Through the Baltic Sea

Sailing out of Stockholm

From Stockholm, our next destination was Helsinki, Finland. Flying is easy, quick, and relatively cheap around here, but it was summer and thought we'd take advantage of the proximity and weather, so we booked at night on an overnight ferry through the Baltic Sea. Now, I was pretty hesitant at this proposal in the beginning because our last experience wasn't the best. I will say, this was 90% better as the waters were much calmer and the on-board entertainment was better.

 

I am now realizing that I didn't take many photos on-board with an exception for the views because, well just see below... We tried to spend as much time outside as possible before it got too cold or dark.

HELSINKI, FINLAND

Helsinki, as a city, is a little underwhelming (compared to a city such as Berlin). It's beautiful and small (we like that), but I'll just say that I don't think I could last in a long, dark, winter there. 

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Central Station

To some, this might not be that exciting, but I feel like central stations can often times be some of the most interesting buildings in a city. They often have history and a lot of original design. This was one of the more interesting ones.

Helsinki Cathedral

From the inside this cathedral reminded us a little of the Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik. It was plainly decorated, well, not really decorated at all as that is in line with most Lutheran churches. The walls are mostly just white, with little to no embellishments, or any kind of wall decorations. The Gothic style architecture from the outside were much more interesting to look at..

Temppeliaukion

Sitting in this church, one couldn't help but feel like you are inside a space ship.

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Löyly
A tradition of the Finnish people is taking a sauna. And is typically done nude. There is a part of me that thinks I don't think I will every be 100% comfortable walking around in my birthday suit with a bunch of strangers. Luckily, after a little research, we found a sauna that is a little more tourist friendly and allows you to get the full sauna experience WITH a bathing suit, but WITHOUT the unfamiliar awkwardness of walking around nude like it aint no thing.

A beginners guide to taking a Finnish sauna:
1. before entering the sauna, take a shower/rinse
2. find your seat in the sauna and get comfortable
3. remain in the sauna until the steam (produced by pouring water over the hot rocks) gets too uncomfortable
4. Jump into the nearest body of water: pool, lake, (in our case) the Baltic Sea, or take a cold shower
5. Repeat steps

When in Finland, do as the Finnish do. Yes, reader, we went into the freezing cold sea water. I could NOT breath no matter how much I tried to calm myself down. As jarring as it was to not be able to catch my breath, the feeling that follows is absolutely fantastic. If you ever get the chance to take a sauna, do it properly with both extremes!

Enjoying a drink on the terrace at the sauna after our 2 hour session

TALLINN, ESTONIA

We had 2.5 days in Helsinki, which is more than enough since there aren't too many sights to see. A popular way to use a day in Helsinki is to, well, leave it, and take a round trip ferry day trip to Tallinn. We had about 7 hours which was perfect. It was enough time to explore the old town, enjoy a meal, buy, write, and send postcards, and find a Christmas ornament.