Oct 23 Fri - Helsinki Finland

 Slept in spent most of the day sightseeing over at Suomenlinn the old sea fortress islands, it was a lot of walking on cobbles in the windy cloudy conditions, was up around 50 some but with wind it felt like 40's. Not much to report other than the pics, you seen one old sea fortress (St Augustine, San Juan, etc) seems like you've seen them all, this one is a lot bigger and more spread out and maybe even older... but no i didn't go into the military museum or any of the museums, just walked around looked at the big stone walls and all the buildings and the old world war 1 submarine... it was well over a mile all the way to the end where the "kings gate" is... well it's just a wall with some plaques where the king laid the first stone in 1750 or whatever... anyway the whole fortress was seiged by the Russians in 1808 and only held out for a couple months... then they had it til Finland declared independence in 1917. 

Following that i got a bikeshare and rode around for a while, had some ill effects from the workout yesterday on the gym lol overdid shoulders lifting and then i took a fall last night but since it was a step thru bike luckily landed on my feet, crossed a road and getting onto the bike path there was a divider of granite bricks between the pedestrian and bike paths and it was all covered with leaves so didn't see it til it was too late and the bike was going down, luckily i let it go and caught myself, just jerked my back out of line a little.... anyway, then i went to the thai fast food place a little kitchen and counter with seats for 4 looking out the window, tiny little place and the menu was only in Finnish and the Thai woman spoke no english but luckily there was a couple in there eating i asked and they helped me order the curry veggies with tofu and rice, it was quite good and spicy too... brown sauce and lots of basmati rice. 

And that's it for now, i'm packing up and when done i'll return the recycle can's and bottles to Lidl, one reason you don't see a lot of litter here it's .20€ deposit on a water bottle, .15€ on a aluminum can, so easy to do why don't we do this, remember when we used to take soda and beer bottles back to the grocery store and get a refund a $.05 each? Why did we quit doing that, anyway, there's a little alcove inside the Lidl not sure how it works i guess you scan the barcode on the things and get a credit somehow... I'll find out. and once everything is ready to go in the morning I'll maybe go out for a while. 

 On the way back on the ferry the woman next to me with two little kids 7 and 9 told me the whole harbor sometimes freezes over in winter and it gets way below zero here... she asked how cold it got in st louis is said about zero F maybe a few below she goes hmmmf, way colder here... they live on the island about 800 people do and she said the ferry is much more relaxing to commute every day than being in town with buses and trams all the time... 

I booked into the Hyatt Place Tallinn Estonia for tomorrow night plus 2 more, then I find out they don't have free breakfast there which is a reason I like to stay in them... oh well, I have plenty of Muesli and it shouldn't be too hard to find milk fruit and fresh rolls there...  and i had a change of mind and went out to go to the hockey game, but it was dark up top the arena, but the parking lot was full ? so i walk around the back and see "arena" sign above a door, well 3 young guys are going in there so i figure ok it's just not so major league... follow them in and now it's walking through a kitchen ? what ??? get a glimpse of the ice and theres some girls all ice dancing ? crazy... get out of there what the heck is going on, finally i consult ai.bot and find that in finland the HOME TEAM IS LISTED FIRST ! so they are way out in the western suburb of Espoo but it's about an hour away by transit and by now i'm like no forget it i better get packed and get extra rest... what a ordeal... sorry no pics of the dark HIFK arena... 

Helsinki architecture

ART on Display at Suomenlinna

One of the canons used to defend the fortress

Suomenlina scene

The Kings Gate where the kind laid the cornerstone 1749

Hakaniemi hilly pedestrian street

War Memorial

Suomenlinna fortress walls

Helsinki old building

Art on display at Suomenlinna visitor center

Suomenlinna visitor center

WWI submarine (Swedish?)

Suomenlinna park

Dry dock old ship needs lots of repairs

Kings gate plaques

Kings gate (end of the 1 mile walk)

Fancy thai fast food was good

Suomenlinna art display (didn't capture the erotic ones)

Waiting for the ferry back to Helsinki

More plaques at Kings Gate

View out my apt window tonight

Suomenlina building

3 head artwork

Here comes the ferry

.20€ refund on water bottles, how EU keeps encourages recycling

WWI War Memorial

Z Topelius statue in a park

Helsinki architecture

Stonesetters on Suomenlinna

Dry dock on Suomenlinna still in use

Suomenlinna building

Nice view

Helsinki Apartment building

Suomenlinna art

Nice outdoor cafe spot (but no takers today)

Thai fast food chef

Suomenlinna residential area (must be cheap huh)

Suomenlinna art on display

Allas outdoor swimming pools in use today

Thai fast food view

Kings gate detail

More Suomenlinna art on display

Long tunnels under the ground on Suomenlinna

Yup i was really there

Still more art on display on Suomenlinna

Helsinki central train station

Suomenlinna dry dock wouldn't want that job

Suomenlinna dry dock entry