hungary: visegrad and szentendre

one of the many reasons i like hungary is the possibility to stay in one city or town for a while, and do day trips to nearby towns...it's really nice not to have to pack up every day or two...i used budapest as my base for this entire trip, as it is easy to get to a number of nearby towns, yay!
remembering what i'd learned the day before about the necessary bus stop i got up around the same time, and out the door the same time, but this time got to the bus stop a good thirty minutes earlier...for whateva reason, i don't think i got to a town any earlier, but that's beside the point.

visegrad is another small town on one side of the danube river...the bus stopped quite regularly along it's route, i was never very sure which stop was the main one for visegrad...(even at the end of the walk around town i still didn't know)...
according to lonely planet, visegrad has the most history of the towns in the area, but very little of it is still visible...it's heyday was during the renaissance...its hard to believe the town used to be quite powerful, and used to control a sizeable area of the country...
i am sure that the stop where i got off wasn't the 'main' stop...i'm not sure what prompted me to hop off the bus there, but i did...thankfully i like walking, so it wasn't a big deal to walk a ways down the highway to get to something...

i found a tiny chapel on the river side of the highway, a very cute exterior...unfortunately it wasn't open...triposo tells me this is a roman catholic chapel, named after mary...built in the 18th and 19th centuries...
i managed to find the tourist information office; the man on duty was one of the rudest information people i've ever met...i walked in, he immediately asked 'what do you want?'...given that this was the information office, i would've thought that was obvious...he gave me a map, without pointing out any landmarks on the map, then told me i should go outside if i wanted to look at it more closely...i didn't feel at all as though he wanted to help me see the town...

the lonely planet guidebook mentions very few places to see in visegrad, the first of which is a palace...(triposo and tripadvisor don't even mention this palace)...only it isn't a real palace...well, it is, but it isn't, at the same time...
according to lonely planet, the palace once had 350 rooms...what exists now is nearly all a reconstruction, and even then it has only been partly reconstructed...i didn't like it at all...the reconstruction looks new, and the actual remains of what used to be don't make much sense at all...you get to see about 12 partly reconstructed rooms, i didn't feel as though i was seeing anything interesting
the gardens are nice, and i hope were much more extensive at one point in time...
i bought a few postcards on my way down the street after the palace, the
my next sight was a church...the front doors were open, but i wasn't able to go into the church past the front doors...there was an inner gate of sorts...too bad, as i would've enjoyed a few moments of quiet reflection...

what i could tell is that the central aisle had a carpet of flowers.  they were beautiful designed, i loved it. the pattern went all the way down the aisle, absolutely lovely. i'm assuming visitors were blocked from entering the church in order to keep the flower design looking awesome
i next found the beginning of the path that took me on a nice hike to the remains of the fortress overlooking the entire area...it was a nice hike...as i got to the fortress, i also found the parking lot, where it seemed most people started their visit to the fortress...the parking lot was surrounded by tourist stalls, none of which sold anything that interested me...

the fortress had a couple options for an entry fee, i opted for the one excluding the wax room...i didn't need to see wax representations of anything...each room in the fortress had an exhibit about one aspect of the history of the area...very well done, much more so than the palace i'd already seen...
perhaps the best part of the fortress was the ability to look out over the entire area...fantastic views...if there was a bridge to cross over to slovakia, i would've explored a couple of the small towns on the other side of the river :)
i wasn't able to find the path going down from the fortress, so i ended up going down the same way i came up...i didn't mind, since it was still pretty...

as i got back into town, i found the closest bus stop on the highway...i got lucky, and a bus came along within 10 minutes. yay!!
i got off the bus in szentendre...go figure, i hopped off at yet another stop that wasn't the right stop to get to where i wanted to be...i ended up wandering, and purely by luck ended up in the town center, the cute area of the town...
szentendre used to be ruled over by visegrad, but doesn't have a lot of history itself...it's now mostly an artists colony popular with tourists...there is a small central platz, with a memorial cross in the middle...

