Helsinki, Finland

---

Helsinki, which sits on the Gulf of Finland, is the capital and largest city in the country with a population of almost 600,000 people. The official languages of the country are Finnish and Swedish and all of the street signs are in both languages. We arrived in the city on a cold, dark afternoon from Prague and were due to fly out the following morning. Helsinki had just experienced a heavy snowfall and the forests and fields on the way from the airport to our hotel were blanketed in white. We took a short tour of the city while there. The highlight of our tour was the Rock Church which is built inside of a massive block of natural granite.

---