Helsinki Day 2

In contrast to the European summer so far and the previous day, Helsinki day 2 was all warm winds and clear blue skies! Taking the advice of the couple of Finnish guys who took us to the bar and then abandoned us last night, we decided to buy stuff for a picnic lunch at the UNESCO heritage-listed Suomelinna Fortress.

Oh yeah, Esplanadi looking real purdy today!

Awww, in the words of Cher Horowitz, old people are so cute!

Fish market at Market Square! Damn, if we didn't have a ferry to catch, I totally would have gotten myself something seafoody to eat!

The ferry to Suomelinna took about 20 minutes and cost about €7 for a return ticket. I'm not sure why you'd want to buy a one-way ticket though.

We passed by some pretty cute islands...

to end up on another really cute and incredibly picturesque island!

Seriously.

Everywhere has amazing vistas.

Goslings!!!

Cygnets!!!

While eating our picnic lunch (which consisted of bread rolls I made by snitching things from breakfast buffet), we got to see this aeroplane taking off from the airport, its condensation trail splitting the clear blue sky.

The rocks under the water. Very furry.

H was extremely fascinated by this tree.

The island is actually inhabited by around 900 permanent residents.

And a wedding was taking place in this church as we walked by!

Although everything looks pretty so far, the fortress on the islands was constructed from 1748 by the Swedish as protection against the Russians.

You can enter the old fortifications

Oooh, spooky.

Oooh, pretty!

I'm looking the wrong way to get the view over the hills back to Helsinki!

But perhaps what I liked best was that there were places where you could hang out by the water of the Baltic Sea.

H said the water was not as cold as he expected.

He was right - it was the perfect temperature for feet dipping.

We eventually had to leave this idyllic island and after a bit of confusion from the instructions the concierge gave me to get to the port, we then boarded an overnight ferry to our next stop - Russia!