streets stretch out in several directions from this central area, all filled with shops and restaurants for tourists...i couldn't help but wonder where locals eat, because i'm pretty sure they wouldn't pay the prices these restaurants were charging...the shops had all sorts of kitchy stuff, none of which interested me...(except postcards of course, and i saw those in less than half the shops)...if i'd had the room in my tummy, i would've bought ice cream at the various shops, just to see which place had the best...hee hee hee...i exercised some willpower and only had one cone...with two scoops of course...
the one sight i enjoyed was the serbian orthodox church and museum on top of the hill in the middle of town...the church was quite small, but i was the only one in there at the time, so it was quiet and comfortable...the iconostasis was beautiful...
the museum was full of religious art...the signage was fantastic, in both hungarian and english...it was only two large rooms, but i really liked both of them...if art interested me more than it does, i would've enjoyed it even more...

also on top of the hill was a church dedicated to st john the baptist...again i got lucky with being the only person in there during my visit; it felt welcoming and comfortable...(i couldn't help but wonder if all the tourists down in the center platz saw anything on the hill)
there wasn't anything else to see in szentendre, so i wandered through the back streets to find the same bus stop at which i'd gotten off the bus when i arrived in town...not too long afterward, i arrived back in budapest :)

hungary: esztergom

Esztergom was the first place I've been in Hungary other than Budapest. The original plan was to visit Esztergom and another town in the same day, but it took longer than planned to get to Esztergom, and I spent longer there than planned, so it was just the one town for the day.

I woke up plenty early in my hostel, and of course took longer than planned to get out the door. The person working the front desk gave me the name of a bus station so that's where I went. It wasn't close, and I went the wrong way at one point, so it took even longer than it should've. 

When I got to that bus station, the ticket clerk told me it was the wrong station, so I had to go all the way to the other end of the metro line to get to another bus station. Ugh.

Fortunately when I got to the correct station, I got a ticket for a bus leaving in less than 15 minutes. Yay!

The bus ride was longer than I expected. The guidebook said 90 minutes, it was actually more than two hours. Especially because the bus got stuck in a traffic jam just as we were coming into Esztergom.

Finally I arrived, yahoo! By this point it was almost noon, I'd originally been thinking I would be there by 1030. 

Anywho, I got off the bus, and started walking. The first thing I found was the end of a local produce market, only a few stalls were still open. 

My next stop was the platz in the middle of town. I was the only one there, even though it was the middle of Saturday.  In the middle of the platz was a memorial, to the victims of a plague epidemic that happened several hundred years ago. Rather depressing to see, even though it was quite pretty. 

One side of the platz was cute, and very photogenic, of course I took photos. 

From this platz I walked a bit north, making my way toward a bridge mentioned in lonely planet and triposo. The bridge is important because it goes over the Danube, to Slovakia. I walked the bridge, just to say I visited Slovakia during this trip.

I took all kinds of photos; I took photos of each of the four 'ends' of the bridge, I took photos of the 'welcome to Hungary/welcome to Slovakia signs in the middle of the bridge, I took photos of the boundary line marked on either side of the bridge, and one of my feet on either side of the border. 

After the bridge, I walked through and around a park near the river. Very pretty, and I was the only one there. By this point I was really wondering where all the people of this city could be found. It was Saturday, and a beautiful day.

Up the hill from this park I came to a city museum, as well as a BIG basilica.

It was really big, especially considering the size of the town. The entry fee included several options, namely the crypt, treasury, cupola, and more. 

I started by wandering the main area. Beautiful frescoes all over the church, and I loved the ceiling of the cupola as I usually do. Then I found the stairs heading up to the treasury and cupola. The treasury was about halfway up. I showed my ticket, then went through the turnstile. The displays included gorgeous vestments worn by important people in the church over the years. I also got to see items of importance, like candlesticks and plates and more. Great displays. Some of the signage was in Magyar and English, but not all. I didn't read all that was in English, just because I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information. Still, the effort put forth by the museum was very much appreciated.

