Crossing the Sea or Trial By Water And Stone

So the intrepid duo of the Eldership de-I set out on dark night on their away mission to 21st Century Earth. They were to make the hard, treacherous passage over the notoriously stormy autumn Baltic Sea from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland. Doing their best with their tiny craft fighting the cross currents, the towering breakers, the icy waters, with near disaster at each turn, they made it to their destination.

A pause...perhaps I exaggerate just a tad.

In fact we took a one of the many super modern ferries that look like cruise liners for a two hour cruise (cue Gilligan's Island theme) across a Baltic that was like glass.

Entering our vessel

Leaving the Port of Tallinn

 

Arriving at Helsinki

On our first day in Helsinki we walked to the center of town to get our two day transit passes. On the way we passed two of the major sights:

The Uspenskin Katedraali

And the Tuomiokirkko

Fortune of all good fortunes!

This is the week of the Baltic Herring Festival!

 

I'm sure you can hear Wife swooning in delight even through the miracle of blogging.

Actually I was a bit disappointed in that they are only selling it in retail packages and not as part of the buy and eat offerings.

However one could get...

And there were street musicians and other market fare

Then it was off through one of the main thoroughfares to the Tourist Information Office to get our passes.

For our main event of the day we took a short ferry ride to the island of Suomenlinna. This is called a 'must see' part of a visit to Helsinki. It is renowned as a great fortress built by the Swedes when they controlled Finland that's primary fame in history is that it capitulated with out a shot fired the first time a real attack was made on it.

It is also known among elder tourists as the site of:

TRIAL BY COBBLESTONE!

Because you will be walking for miles on these things until your feet are ready to turn into mush.

For those who are long-time readers of the de-I you will know that if something is must see it means there must be construction going on when de-I and Wife visit.

Voila

We were also stalked all day by this garbage collecting tractor guy

But we did get some views of the actual fortress without construction going on

And some nice shots of the photographer in chief

And some good scenes of the Inner Harbor of Helsinki

So let us conclude with our continuing series

SIGNAGE OF THE WORLD

If you are a person wearing a Medieval Helmet or stocking mask

To those who do not wash their hands

if you insist on walking backwards over ledges

Do not throw sand at the birds - It hurts their eyes