From Tallinn we took the ferry across the Baltic Sea to Helsinki.
Someday we will come back in winter and ride on an icebreaker.
Hazel was unimpressed with the voyage across the northern sea, not enough unicorns or mermaids.
After a fiasco with our original accommodations, we found a wonderful apartment at the last minute.
Here are our favorite things
Ravintola Konstan Möljä. We celebrated Garth's birthday with our last meal in Finland. Moose, reindeer, herring, salmon, and many pickled things.
Neither moose or reindeer is particularly gamey. The reindeer, lean and shaved thin, was delicious with potatoes and lingonberries. The moose was delicate and mild, served in a spectacular mushroom sauce. Jen went back for seconds. Hazel played it safe with salmon.
In fact, all our meals out were pretty terrific including a killer Nepalese dinner and a sushi lunch buffet. The street food was also legit.
Appeals for panther candy were denied, an attempted substitution with fried street herring was made.
Naughty BRGR. Questionable branding, awesome burger.
‘Pitchers of free tap water at every restaurant we visited! I forgot how much I missed not having to pay €5 for a bottle of water and not having to ration it throughout the meal so I don’t have to pay another €5 for a second bottle. I should have taken pictures.’ - Jen
Helsinki Metro. So clean, efficient, fast, and Hazel loved the deep tunnels.
Kiasma. Modern art museum. We all really enjoyed an installation by Nathaniel Mellors and Erkka Nissinen titled "Aalto Natives", until the video piece included a scene that scared Hazel to death and she had to be removed from the exhibit for excessive screaming and crying.
After a foamed milk and therapeutic doodling, she made a full recovery.
Lots of animal figures and art around town. Pike were a common sight.
Temppeliaukion Kirkko. Excavated and built directly out of the surroundings. It was probably Hazel's first time in a place of formal worship, and certainly the first time in a domed rock church.
Life sucks when you can't jam on the pipe organ.
Santa haunted the streets outside the church where Hazel did indeed worship and praise devotions.
Seurasaaren Ulkomuseo. Helsinki's open air island museum of historic wooden buildings shipped in from all over Finland. Hazel got to complete a kids tour card for which she had to do difficult tasks such as identify old-timey materials and their uses (birch bark baskets, anyone?) and make a tea party at the manor house. It was all the stuff PBS dreams are made of.
Boat tour. Hazel froze and did not appreciate that everything was repeated in four languages on loud speaker, but it was really lovely.
Suomenlinna. UNESCO World Heritage site. Mid-18th century fortress. Honestly, we were a bit less impressed with this site, but maybe 18th century fortresses just aren't our thing.
And for Hazel, for some reason she loved the Hop-on-Hop-off Bus Tour. Jen accompanied her on the 2-1/2 hour route. Hazel reports that she appreciated the classical music and narration in English. She didn't want to leave.
Again, there is a lack of pictures, probably from photo fatigue. Here are some pretty pictures of the town instead.
Hazel's other favorite moment was getting to grocery shop with her own mini-cart. Good times.
