DENMARK to FINLAND

This golden lady once indicated to folks in Copenhagen the weather conditions.  Without umbrella the day was sunny - with umbrella it was a rainy day. The company who placed her there no longer exists so nobody pays the power bill therefore she is turned off, shame really.

 The new apartments built in the 1600's.

Changing the guard at Christiansborg Palace.

There she is - the Little Mermaid and she is beautiful.

The weather has been delightfully warm and sunny.  The downer for me is that yesterday I developed pink eye (conjunctivitis) and my eyes feel sore and gritty.  Of course, I look like I have had more than one good night on the drink with my bloodshot eyes so I wear sunglasses everywhere.  Now I feel like a poser.  Hopefully by arrival at St Petersburg my eyes will feel and look better.

Helsinki, Finland

After another day at sea day we arrived in Helsinki, Finland this morning.  Looking at the many islands as we cruised into port reminded us of sailing this way in the 1970/1980's when we would visit our family in Estonia.  Later years (1990's on) we would fly into Tallinn Airport.  Today we can look across the Baltic Sea and know that at the end of the week we will have a day visiting the family in Tallinn - it is a wonderful opportunity to see them again.

We booked a City Highlights tour for today as we knew Helsinki to be small.  We have been here four times, it is pretty but there is not much to see.  We visited the Lutheran church that is built into the rocks, stopped at the Lutheran Cathedral and drove past the Russian Orthodox church.  We saw the stadium built for the 1938 Olympics that were not held until 1952 because of the war.  I had an aunt killed here in 1952 when she came for the Olympic Games (mauled to death by a German Shepherd).

Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church), the church is built into the rock, the cross is rock, and from the outside one would not know this is a church.

Helsingin tuomiokirkko (Finnish) or Suurkirkko (Swedish) - Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral

Upenski Cathedral - from the bus. Russian Orthodox Church

Suomenlinna - fortress Helsinki

This ship behind us is coming through the channel at Suomenlinna with a pilot boat in front of her. From the photo it is easy to see how narrow the channel is at this point.

I have the afternoon off while Garry is walking around town.  My eyes feel gritty and sting from the eye drops so I am going back to the cabin after checking email.  I will read a book on my new amazonkindle.  I saw Andrée use her amazonkindle when we were in Italy earlier this year, so thanks Andrée for the idea and yes I even have a red cover!  Garry gave me the amazonkindle for my birthday in Houston so that I could download books before leaving.  With 14 books on it I have enough reading for the trip ..... hmm, I wonder is it too heavy for the Camino?