I continued up the stairs, all the way to the top, by which point my legs were like jello. 

That being said, it was worth it. My ticket allowed me to go on a walkway around the outside of the cupola. Fantastic views all around, including over the river into Slovakia. (The town on that side looked very different from Esztergom.) I could've stayed up there foreva, if there had been a place to sit down. As it was, I took heaps of photos, though none of them really showed what I was seeing. 

The stairs back down made my legs feel even weaker, hee hee. I got back down to the main sanctuary, then found the stairs down to the crypt. The crypt wasn't big, and seemed mostly devoted to one person. At least, I could only see one tomb. 

After climbing up the stairs and going in front of the basilica, I enjoyed looking at the front of the whole building. It's big, to say the least. It took me a while, (waiting for the area to be clear of people) but I finally got a photo of the whole thing. So pretty. 

I wandered back down the hill by another series of streets. I stopped for a late lunch at one of many gyro places, and picked up water and snacks at a supermarket. 

Eventually I got back to the bus station, and got lucky with a seat on the next bus back to Budapest. For whateva reason, the ride back to Budapest was at least 30 minutes faster than it had been on the way to Esztergom. 

belgium: brussels

I love the way various members of my extended family have lived in different countries. For this visit, my cousin Bryn was my host in Brussels, Belgium.

My flight left kyiv early in the morning, so there was no traffic to interfere with me getting to the airport on time. Yay! The line to checkin was long and slow, argh. Why doesn't Ukrainian Airlines do online checkin? The flight departed late, I never figured out why.

Upon arrival it was easy enough to take the train to the central train station (Gare Centrale) where cousin Bryn met me. We walked to his flat and caught up for a while before heading out again. 

We walked toward the city center, stopping in a church or two, and heaps of chocolate shops. Belgium is known for chocolate, for good reason. Pieces of chocolate, not bars of chocolate, though they were available as well. By the time the day was over if bought about 10 different pieces of chocolate. And this was just the first day :) I decided my goal was to find the best couer framboise.  Some stores were more expensive than others, sometimes that corresponded to taste, sometimes not.

The city centre is full of tourists, as well as small places to buy waffles and frites (French fries.) 

When we turned the corner into the Grande Place I was well and truly impressed. It's basically a giant platz. The buildings surrounding the platz are almost all big, and beautiful. I loved it. Definitely a good place for people watching. Photos didn't turn out as well as I thought the whole area looked, i hope that's because the sky was flat and grey.

After going through the Grande Place we followed another street or two, finding ourselves in front of Mannekin Pis. It's a lot smaller than I expected. Mannekin Pis is a statue of a little boy peeing, with water coming out of that part of his body. I don't get it, why is it famous? During this visit the statue had a costume covering most of him. How often does that happen? 

At that point both of us were hungry, we decided to be tourists sortof. We each ordered frites at a random place. I chose mustard as my sauce, you could have ketchup and mayonnaise and a few others as well. Mayonnaise is the typical sauce, I'm so not a fan. 

After that, I decided I wanted a waffle too. (Obviously, a healthy diet was not going to happen.) I chose one covered in whip cream and strawberries, Bryn had Nutella. By the time I finished eating I was stuffed, I had no room for 'real' food! Oops! As often as I talk about eating healthy, this was an epic fail, but so worth it!

The next morning the first thing Bryn did was show me how to get to a nearby large supermarket. (This was useful the next day when Bryn had to go to work, but I had a few more hours to explore.)

From there we continued walking. We crossed another platz, this one set up with a farmers market of some kind. I found the stalls with baked goods of course :) I didn't buy any of those items, but I did buy when I found the hot chocolate stall. Yum. They had three different types: milk, white, and dark. Why don't all places that sell hot chocolate have these choices? 

