Like this:

Don’t get me wrong. Helsinki is a beautiful city. At least…I think it’s a beautiful city, from the little I got to see of it Sunday.

But boy, did our day trip to the Finnish capital ever go awry.

First: the ferry we took from Tallinn to Helsinki docked at a cargo port, not the tourist port. Word to the Wise: should you ever take a boat to Helsinki, you want to dock at the SOUTH HARBOUR. We docked at the West Harbour.

Second: even looking at a map, we somehow thought we were at the South harbour, and couldn’t figure out why the streets weren’t going the way we expected and why the market square wasn’t…well…right there.

Third: by the time we figured out how to get to the market square, we walked 40 minutes and hubby’s infected toes were killing him.

Fourth: by the time we got to the market square, the only tour we could get on anymore was a boat tour. And it was leaving in 14 minutes. That left us about 12 minutes to explore Helsinki’s HUGE Sunday market.

Fifth: by the time our boat tour was over, we had to get in a cab right away! to make it back to the West harbour for our return ferry to Tallinn.

Having said all this, with a little advance planning we could have taken the trip sponsored by our hotel in Tallinn – a bus ride from our hotel door to the ferry terminal in Tallinn, ferry passage to Helsinki, guided bus tour (in English) in Helsinki, return ferry passage to Tallinn and bus ride back to our hotel.

But why didn’t we? Nobody seems to know.

HOWEVER. Never once did I take any responsibility for the trip, so I shan’t complain anymore. And in the end, the boat tour was interesting and informative, and Helsinki looked like a lovely place. And we did manage to get over 100 photos, so it can’t have been a total bust, right?

Okay, we walked down this street to get from one harbour to the next.

Walking along Pohjoisesplanadi. And that is one of the easier Finnish words. Really. Try this one on for size: saippuakivikauppias. It’s actually the world’s longest PALINDROME. The Finnish word means soapstone salesman (must have been a legit trade at one time). And I thought Estonian was tough!

Esplanadipuisto (Esplanade Park) is incredible!

A view from our boat tour. Sorry I don’t remember exactly what this is or why it’s significant. eep.

An old fort on one of the islands (there are thousands) off the Finnish coast.

The gals on the boat holding the Finnish flag.

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