While It Is Day: Viewing the World

[Cruise Day 7:  Helsinki, Finland, Tuesday, July 10, 2018]

We sailed from St. Petersburg last night and arrived in Helsinki, Finland, at 7 o'clock this morning.   Helsinki is very much in the news these last few days.  It will host the meeting of the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States next Monday.  Fortunately we will be long gone by then!  We were also fortunate to leave the UK before Mr. Trump’s scheduled visit there.

Helsinki, situated on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, is just 50 miles north of Tallin, Estonia, where we visited a few days ago.   It is 250 miles east of Stockholm, Sweden, where we will sail tonight and visit tomorrow, and it is about the same distance from St. Petersburg, Russia, where we visited just yesterday.

We did the HopOn/HopOff City Tour today and rode around the city two times.  We hopped off to visit the Temppeliaukio Lutheran Church.  The church was designed by brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen.  It was opened in 1969 and has become a major tourist attraction.  The church is built directly into solid rock and is sometimes called the Church of the Rock or the Rock Church.  Another tourist attraction is the Sibelius monument in honor of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.  The sculpture consists of 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern (similar to the pipes of an organ). The purpose of Finnish artist Eila Hiltunen was to capture the essence of Sibelius’ music.  It is a huge and impressive work of art.

The most impressive sight in Helsinki for me was the number of bicycles.  There were cyclists (young, adult, women and men, and even seniors) everywhere one turned.  Large areas were set aside for bike parking.  Perhaps this is why Helsinki is rated as one of the world’s most livable cities, ranking ninth among 140 cities in the world.  Helsinki was also rated as having one of the highest urban standards of living in the world in 2011.  With all those bikes, one can probably breathe easier, too.

Exterior:  Church of the Rock

Interior:  Church of the Rock