European Vacation - Part VI

This is the last post from Helsinki, Finland.  On Sunday night June 5th we flew to Budapest to board the AmaWaterways River Cruise on the 6th.  Budapest will be featured in the next posts to come.

I shared this earlier, but again the apartment my brother rented through FlipKey was on the second floor of that yellow building down the block.

Looking out the window across the street were shops on the ground floor and other apartments above.

Inside the walls were covered with art work.

Dan taking a nap in one of the bedrooms.

My brother, Steve in the living room.

My sister- in-law in the kitchen.

The library/study.

The bathroom with a strange shaped tub and no shower curtain.  We managed.  There was a washer there too.

At the waterfront  there were lots of produce stands and seafood stands.

This woman sold fish from her boat.

A ghost sign in English, though everyone seemed to understand English.

In the enclosed market lots of items for sale,

This was lunch.  It was like egg salad.

Back at the apartment with its ancient elevator.

The ceiling in the National Museum

A street musician.

Lunch on Suomenlinna.

Dan had a beef dish.

I had asparagus risotto.

We really enjoyed our visit to Helsinki, Finland.  What a friendly and easily accessible city it was.

European Vacation - Part V

Suomenlinna - The Sea Fortress - Finland

Suomenlinna is only accessible by water so we took the ferry across - a 15 to 20 minute trip.

There were lots of schoolchildren aboard too.

The church steeple with light house on top is the first visible landmark of this sea fortress.

My sister in law lived on this island when her father was stationed there.  Here she is at the door of the apartment building where they resided.

Here's the interior door on the second floor.

And the back windows she would have looked out of all those years ago.

From the information pamphlet: "Founded in 1748 on a cluster of islands off the coast of Helsinki, the Suomenlinna sea fortress is a cultural treasure.  Its construction began in the 18th century, when Finland was still part of the Kingdom of Sweden."

A cruise ship passing by.

"Suomenlinna is an irregular bastion fortress constructed on uneven terrain and on separate islands."

Here are two maps in the visitor center that give you a scale of the fortress.

Tomb of Augustin Ehrensvard, who led construction.

"Suomenlinna was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1991, to be preserved for future generations as a unique example of the military architecture of its era."

Joining Through My Lens

Our World Tuesday

Tuesday Treasures

SaveSave

European Vacation - Part IV

Another Landmark Church in Helsinki: Uspenski Cathedral

It's an Eastern Orthodox church built when Finland was a duchy of Russia under Alexander II.

It's supposed to be the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe.

It's filled with icons, some of which have been stolen through the years.

There are no pews.  I believe that parishioners stand in the Orthodox tradition.

It's quite a tourist attraction in Helsinki.

Tuesday Treasures #21 - My New Neighborhood

As many of you know we have recently moved back to Columbia, MD, a planned city after living in the woods in Baltimore County.  One of the strong incentives for the move was being able to walk places.  If you have been reading my blog for long you know I lived on 8 acres with only my driveway and lane decent enough to walk on.  

Now I treasure the walking routes I have here.  One of these is across the street and around Wilde Lake.

Maryland has no natural lakes so when Columbia was built several lakes were made.  Two are close to my new home.  I shared views of Lake Kittaquamundi here from when we walked there in February and had the epiphany to move to Vantage House.

Here now are views of Wilde Lake - a treasure here in Columbia.

 Photo below taken on the opposite shore from the two photos above.

From the path below the dam looking over at Vantage House.

The driveway of Vantage House

Joining Tuesday Treasures