I have been having some issues with internet access and my computer - last night I gave up and decided to just take a sauna instead. We had an excellent day. We attended the conference until right after lunch, then headed out to do some exploring. We needed to meet some friends at the Hotel Arthur at 3 pm, so we took the tram to the main station, and set out for a walk from there. We managed to land ourselves in the Botanical Gardens of Helsinki University - a beautiful spot in the middle of the city.
After a very quick walk through part of the gardens we headed to the Hotel to pick up Shirley and Duane. From there we walked to Market Square - right on the water - where we did a little shopping and picked up a few suovenirs. Dinner was at a restaraunt near the Square named Kappeli - a great art deco place where we enjoyed fresh elk and mashed rooted vegetables, followed by blueberry pie. The grilled liver and onions that Shirley had looked really good too. We managed to catch the 7b tram home and ended the day with a sauna.
Today (Thurs). was a good day - even though we over slept and missed the Helsinki guided tour. We decided instead to go back to Market Square and have some breakfast - then catch the ferry to the fortress called Suomenlinna. It was a hot day - lots of sun and great walking around the museum, island, and fortress property. We cooled off by pretending to shoot cannons from the bunkers.
Our return ferry to Helsinki was not full and the ride cooled us off. We landed in Market Square and decided to do a bit of shopping. I found some small souvenirs at the Iittala shop and at Aarika - great deals and good momentos. Supper was at Kappeli again - we decided to end the day with the grilled liver followed by dessert - berry soup and ice cream for Tom and strawberry sorbet with chocolate cake for Sally. We caught the 7b back to the hotel and are heading for the sauna. PS Finnish beer is really pretty good - almost as good as the coffee - or maybe better.
Tom pretending to shoot the cannon at the Russians.....
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