Day 36 Helsinki

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The last full day of our holiday has finally come as we are due to fly out of Helsinki at around midnight to Singapore and then onto Melbourne and Adelaide. But before then there was much to see around Helsinki before we left. We started the day packing up our apartment, repacking our suitcases to ensue we met the 23 kg limit, placed our suitcases into luggage storage and headed for the Helsinki marketplace full of eats, souvineers and Knick knacks servicing the thousands of cruise ship passengers that must pass through this area each day. After 2 days in bed, Tish was well enough to venture out for a full day but we were still going to take it easy. However, taking it easy didn’t last for long as the ever adventurous Tish decided to consume a small sardine whole, tail and all before we bought our tram day tickets which will get us all the way to the airport tonight and then headed up to Helsinki Cathedral where they were setting up for a midnight marathon.

From cathedral square, we caught the No 4 Tram to see the Rock Church which is a church built in 1960 inside a rock hill with an inpressive copper ceiling dome constructed over the rock excavation. The ambience inside the church was amazing and the 60 year old architecture has stood the lest of time. The rock church is just amazing space to sit in with sunlight pouring through the glass dome and splashing the multitude of coloured rock. The rock seam behind the pulpit dates back to the ice age. From the Rock Church, we caught a couple of trams back to the market place and indulged in some location lunch tucker comprising of fried salmon, vegetables, potatoes and raindeer meatballs, reindeer sausage and pulled pork. After lunch, we used our tram day ticket to travel over to Suomenlinna Island so Tish could experience some of the sea fort structures and views of from the island.

We then caught the tram back to check out the Finland Parliament Building and the public square opposite before it was around 8:30 pm and time to commence our journey home. We caught the tram back to the apartment, picked up our luggage and caught the No 4 Tram to the central railway station and then the 8:51 pm train to the airport. After changing clothes and organising our gear, be received our boarding passes and luggage tags from a Finnair machine at the airport and then dropped our bags at the self service bag drop off scanning the tags and saying goodbye to our bags until Mexico City. Our 11 hour flight to Singapore felt like 2 hours as it was through the night for us and we slept like logs. After a couple of hours in Singapore, the challenge will be to try and sleep again for 7 hours and wake up around 6:00 am in Melbourne adjusted to our regular time zone.

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Photos

Helsinki
we pack up our swanky Helsinki apartment, put our bags into storage and head out for our last full day in Helsinki

Helsinki
Tish visits the Helsinki Marketplace - perhaps a live fish to swallow would be nice

Helsinki
Tish swallows down a fish as it’s little tail wiggles during it’s last few moments of life

Helsinki
Helsinki Cathedral and the couple of steps to reach its doors

Helsinki
Tish on the steps of Helsinki Cathedral looking down on cathedral square at a midnight marathon being set up

Helsinkii
Bear sculpture at the entrance to Helsinki Museum

Helsinki
Copper ceiling of the rock church in Helsinki

Helsinki
Inside the rock church in Helsinki

Helsinki
Andrew getting ready to preach to the masses at the Rock Church in Helsinki

Helsinki
Tish on the boat heading to Suomenlinna Island

Helsinki
Wall of coins in the visual and audio exhibit on Suomenlinna Island

Helsinki
A huge cruse ship passes the submarine on Suomenlinna Island

Helsinki
Tish walks up to the entrance of the sea fort on Suomenlinna Island

Helsinki
Tish grabs a nap on the boat ride back from Suomenlinna Island

Helsinki
Inside Helsinki Cathedral

Helsinki
Setting up the midnight run event in cathedral square from the top of Helsinki Cathedral steps

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Finland Parliament House in downtown Helsinki

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Sculpture of a wale in the public park outside Parliament House

Helsinki
On the train heading to the Airport

Helsinki
Manning the banana station for the midnight run in cathedral square

Helsinki
About to leave Helsinki

Sinpapore
We touchdown in Singapore around 5:00 puma in the afternoon