Helsinki, Finland 19/12-21/12Dec 21, 2006
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The Cruise Ship
Leaving Stockholm and it's finally snowing a little (gone by the the...
Hmmm, don't remember what this is... Some building in Helsinki...
| I finally got to go on a cruise!!! Something I have wanted to do for several years. We left on Tuesday afternoon and caught an overnight Viking Cruise Ship to Helsinki. It was so much fun. It is just a party boat and all we did was eat, drink cocktails, gamble and have a blast. We met quite a few interesting and friendly people on the cruise which made it even more fun. There were shops, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and a very small casino, and heaps of drunk Fins. Alcohol is tax free on the boat which made it really cheap and you're allowed to bring back 14 cartons of beer, 2L of Spirits and 2 bottles of wine to Sweden so we stocked up. We spent Wednesday in Helsinki and were, not surprisingly, extremely tired. We then caught the cruise back that afternoon and arrived back in Stockholm on Thursday morning. Helsinki was another fantastic city. We went on a bus tour and saw all the main sights, not that there are that many. We ate their famous sausages for lunch and walked around the city for a while taking everything in. Unlike Danish and Norwegian, Finnish is very different from Swedish as are the Fins. They are a much stockier build and blue eyes is not such a prominent trait. They sound almost as if they are speaking Chinese and their English, while still good, is a bit more difficult to understand. We went to a Church that is built into rock, Temppeliaukio Church, which was interesting to see. We also visited Helsinki Cathedral, The Parliament House, The Olympic Stadium from 1952 Olympics, The Presidential palace, A monument for a famous composer- Jean Sibelius, and the Christmas Markets. As we were arriving back in Stockholm we could see the Globe, near where we are staying- seems that you can see that thing from everywhere!! All in all, while short, we had a fantastic trip and are considering doing it again sometime... And it didn't rain at all!! |
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