Eventually we made it to a BIG park. I think the name of the park is Cinquantenaire. There is a giant 'gate' in the middle of the park. On this particular day the park was the start and end point for a running festival. The main race was a 20km. (Why not a half marathon distance of 21.1km?) there were people everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Bryn and I have both run multiple marathons, though he takes running and training in general a whole lot more seriously than I do. I'm just happy to finish any race I run, he has actual goals. Seeing all these people made me think I should run the event next year.

We walked out another exit of the park, making our way to the area of town where the EU commission buildings are located. All I have to say about them is that they're not architecturally appealing. At all. 

Those buildings were yucky, so we decided to walk through the gardens close to the royal palace. The gardens are pretty. A few statues, walking paths, old trees, etc... We got to the palace itself, and due to the crappy weather there weren't many people out in front. Yay for photos without people. I wonder if it's ever possible to go inside the palace. It's big, but not super impressive outside; is the interior the same?

From there we walked to a monument which I think was an eternal flame. I'm not sure though. As we got there the wind picked up, as did the rain. YUCK. I know I've mentioned previously how I feel about rain. YUCK. Wind and rain make picture taking more difficult as well. 

The main Cathedral was close. It was big, and the front facade was quite nice. The interior wasn't nearly as impressive. Or maybe I'm just churched out. 

It continued being windy, and raining from time to time. To get out of the crappy weather we stepped into a cafe with a lovely display in the window. It ended up being a great choice. I had a slice of a raspberry tart, YUM. 

More time in the city center, including another church. This one was much more appealing to me. Smaller, much more friendly. 

I got another waffle, saw flavors as before. Again, YUM. At this point I realized it's a good thing I don't live in Brussels, I'd be HUGE! Between the chocolates and waffles, eeek.  When I ordered this waffle I had an entertaining conversation with the guy who worked there, in French. I love being able to speak a little of another language. 

I bought more chocolates. I think I ended up buying chocolates from all the main brands in Brussels. Except Godiva, I've had that brand plenty of times in other countries.

I wasn't hungry, but I realized I needed 'real' food, as I hadn't had any in a couple days. Bryn knew of a nearby street with several good choices, I ended up choosing a pita. Protein and veggies, I needed those. Since I wasn't full I didn't enjoy it as much as I could've, but I'm still glad I ate. Of course by the time I was done I wasn't feeling so good, I had way too much food in me.

The next morning I packed up, and walked Bryn to work. It was still a holiday for me, but not for Bryn. Then I made my way to the supermarket. I wanted to bring back chocolates for everyone at work, I figured I could find a box or several for cheaper than the stores in the city centre. I think I ended up buying three boxes :) 

Then I made my way to a metro stop, and figured out how to get to the atomium. It's a big, um, thing. Several of the molecules are part of a science oriented museum. That didn't interest me, I just enjoyed looking at the exterior. The atomium is in the middle of a park, I enjoyed strolling around and watching people.

At some point I realized I needed to hop back on the metro and get back to the airport. So I did. I got there later than I wanted, but being late meant there was almost no queue left at checkin. Thank goodness for not having to  check a bag! 

ukraine: kyiv: mom came to town

Yay, my mom came to visit!

I picked her up at the airport, and even though my voice still sounded awful and it wasn't easy to talk, we chatted all the way back to the city center. Since I live in a very small flat on the edge of the city, mom got a hotel in the city instead of staying at my place. 

After resting up for a while we walked down the street to TGI Fridays. The sign written in Cyrillic still makes me laugh after four years. I had steak, and it was everything I wanted it to be :)

The next morning I had to teach, though it was a struggle. The kids were good, and I just danced during our normal music time instead of singing and dancing.

I met mom after class, she came with me to the doctors office for my last treatment on my vocal chords. It went quickly and smoothly; mom took a photo of my name (written in Ukrainian,) on the screen outside the room while I was in there. 

We went to dinner at Revolution Grill, my favorite place in Kyiv. All I need to say about that is YUM. 

The next morning, we walked along Khreshchatyk, which is pedestrian on weekends. Definitely the place to see and be seen. It was even more crowded because it was the start of a long holiday weekend. This was the first holiday weekend I've even stayed in kyiv in four years! 

