 | This is Uspensky Cathedral, which is the largest Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Europe. It was completed in 1868 and is located near Helsinki's main harbor. Helskinki is a fairly new city by European standards. Prior to the 1800's, the city was a mere town, largely made of more temporary wooded structures. After Russia annexed Finland in 1809, a new capitol was built to take the place of the old one at Turku. This capital is now known as Helsinki. |
| In the early 1800's Carl Ludwig Engel was assigned to design most of Helsinki. He designed this building, the Lutheran Cathedral (and used to be called the Church of Saint Nicholas), as well as all of the buildings in the surrounding square. This square, called Senate Square, is one of the major focal points of the city. |  |
This is a lovely view of the main harbor in Helsinki. You can see the large Lutheran Church dominating the skyline in the background, and the red tents of the main market along the shore. |
 | The Market Square, also called Kuappatori is another one of the main focal points of Helsinki. Here, locals and tourists alike gather to buy fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, bread, cooked food, ice cream, souvenirs, flowers, wood carvings, t-shirts, and even fur hats! It is from this square that you can catch the ferries to the island of Suomenlinna, which is home to an old fortress built to protect Helsinki. We did visit Suomenlinna, though I have not included any photos of our time there. But, please check out their website! |
| This is a view of some of the buildings near the main marina, a typical scene in Helsinki! Helsinki is a very colorful and beautiful city. The gray building shown here is the Hotel Skatta, a nice but simple hotel where we stayed while in Helsinki. |  |
 | These are the "free bikes" in Helsinki. These bikes can be found at various points throughout the city. They are kept in racks where you have to pay the equivalent of a $1.50 to rent one. Then, when you return the bike to either the same rack or a different rack, your money is returned to you. We took these bikes for a nice long ride on the city bike path, which leads into some forest surrounding the city. It was a nice ride, although the bikes were a little difficult to manage! Be sure to read my journal to find out more about our ride! |
| Each of the free bikes had a map like this on the handle bars. The red dots on the map denote depot points for the bikes, where you would find racks that keep these specific bikes. Of course, the map is in Finnish, but you get the point! For more information, be sure to check out the Helsinki CityBike site! Oh, this site is in English, so don't worry! |  |
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