Category: Northern Europe Cruise

Finland is the country of the composer Jean Sibelius whose likeness is on the featured image in this blog post.  We boarded a hop-on-hop-off bus just outside our cruise ship to see the sites of Helsinki including the monument dedicated to Sibelius.

Temppeliaukio Church – Also known as the rock church.  It is built into the rock hill. Sibelius Park and Monument  – Jean Sebilius’ most famous piece is probably Finlandia.  No wonder Finland has a monument in his honor.

Three Smiths Statue

Helsinki Central Railway Station  – Interesting architecture and a good place to find a pay toilet 

See the blue WC sign with an arrow? That’s where the pay toilet is. (WC – for water closet)  Cost – 1 Euro. A coin had to be inserted into a turnstile in order to gain entrance to the restroom.

Helsinki Cathedral (Tuomiokirkko)Uspenski Cathedral with  Market Square (farmer’s market) in the foreground

Havis Amanda Mermaid Statue

Our HoHo bus stopped at a fairly new residential and recreation area close to the cruise port.  Our ship is visible in the distance. Then the HoHo dropped us off right at our ship.  Very Convenient!  – Next port – Riga, Latvia.