Helsinki

Well, I figured it would only be appropriate for me to go ahead and post about Helsinki as we just got back from Strasbourg France tonight.  I did download all my pictures this evening so I should have no excuse but to keep up on my posts.  Well, Kevin had a holiday the first weekend of October so we went to Helsinki for 3 nights.  We had a wonderful time.  The first day we arrived at our Hotel a little after 4pm.  We stayed in the radisson blu plaza hotel.  It was a great location and it was very close to the train station.  We had breakfast included and our room was very nice, very modern.

 So we only had time to walk around for a few hours and find dinner.  It was a long day so we were all tired.  They only really cute shot I got from our first day was a picture of Ivy on this turtle statue in the harbor.

The second day we took a ferry over to the Island where the castle was and toured that for the better part of the day.  Some of my pictures are from the boat and some are on the Island.  

Then we went to The Lutheran Church 

While Kevin and I carried Ivy in the stroller up the many stairs, mine phone fell out of my pocket and fell down on one stair.  The screen is destroyed.  We thought it was ironic as Nokia is made in Helsinki!!!

Then we just walked around the town and found a quick place to eat.  The next day was quite busy.  Next to the hotel was (if I remember correctly as its been a month now) the national theater. I think it was originally the opera house and when they built the new one it became the national theater.  They were closed but some nice gentlemen was very nice and gave us a private tour. The first picture is of Ivy at the hotel before we left.

Then we went to the amazing rock church.  If you ever go to Helsinki you have to see this.  My pictures just don't even come close to how beautiful this church is!!!

Then We went to the Helsinki National Museum and learned a lot about Finland history which we found very interesting!!!  

 We stopped by the current Opera house but there was a show going on so we really couldn't get pictures.

 One of my favorite things we did was visit the Olympic stadium.  I loved the track and field since I did that in highschool.  

These pictures are taken at the top of the tower where the Olympic torch was.

 The Olympic torch 

At the end of the day we went to this fabulous restaurant that served Lappi food , which is a region in the northern part of Finland.  If you ever go to Helsinki its a must.  Send me a message and I will look up the restaurant.  I can't remember the name at this moment but I have the maps and its listed on there. Well, I will try to post in the next few days. I have a lot to get you up to date on!!!!