Tuesday, October 4, 2016

The Way Of The Tram or Trial By Ice

You know we de-I Clan, we loves our trams. Cities with tram lines seem to us to be the easiest to navigate via public transit. Metro lines, you are underground, don't see anything, always have to negotiate the station when you arrive to figure out where the heck you are. Buses, they're always a million of them. They have many more stops. They take more twists and turns and are easier to get confused as far as direction. But trams, there are usually fewer of them, there are fewer stations, most trans systems clearly announce the stations on visual signage, and you see more of the city while you are going.

In Helsinki they have a specific 'tour by tram' itinerary' making use of two of the tram lines. Wife and I thought this would be a great way to see more of the city and get lots of photo ops. The only problem was it was freaking cold! The high today was only 46 Fahrenheit/8 Celsius and it was colder than that most of the day. Plus it was windy. So it was not pleasant. But Wife and I are nothing if not persistent tourists and we did our best.

Back at the Tuomiokirkko

 
 
A study of the Camera Yoda as she sizes up a picture

A statue of Czar Alexander II
As the Finns hate the Russians, I'm not quite sure why this is still here
This building's name means 'North' or it is the 'north' side of it I guess
I doubt if this guy was the model for the faces but he could have been
The World of Tramming 


The Temppeliaukio Church
Built right into rock

And on to the Opera
A building we were not that impressed with
Another 'must see' is the tower at the Olympic Stadium and Sports Museum.
We spent almost an hour trying to find and get to this in the frigid, windy cold only to find.
COMPLETELY CLOSED DUE TO MASSIVE CONSTRUCTION
This picture hardly shows the amount of wandering we did trying to get around the construction.

Near the historic Hakaniemi Market
A statue entitled 'Maternal Love'
The oldest operating cafe in Helsinki

The Roman Catholic Cathedral (significantly smaller than the others)
And last but not least another installment of Signage of the World
Don't Spit or Spray Saliva While Shouting!

Tomorrow we leave Helsinki and head for the Southern Finnish Coast!




5 comments:

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

This is turning out to be more of a whirlwind trip than I am used to on your adventures.

de-I said...

What RMG compared to our 4 country 12 city tour of Asia last spring?

Agent W and the Derf said...


Mrs. d-I looks beautiful!

alexis said...

the blue of the sky is really amazing! How many hours of daylight to you get up there?

Dad said...

Less and Less since it is after the Equinox. They are still on Daylight Savings Time but it is dark until 7:30 or so in the morning.