Helsinki - Finland

This famous composer is from Finland
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What a beautiful place Helsinki is.  There was daylight for most of the time I was there, as they have long days in the summer and darker days in the winter- quite strange really.

Made the decision to do a ´guided tour´ as I only had one full day here.  Had a bit of trouble finding accommodation as apparently most weekends are taken up with music festivals of one kind or another and I was greeted everywhere by - sorry we have no vacancies!!!  In the end I managed to find a hostel, tho it was a bit more expensive than I was used to - something I will have to get used to in Europe I suppose!!!

What a beautiful place Helsinki is.

The food and product market near the harbour
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The people are so friendly and helpful and everything feels light hearted and restful too.  I would definitely like to come back and spend some more time here - when I have won the lottery!!!!!

The tour turned out to be very informative and at least I got to see all the main sights in the town. Afterwards I walked through the market near the harbour and had some of the local food to eat - very much like whitebait  - very tasty too!!  Next I went to one of the small islands off the mainland, which was a fortress previously, although it seems its a place everyone goes to over the weekend as there are parks and walks and again it is very peaceful,  people were even getting married in the park.

One of the main spires in the town
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After that off to the zoo for a look around some of the animals, although I think most of them were inside having a sleep, or perhaps they had heard I was coming so they purposely hid!!!  Still managed to se some relatives (seals for those of you who don´t know my maiden name)!!!!

On the way to the airport early next morning we saw the music festival left overs drunk in the gutter -  I don´t know how such a lovely place could be made such a mess in just one night!!!!  But I´m sure that all will be well very quickly.