We had a late breakfast/early lunch at a place I've always called Violettas cafe. That's not the real name, but my friend Violetta introduced me to the place, and I can never remember the real name of the place. It's a budget, cafeteria style place. Why spend a lot of money on food when you don't have to?

After Khreshchatyk we walked through Maidan, up the hill to St Sophia's platz. I showed mom the statue of Boghdan Khmelnytsky, an independence fighter in Ukraine several hundred years ago. 

We didn't go in St Sophia's, I don't really know why. We walked about two blocks down the street, to St Michaels. We did go in that church, it was beautiful as always. 

As we were walking out of the complex we decided to go in the bell tower. I'd always known it is a museum, but I hadn't known previously that you can go up the bell tower as part of the museum. It turned out to be awesome!

Very cool to look down on st michaels, and be able to look up the street toward st Sophia's.  In the museum we got to see a bit of the history of the church, including pictures of what it looked like when Lenin's buddies blew it up in the 1930s.

From there we walked to andreiivsky uzviz, a street full of stalls selling kitschy tourist stuff. We walked a little of the street, (it's a little steep, and made of cobblestones.) We also took a look inside St Andrew's. It's a museum now, not an active church, but still hosts an occasional baptism or wedding. I paid the fee to take photos, which I've never done before, though I have taken quite a few photos of this church over the years. The fee is less than $.50, not exactly breaking the bank.

We finished in this area, and I led mom over to Mosaic Park. My favorite park in the city, even though it's always full of  people.

Next up was a stop at Coffee House, which is normally my favorite coffee chain in kyiv. This visit was a disappointment, as they didn't have 3 of the 5 things mom and I tried to order. Argh. 

From there we decided to walk back to the hotel and have dinner at a restaurant closeby. Another not so great experience, unfortunately. Moms salad came out really fast; although it was quite good, she was finished eating long before my sushi came out. I'm normally fine with meals coming out at different times, but more than 30 minutes in between is ridiculous.

Sunday mom finally came out to see my flat. I wasn't surprised when she started cleaning, she's always done that for me. I didn't let us stay long enough for her to clean the entire flat. We had lunch, cooked by yours truly, then went back to the hotel in the city center. After relaxing for a little while we found a cafe on Khreshchatyk, neither one of us felt the need for a big dinner.

Afterward, I took mom to a nearby French bakery for evening snacks, because it's yummy :) We walked through the area, to a small park with a statue of a guy mom recognized, I guess he was a character used in cartoons all over the former east bloc? Or a soldier character known all over the former East Bloc? Something like that. 

The next morning we took the metro to Arsenalna station. It is only one stop from Khreshchatyk, but it's a long stop. 

Mom and I walked down the street to the memorials, for WW2 and victims of the Holodomor. Both of them evoke an emotional response in me no matter how many times I see them.

Continuing down the street we came to the Lavra. When people come to kyiv, I show them St Sophia and the Lavra, as they are both UNESCO sights. 

The difference in this visit was that I discovered you can climb up the bell tower here as well. It's an extra fee, another 30 griven for each person, on top of the 50 griven entrance fee to the whole complex. My legs were jello by the time we got to the viewing platforms but it was sooo worth it. Awesome views. And we had beautiful skies, which made it even better.
We visited the two main churches in the complex, I know I've described both of them in previous posts. I was finally able to get good pictures of the inside of the church I like the best. Apparently it's a great idea to visit in the middle of a weekday:)

I took mom down into the 'caves' area, she enjoyed it even though the area is a bit claustrophobic. You can only walk in one direction, and there isn't a lot of air flow. 

Next we continued down the street to Rodina Mat, the statue and WW2 memorial area.
I've only visited Rodina Mat once before, the first year I lived here; that time I arrived through a different entrance to the area. During this visit it was a lot more crowded, for two reasons: it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and it was the middle of a Monday afternoon, at the end of a long holiday weekend. 

