design to train station but not near it
So cool! My own little cabin & island in Helsinki	Squirrels are smaller and red,haven't seen many	Statue of poet anchors Esplanade Park	Street restricted to mass transit & taxis
Suomenlinna Fortress guards Helsinki harbor	Super high taxes here would get Bob talking	Swimming stadium is center right of photo	Talk about false advertising!
Texas Bar was very popular place to be	The Three Blacksmiths statue famous landmark	They had a small pullbuoy I could use;managed 2000	This just doesn't look very appetizing
Too bad I'm leaving this afternoon	Traditional midsummer pole on Seurasaari	Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral ornate inside	What a cool bikerack! Ordinary often very creative