Visiting Helsinki
Back in July and August I got to visit Helsinki. Needless to say, I dragged my camera and lenses along and did some sightseeing. Helsinki is a relatively new but welcoming city.
July
My first trip there was in early July (7th-10th). This meant that I was there about two weeks after the summer solstice. At 60°10’ north, this has been the northernmost place I’ve ever been. (I’m not really counting the layover in Reykjavik at 63°59’ north, although I do have an interesting story about that for another time.) If you combine these two relatively boring facts (very far north and near solstice timing), you end up with nearly 19 hours of daylight! This gave me ample time to explore. Below are a couple of photos I took while there. There are more in the gallery.
Approaching 
Senate Square and the Helsinki Cathedral:
The cathedral:
Not far from this (Lutheran) cathedral is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral— Uspenski Cathedral.
And here is its interior:
Like a number of other cities in Europe, Helsinki is filled with bikes. Most sidewalks seem to be divided into two parts—one for walking and one for biking. The public transit seems to include bike rentals. These rental bikes are very…yellow.
Suomenlinna
On Saturday, July 9th, I took a ferry to the nearby sea fortress— Suomenlinna—where I spent the day.
Of course there is a (small) church there. (You can also see it in the above photo in the haze.) This one has a sea-fortress-inspired chain running around it.
The whole fortress is made up of six islands. This allows you to see some of the fortifications up close as well as at some distance.
There are plenty of small buildings of various types scattered around the islands. Some of them are still used as residences, while others got turned into a museum or some other public space.
August
The August trip was longer and consisted of more roaming around the city.
The Helsinki Cathedral in the distance.
There are a fair number of churches—here is the Kamppi Chapel.
Heading west of the city center (toward Länsisatama) one cannot miss the fact that Helsinki is a coastal city.
Finally, on the last day of my August trip I got to see some sea creatures right in front of the cathedral. They were made of various pieces of plastic. As far as I could tell, this art installation was about environmental awareness.
I took so long to finish writing this post that I’ve gotten to visit Helsinki again last month…but more about that in a separate post. Safe travels!