Rodina Mat is a 62m tall statue. I think you can take an elevator inside her to a viewpoint on her head, but I've never done it. 4 years ago the price was 200 griven, I have no idea what the price is now. Due to the political situation this year, the government and president of Ukraine had decided to use the posey to represent 8 May, the date recognized as the end of the war in Western Europe, there was a crown of posies on the head of Rodina Mat. Previously, Ukraine has celebrated the holiday on 9 May, as that was the day Stalin spread the news in the former USSR. I think Ukraine is now celebrating both holidays?

Nowadays Russia uses St George's cross as a symbol for the day. All over Kyiv you could see both symbols, different ways of marking the same moment. Poroshenko (the president of Ukraine, made a speech on 9 May, on a stage in front of Rodina Mat, I'm glad mom and I didn't get there until the 11th. 

I had to go back to school on the 12th, but I only had to teach in the morning. Mom and I had lunch at Puzata Hata again, then walked Khreshchatyk again. When mom travels there are certain souvenirs she looks for, and a football (soccer) jersey is one of those items. It took us a while, but eventually she found what she wanted.

I had thought there was an Adidas store nearby, I turned out to be very wrong. The store probably moved during all the madness of Maidan last year. 

We also traipsed through Bessarabsky Market. It's listed as a place to see in all the guidebooks, and it is pretty, but I don't see a reason to buy anything there. All the prices are much higher than they should be, they're all geared toward foreign tourists with money. 

Since it was mom's last night in town, we went back to revolution grill for dinner. Another yummy experience. I might have ordered too much in the drinks department: a caramel milkshake, citrus lemonade, pear lemonade, and something called birch sap. It was all worth it :)

The next morning I put mom in a taxi to the airport, and I went back to my normal schedule at work. 

finland: helsinki and suomenlinna

Finland is a country that has fascinated me for a while.  It's both Scandinavian, and not.  It has a very mixed history, having been part of different countries, as well as being an independent country.
Thursday night I hurried home from work, packed my bag, and took a taxi to the airport. Two flights later (via Riga, which is a very fast airport for me to get through) I arrived in Helsinki at 0030.
Before flying I'd opted not to book a hotel the night I landed, for a couple reasons. First, I wasn't sure there would be public transport for me to get into the city at that hour. Second, Helsinki is a very expensive city, and I didn't much feel like paying for a full hotel night when I wouldn't get to enjoy the whole night. Hotel prices are at least €60/night!!
Sleeping in the airport wasn't bad at all, I found four seats together and was able to stretch out. Plus the wifi was good, (and free!) and I found a plug nearby. Why aren't all airports this awesome??

The next morning I found the public bus that makes rounds between the city center and the airport; it's only 5€! The ride wasn't long, maybe only 30 minutes. The bus takes you to the central train station, which is very central in the city.
The place is booked for my first full night was only a 10 minute walk from the train station. My room was ready, I was able to check in straightaway, yippee!
During checkin I realized my voice was completely gone. I could whisper, but actual talking wasn't working, uh oh. If it didn't make communication so hard, I would have been laughing.

I rested up a bit, then started exploring. The first place I went was an old wooden church in a park a couple blocks from my hotel. Unfortunately the church was closed, I wish I'd been able to see the interior. Wooden churches aren't terribly common.  The next place I wanted to visit was closed too, a market hall that was supposed to be filled with old stuff. Argh. Then I tried to find a sculpture, but I missed that too! Argh.
What I did see was plenty of people out and about. 1 May is a national holiday, so EVERYONE was out and about. Apparently the traditional way to celebrate is to have a picnic with family and friends, I saw heaps of people in the parks all day.

