Feb 2/3 – Helsinki – a day of leisure and a day of sightseeing.

We opted to take a full day off on the 2^nd to bum around the room and relax.  It is cold here (in the teens, F), although not nearly as cold as up north, and we are just a bit worn out from fighting the cold weather.  So, a day inside was welcome.

On the 3^rd we bundled up and hit the streets.  

It is gloomy and overcast but not horrendously cold.  Nevertheless, today’s itinerary includes various inside stops so we will be able to warm up from time to time. 

First sight was the Helsinki Cathedral.  It is a Lutheran church so while the exterior is pretty grand 

the interior is fairly simple…not a lot of ornamentation.

The church overlooks Senate Square with Neoclassical buildings on three sides…

and right in the center is a statue of Russian Tsar Alexander II.  Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia from 1804 until 1917.  Alexander II named Helsinki the capital of the Grand Duchy and was responsible for much of the building of the city.  

We saw a group of school children leaving the Helsinki City Museum, just off Senate Square.  They were an orderly bunch.

We then walked over to the Uspenski Cathedral.  It has such interesting architecture and it really dominates the harbor area of the skyline.  Unfortunately, even though the website said it was open the doors were all locked.  So we only got to see it from the outside.

We stopped at FlyFinland where we watched a film on Finland and a second on Helsinki.  Much of the filming was from the air and the seats moved around to give the viewers the feeling of flying.  It is a most beautiful country.

From there we walked across a parking lot to take a ride on the large carousel that sits beside the harbor.  We had good views of the city.  (The windows of the glass enclosed gondolas turned all the photos blue/green.

The waterfront and the city is so pretty with all of the snow.

We wandered back over to the Old Market Hall.  We had visited it on our first day of sightseeing but many of the shops were closed (too early) so we decided to revisit.  Most of the shops were open.  Looks like a good place for lunch.

The snow is beautiful around town.

We then wandered over to the train station.  The route there took us back to Senate Square where there was a large demonstration going on.  Apparently the protest was against various COVID mandates. 

Train stations are sometimes really marvelous architecture wise.  This one was only ok.

So we then went to the Ateneum, the National Museum, right across from the train station.  It turned out to be an art museum.  Lots of interesting art.  We very much enjoyed it.  There were a few Van Goghs and Gauguin’s and other artists we were familiar with but most we by Finn and Nordic artists, who we were not familiar with at all.

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More Ateneum Museum
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