This will be told mainly in pictures. We took a ferry across the Baltic to Tallinn, in Estonia, on Monday and walked around the old medieval town there. That was fun, though I got awfully tired of walking on cobblestone.
Tuesday we mostly crashed, but then rode around the city on the tram and checked out the market square and a nearby brew pub—very nice. There are a lot of small breweries in Helsinki, as it turns out. The American-style IPA has made definite inroads. Chatted a bit with the brewmaster of this pub, who turns out to be a lover of hard SF and space opera.
Wednesday we visited Church of the Rock—a church partially carved into solid bedrock. They seemed to have an ongoing service (they were speaking German when we were there), while catering to a steady flow of tourists. Then on to the Ateneum, a big art museum in the city center. Allysen went on to a modern art museum, while Jayce and I took a city ferry to the island fortress Suomenlinna, and spent several hours walking around. Among other things, Suomenlinna has a church that doubles as a lighthouse, a restored Finnish submarine from WW2, various fortifications and cannons, and a tomb that looks as though it marks the grave of a man from Numenor. All the roads and paths were cobblestone. I have developed an extreme dislike of walking on cobblestone! But I loved the views.
Today we leave for Reykjavik and two days in Iceland.
Ann Zeddies
We enjoyed the Finnish beer and the tomb of Augustin Ehrensvard too. (His name ALMOST sounds Numenorean.) And I agree that walking on cobblestones becomes tiring after awhile! I hope you post about Iceland, because that’s a place we didn’t go, and I’ve always wanted to!
Jeffrey A. Carver
We have arrived in Iceland and collapsed into the most spacious and elegant Airbnb I can imagine. I’m trying to rouse the troops to go see things!