I saw people wearing sailor like hats, I'm assuming those had something to do with the holiday. I also saw people wearing outfits that made me think of the uniform worn by people in car shops, or race car drivers; only these had patches everywhere, and were many colors. Some people wore red, others green or yellow, I even saw orange. Again, I'm assuming there is a tradition I don't know about.
During these first few attempts at sightseeing I stepped into a convenience store. I'd heard Finland is expensive, but some of these prices were a shock to say the least. On the happy side of things, I found some of the Icelandic yoghurt I loved so much when I lived in Iceland for a summer so many years ago. YUM!
I walked up another street to a park called the Esplanade. Heaps of people here, HEAPS. All the statues had been given those sailor like caps, I thought it was cute.

There were vendors walking around with giant bunches of mylar balloons, I saw several kids ask for them.
I walked the length of this park and turned onto a street where I thought I'd find a restaurant for lunch. I found the restaurant, but it was closed. Ugh. (At this point I was thinking 'dumb holiday'.)
At the end of the park I crossed the street over to an area on the quay, I think it's called the western port. There is a market of sorts there most days, you can buy fresh fish. Due to the holiday, there were more stands than usual, many of them selling food to be eaten straightaway. I was thrilled to sit down to salmon, veggies, and small potatoes. At only 10€, it was a huge bargain (by Helsinki standards!)

From my seat at lunch I could see Uspenski cathedral. It's an Orthodox church on top of a hill close to the port area. I walked up the hill, along with every other tourist in the city, only to find that the cathedral was closed for the holiday.
I'm happy to see businesses and offices and everything else closed on holidays, it's nice to know there are countries out there that take holidays seriously, that make it possible to celebrate (or honor, in some cases) the holiday instead of having to work. At the same time, as a visitor, it's annoying to find so many things closed while I'm traveling.

I walked from the cathedral to senate square, not too far away. Along the way I saw a shop that advertised Finnish traditional items, so I stepped in. I looked at many items made of wood, wool items, etc.... And expensive postcards. 1€ each!
Due to the holiday there were a lot of people in senate square. There was a jump house set up, and some stalls with food as well. It's a nice, large area, surrounded on most sides by government buildings. In the middle of the square is a statue of Alexander II. The statue was put there when Finland belonged to Russia. It's been a source of controversy over the years, but is still there.

Helsinki Cathedral is the place to which your eyes automatically look when you enter the square. It's a Lutheran church, way up on top of steps. It's grand looking on the outside, mostly white. I entered the cathedral to find a concert of some kind. A group of kids wearing identical shirts was singing in the front. Due to the concert, I didn't go very far in the church, but from what I could see, the interior wasn't nearly as impressive as the exterior. The outside is grand, but simple. The inside is big, or rather, the ceiling is high, but it isn't terribly grand, if that makes any sense.

I went back down the stairs, noticing that the jump house had been taken down, and the stalls were being cleaned up. I don't remember what time it was, but I remember thinking it was early to be finishing the holiday celebrations. (Especially since the sun doesn't go down until after 2100.)
I found an Indian place for dinner, and ordered one of my favorite dishes, bhindi masala, (okra curry,) but it was a bit drier than I like. On the other hand, the lassi was awesome!
After dinner I walked a bit more, to work off all the food. It felt good, and since it was still light, I felt okay staying out later than I normally do.

The next morning I woke up to the news of a major, devastating earthquake in Nepal, and also found out one of my rugby friends was there and survived and was safe.
I didn't sleep well, since it was light so early, my bed faced the wrong way, and the curtains didn't block the light at all. Plus, I had even less of a voice, argh.
This day had the worst weather of the whole trip. Overcast in the morning, then the rain started before noon and kept going most of the day. YUCK. Rain is the one type of weather I hate while traveling. Thank goodness I had my waterproof (but really ugly) boots with me.

My first stop of the day was a random tea shop. Not that I needed any tea, but I couldn't help myself.
My next stop was a rock church. It is well known, but when I saw it I couldn't figure out why. It's just a church partly carved out of rock. The inside is rather plain. The church is only open a few times a day, about an hour each time. I didn't know this ahead of time, I got lucky in arriving about 5 minutes before one of the open times.
Side note: i found the cheapest postcards in the city at souvenir shops near the rock church.
From the rock church I walked to Sibelius park, to see a monument. Very nice, totally different from anything I've seen before.
From the park I walked back toward the city center, making my way to a cemetery. Hientaniemi cemetery is the Finnish equivalent of Arlington national cemetery in the states. I was the only person there at the time, it truly felt like hallowed ground.

