Sailing Into Finland

Helsinki had been another trouble spot for us in planning. Because most museums and attractions were closed on Mondays, some of the things we wanted to do were unavailable. We decided to take a break from inner-city sightseeing and booked a tour of the city and the wooden city of Porvoo with TJ Travel, but two weeks before the trip, they informed us they didn't have enough guests for that tour. The backup tour we had with Celebrity was now sold out, but we decided to do a hop-on bus in the morning and then a Celebrity tour of Porvoo in the afternoon. So we had breakfast and sat on our verandah and watched the sail in to Finland before disembarking and finding a bus tour.

Temppeliaukio Church

The tour companies were waiting like vultures outside the chain link fence and we found the one we had looked at online and climbed aboard. We were on our way quickly to our first stop, the Temppeliaukio Church. Better known as the Rock Church, since no one outside Finland can pronounce Temppeliaukio, the building was excavated directly into solid rock. The church hall is covered with a dome, lined with copper and supported on the rock walls by reinforced concrete beams. The interior walls are of rugged rock and rubble wall.

Sibelius Monument

We lingered perhaps too long in the Rock Church. Even though we had been told the buses ran every fifteen minutes, we waited almost 20 for ours to arrive (and there were already people lined up waiting, so we hadn't just missed it). This meant we would not be able to get off at our next planned stop, Sibelius Monument and park. The monument, resembling organ pipes, is made of welded steel with over 600 pipes and with the bust of the composer on one side. The monument is one of Helsinki's most popular statues and one of the most well-known tourist attractions. Looking at it from the bus, we weren't overly impressed, but still disappointed we would not be able to see it up close.

Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour

We had seats on the upstairs portion of the bus so were able to take some photos as we toured Helsinki. We were disappointed in our decision to ride the bus as we saw how beautiful the city was and wished we had time to explore some of the incredible buildings. The bus tour was supposed to take a little over an hour and and a half, but that was how long it took just to get from the Rock Church back to our ship, so we were very glad we did not get off anywhere else or we would have missed our excursion. On our bus tour, we passed by the Olympic Stadium, Kauppatori (Market Square), Senate Square, flanked by Helsinki Cathedral and the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral and the Helsinki waterfront.

Old Town Porvoo

We had just enough time to get back on the ship and make a toilet stop before meeting our guide back on the dock for our bus ride to Porvoo. She gave us a good overview of Helsinki and Finland, even giving a shout-out to J. R.'s employer, Nokia, still one of the largest companies in Finland. Soon we were in the wooden town of Porvoo. The narrow streets and picturesque squares date back to the Middle Ages and after a brief introduction from our guide, we wandered through the shops. We found the Brunberg candy factory shop where almost everything was available for tasting. We sampled a few of their goodies and bought some candy to bring back home with us. Ecomania was a quirky Finnish version of Ikea with a lot of cool home goods we wished we had room to bring back with us.

Porvoo Cathedral

With time to spare, we walked up the long hill to the old church. The Porvoo Cathedral is a Evangelical Lutheran Church built in the 15th century. The cathedral's location provided some great views of the little town.

Porvoonjoki River Bridge

Our tour included coffee and cake at a local pub so we made our way down there and walked along the Porvoonjoki river before joining the rest of our tour at Porvoon Paahtimo cafe.

Porvoon Paahtimo Cafe

At the cafe we had freshly roasted coffee (and tea for Janie) and a local Finnish crumb cake for dessert.

Bus Ride Back To Porvoo

Soon we were back on the bus for our return trip to Helsinki and our ship.

Enchanted Garden

Back on-board the ship, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the buffet and then Janie and J. R. headed to the Enchanted Garden while Becca hit the hot tub in the Solarium.

Intimate Broadway Caberet

The show tonight was "An Intimate Broadway Caberet" featuring the orchestra and the Reflection vocalists. They were again very good and unlike Royal Caribbean, did some recent Broadway songs and not just 40s, 50s and 60s.

Martini Bar

Following dinner it was time for another drink at the martini bar.

Dinner At Opus

Dinner was again in the main dining room. The food was good again and our servers had really hit their stride in understanding what we wanted and delivering it.

Menu

Ensemble Lounge

After dinner, we all headed off to the Ensemble lounge for another round of drinks. Becca enjoyed another pina colada while J. R. took advantage of the premium drink package for another Macallan neat. Then it was time for bed as we had an early morning visit to Russia ahead of us as part of four more days of city excursions.