This afternoon we went to Suomenlinna Islands which are only about a mile, if that much, from Helsinki. We took the public ferry. As you can see it was a gorgeous day.
Only one other nation in the world has more islands than Finland does. That is Canada. About 20,000 islands of the 180,000 make up an archipelago southeast of Finland. Only about 455 of the islands are inhabited.
The Swedes had controlled Finland for a long time. In the early 19th century Russia took control. Nikolas I built this church on the island. He took over the fortress built by a Swedish king. All of the cannon date back to about 1850. The church used to look very Russian with cupola on all of the spires. Following the Russian revolution, the building was dedicated as a Lutheran church and in 1928 the outside was remodeled getting rid of all of the cupola.
My attempt at photographing the church as it used to be was not very successful. The above drawing shows a church that has Russia copula on the spires.
We saw people walking around who were dressed so inappropriately for a day on the island. When we saw the church we immediately knew that there had been a wedding earlier. There were several groups of people dressed for a wedding. Later we saw the bride and groom. I took this picture surreptiously from far away under a tree.
Of course, my favorite pictures are the ones with Earl in them. I have totally given up on my hair. It is very humid and it gets damp and sticks to my head or curls. But Earl just says, "Who cares?" Well, I do for one. :)
The island visit reminded me so much of going to see a fortress on the Black Sea with Leanna. But it did not have all of the places in the harbor for us to have lunch as it did when we went together, Leanna. We decided that the fortress was a ten year old child's paradise. There were so many places to climb and explore.
Suomenlinna is a group of three islands that are connected by bridges. The suggested walk is from the one end of the first island to the King's Gate at the tip of the third island.
We have seen a lot of second hand stores in our neighborhood. This one has some great green cowboy boots in the window. PS The very next day the green boots were gone. I felt a bit disappointed as if I wished that I had gone in to try them on before they disappeared.
On our walk to the harbor we passed a guard outside a building. It was not the president's residence. However, we passed the president's palace and there were no guards there. Seemed a bit strange.
And of course, I think it is prime time for mushrooms.
By the way, the price for the mushrooms is for a quart of mushrooms. And a Euro is about $1.50.
We were trying to avoid the crowds leaving the island so we took the ferry back to the city quite early. It was only then that we discovered that we had explored only 2 out of the 3 islands. We will have to go back another day to see the lighthouse.
Ps. Suomenlinna is Seavborg in Swedish. Definitely a more approachable language.
We have seen a lot of second hand stores in our neighborhood. This one has some great green cowboy boots in the window. PS The very next day the green boots were gone. I felt a bit disappointed as if I wished that I had gone in to try them on before they disappeared.
On our walk to the harbor we passed a guard outside a building. It was not the president's residence. However, we passed the president's palace and there were no guards there. Seemed a bit strange.
And of course, I think it is prime time for mushrooms.
By the way, the price for the mushrooms is for a quart of mushrooms. And a Euro is about $1.50.
We were trying to avoid the crowds leaving the island so we took the ferry back to the city quite early. It was only then that we discovered that we had explored only 2 out of the 3 islands. We will have to go back another day to see the lighthouse.
Ps. Suomenlinna is Seavborg in Swedish. Definitely a more approachable language.
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