20547 steps in Helsinki

…and on the boat in the morning and evening drinking coffee or beer. This is apparently 13.5km. It was a good day. Perhaps we should have got the tram or metro, but we were determined to make Helsinki a walkable city, despite the ferry dropping us off at the opposite end of town it turns out.

We started by walking to the centre, however, Mischa isn’t the best at reading maps and I was doing my very best not to take control. The weather was cold, I was very grateful for putting my thermal leggings on. The streets were quiet with few Finns wandering around. After following the tram lines that passed a few churchs we made it to the bustling centre, and spotted a another ferry plonked right in the port which we had seen leave from Stockholm the day before us. It wasn’t Russian and decked out in red velvet and gold so ours was better we decided.

We had a brief moment of sheer panic when we realised we didn’t know what the currency was. I felt quite bad about that. We assumed it would be kronor, similar to Denmark and Sweden, but in fact investigating a cash machine told us it was euros. Who knew.

We tried local street food which the seagulls were dive bombing the people and the stall for. It was pretty good, well anything battered and supplied with garlic mayo is tasty.

Botanical Gardens (again)

Why not make it a hat trick, just Norway to go now and we’ve completed Scandinavia. The entrance to the grounds was free while the conversatory was €9 each. There was more to see here than in Stockholm but it was smaller than Copenhagen. Beautiful flowers and plants, and many different rooms of varying temperature. After a while botanical gardens do look alike, however, it’s a great breather from the hustle and bustle of a city. It’s another excuse to go to a cafe, garden cafes are usually full of tasty food and again we weren’t disappointed with different quiches and flans to try. And strong coffee with free refills.

Temppeliaukio Church

A detour before going back to the ferry took us to the Temppeliaukio Church, also known as the Rock Church. It is Lutheran , built into solid rock and fairly modern. It was a really peaceful place and despite its simple feel, we sat for a long time being amazed. In most churches we have visited there are usually everyday people sitting and praying, actually using the church. This time however it seemed full of tourists. I imagine this is because of the price charging €3 entry.

Complete photos

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