Today we arrived in the last stop on the Scandinavian journey before heading to Russia. Finland is VERY different from the other Scandinavian countries though. There is definitly more of an Eastern European feel here. The Norwegians, Danes, and Sweds have much more Western influence in their dress and they all are basically tall, thin, and blonde. Here we see the more "goth" dress style, more heavy set builds, and not so many blondes.
We started the day with a city tour of Helsinki with our British tour guide. Apparently the Finish tour guides are hard to understand so our tour leader Maria ensured we had the Brit. Richard, the Brit, explaned a bit about the history of Helsinki, going back to the olden days when the city was filled with livestock roaming the streets and an island close by that was the largest export of tar. Yes, imagine the stinch of old Helsinki.
A bit of history on Finland...from the 12th century to 1808 it was a part of Sweden. From 1808 to 1917 ot was a part of Russia (hence the more Eastern feel of the current inhabitants). The Russians czar Alexander kind of paved the way for Finland's independence. Following the Crimean War of 1863 he gave Finland five gifts for being her alligence to Russia during the Crimean War: their own language, their own parliament, their own currency, their own flag, and their own national anthem. There is a bit of fear in Finland now with the current conflicts in Russia over Crimea and the unsettledness of the Ukraine. And really....who is going to fight Russia for Finland? Might be an interesting country to follow over the next few years.
80% of Finland is Lutherean. We went to the Rock Church, which is a very modern church built below the ground. It looked like something that belonged in Colorado instead of Finland, but was quite lovely.
Rock Church
We then finished our tour viewing the Sibelius monument dedicated to the famous author of Finish music including a favoriate of Finlandia....better known to U.S. Chrsitians as the song to "Be Still My Soul" or "This is my Song".
After a stop at the market for a lunch of calamari, salmon, fish, potatoes, and veggies a few of us headed out to the fortress island. This island has been the reason Finland has never been successfully attacked from the sea. In fact, during the Crimean War the citizens of Helsinki purchased tickets to stand on a hill and watch the Anglo Saxon forces try to bomb the island and watched them fail.
We ended the night shopping at Stockman's which is Helsinki's answer to Harrods or Macys. We found Reindeer jerky, cheese, bread, wine, and chocolate. Whatelse does one need to end a day in Finlandia?
You ate Rudolph? Bambi is okay but Rudolph?
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