Friday, May 16th
Today we are doing a tour arranged thru Mr. Taxi by Lars Myren. This was really a good quiet tour to do after two hectic days in St. Petersburg. In all the correspondence from Lars, he stressed that we would only have a driver....no guide....it turned out that our driver was great and he really was an excellent tour guide!
Our first stop was in Porvoo, Finland's second oldest city, located about 30 miles east of Helsinki.
The red-colored wooden storage buildings on the shore of thePorvoonjoki River. They are currently a proposed UNESCO world heritage site.
Mike walking in Old Town among the wooden houses
Lars, Ricardo and Beverly walking among the wooden houses
The Sibelius Monument is dedicated to the Finnishcomposer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). The monument is located at the Sibelius Park in the district of Töölö in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland.
The monument was designed by Eila Hiltunen and unveiled on September 7, 1967. Originally it sparked a lively debate about the merits and flaws of abstract art, for which reason an effigy of Sibelius was included in the work. It consists of series of more than 600 hollow steel pipes welded together in a wave-like pattern. The purpose of the artist was to capture the essence of the music of Sibelius. The monument weighs 24 tonnes (24 long tons; 26 short tons) and measures 8.5 × 10.5 × 6.5 metres.
Temppeliaukio Church is a Lutheran church. The church was designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and opened in 1969. It is also known as the Church of the Rock. While we were there, there was a choir practicing and the acoustics in the church were amazing.
The House of Estates
Our last stop was at Market Square to check out some of the local handicrafts (I bought a piece of pottery for my mantle) and some good food.....then it was back to the ship after a good day....finally decent weather!
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