Helsinki, Finland

Today we visited Helsinki, Finland. I absolutely love this place. It feels very retro, like a movie in the 50’s. The city is clean and uncrowded, unlike any city in the US. They hosted the summer Olympics in 1952. It looks like it hasn’t changed much since then.

And the streets downtown are cobblestone but flat so they are easy to walk on, especially for a tripper like me.

Our day started with a guided bus tour. The first stop was at the Sibelius monument. It was an unusual group of pipes welded together and also a statue of the head of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. He was a talented guy who drank and partied with his friends a lot. He was married and had six kids. When his wife called the bar to ask when he was coming home, he said I am not a fortune teller so I can’t tell you. Nice guy, good thing he could compose music I guess.

Later we exited on the second stop where we went to the indoor and outdoor markets. Woody found a hat for his cold head (bean). Next we roamed the city to continue the hunt for Heinz ketchup. After walking forever it seemed, we made it to a market but it had been moved.

The big place of interest was a huge store called Stockmanns. We went in, looked around and then left. I don’t like going to the mall and that is what it was, kind of like Harrods in London. A bunch of segregated areas with a whole lot of stuff. We are more the refrigerator magnet type of shoppers, not real stuff.

Our fine dining was at Burger King.

Next we went to the shuttle stop and I noticed a sign down the street that said market. And just like that, the great ketchup hunt was over. We now own two big and two small bottles of ketchup along with all the Sprite Zero on the shelf.

So almost the best part of the day was relaxing at a pretty little park resting our feet and people watching. They only have five months of warm weather starting in May. The workers were planting flowers in this park so I guess it actually looks like Spring. Our tour guide said the weather will get up to the 80’s but not for long. It is mostly very cold. Today it was in the 40’s but it felt good while walking.

Now we are back on the ship in our room. First I told Woody that I was just going to rest my eyes. An hour later I woke up. Now Woody is resting his eyes. This vacationing makes you sleepy. As Woody says, we eat till we are sleepy and sleep till we are hungry. It is almost time for dinner.

Note:
These pictures are out of order but I don’t have the energy to fix it. You will figure it out.

The paprika mayo bottle will eventually be a ketchup bottle. The bottle from the store was too big to carry discretely.

Sibelius Monument