We left the house at 6:00 am to catch the ferry to Helsinki.  There are many ferries that travel between the Baltic port cities.  It is a relaxing and easy way to travel in Scandinavia.  This particular ferry, the Viking Express, took 2 1/2 hours, but there are faster and slower ones.  It looks like a small cruise ship with 10 decks, including a car/truck holding area, restaurant/nightclub level and of course duty free shopping.  Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of the ship we took, but it is nearly as big as the one in the picture.  This picture  is looking toward the Estonian capital city of Tallinn, with the towers of Old City in view.  To the left of the boat would have been a view of the modern skyscrapers, as well.

Here are the first glimpses of Helsinki.  It is a modern city with a mix of turn of the century and mid century buildings.   Surprising to me it is very hilly and is full of large granite formations.   

I am told it is the second safest city in the world.  Interestingly, there were neither security checks nor passport checks getting on or off the ferry on either end of the trip.

Most of our day was spent entertaining the children.  We went with my cousin Katrin and my other cousin’s 12 year old daughter.  We visited an indoor reptile zoo and then a beautiful aquarium that was attached to an amusement park.  It was a beautiful day and all enjoyed themselves.  We took a tram back to the center of town and walked around a bit before catching the 9:30 ferry back.  Just like any city there were street performers.  This group was just a bit classier than the rest!

The trip home included a beautiful sunset sometime around 11:00 pm.  We arrived home at 1:00 am and fell into bed!  Morning did not arrive until 11:00 am for anyone!

Since yesterday was practically 2 days in one and the weather is not so great – I think we’ll just hang out!

Till the next adventure!  Helle-May