I got back to my hotel, warmed up and charged my phone, then moved me and my stuff to a new hotel. (Slightly cheaper, and had a room available for the rest of my visit.) No one answered the bell for five minutes, which was really frustrating, since I was sick, and tired.
After settling in I went back to the Indian place for dinner, ordering a different dish this time, and repeating the lassi. Again I walked out feeling fat and happy :)
The next morning I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. I managed to get myself up and out the door before 9am! No one was around the Cathedral, so I took a few new photos with a blue sky and no one else in the photo. Much better than the flat grey background of the past couple days.

I got to the ferry terminal 15 minutes before the next ferry was due to depart. Yay for convenience! Surprisingly, a ticket good for 12 hrs on the ferry was only 5€. That might be the only time in the whole trip when I didn't feel like I was emptying my bank account.
The ferry took me to the island of suomenlinna, the ride was only 15 minutes. The island has a fortress (or what remains of it) from back when Sweden and Russia were involved in Finland.
I wandered all over the island. Unfortunately the mitary museum (the museum I most wanted to see,) wasn't open yet for the summer, booo.
I also discovered the church (built by the Russians as a military church) is only open for special occasions. More booo. How do I get a list of when EVERYTHING is open?

A most excellent discovery was the ability to walk through the tunnels in the walls of the old fortress. Some are pitch black! Voices echo, very cool. While it was excellent to walk through in the dark, my camera is not good enough for that situation. Oh well, not every experience needs to be documented.
I got to see some of the big guns still there, from Russian days. Seeing how different parts of the island came from different parts of history made me a very happy geek. I loved how there were signs explaining all of this in various parts of the island.

I ate lunch (which is brought with me, knowing food prices at the two cafes on island would be super high) sitting on a small cliff, my view overlooked a small beach. LOVELY.
The island is hilly, the paths and such go up and down. I walked across a small bridge to an area marked on the map as a naval academy. After wandering around that area I saw a small sign saying it was an active military area, and not open to tourists. I'm not sure if that meant the academy grounds, but it was too late to do anything but walk back to the ferry terminal.
After taking the ferry back to the city, I walked up the hill the Uspenski cathedral. This time it was open, yay! I got an external photo with a blue sky, and an internal photo with sunlight streaming in. Yay!

My next stop was the Finnish national museum. There are permanent exhibits on all aspects of Finnish history (geological, cultural, etc...) and it was hosting a temporary exhibit on religions around the world. My favourite exhibit was that of currency and medals from all through the history of the country. It included Swedish and Russians currencies from the appropriate times. Awesome. The front door of the museum still has a bullet hole from the 1918 civil war. Hmmm.
The next morning I used my new favorite travel app (triposo) to create a path around the city to see what I wanted during my last half day in the city. I started at a supermarket to buy chocolate. Great big bars of chocolate. Yum. Why haven't I seen Finnish chocolate anywhere else? I bought postcards near the rock church.

The first church I wanted to see was closed, boo. I saw the 'sight' of an intersection with five streets. Why was that listed as something to see?
I was happy that St. John's church was open. I really liked it, especially the organ, and it had great stained glass windows. Stained glass windows in a church always make it feel more friendly and welcoming; I feel more like I want to worship in a church when it has stained glass windows.
My last church of the day was closed as well. Oh well.
I got another lunch of salmon by the water, YUM!
From there I practically ran back to the hotel, grabbed my backpack, and hoofed it to the train station to catch a bus to the airport.
Another side note: the next day I went to the doctor in kyiv and was officially diagnosed with laryngitis. Four days later I could finally talk again! Sortof.