Let’s see, it’s Wednesday, so this must be Finland.

We took the ship’s shuttle bus into town. The day was cool and drizzling rain. We alit from the bus at the western end of the main pedestrian street, the Esplanade, and walked its length to the ferry harbor. Near the end of the Esplanade is the finest cafe in the world: Cafe Kappeli.

The streets were nearly empty because of the rain and the early hour. There’s a market square at the end of the Esplanade, where vendors in tents sell fruits, vegetables, handicrafts, and furs.

We immediately liked Helsinki. Granted, after St Petersburg, any city with traffic control would have looked quite attractive. Helsinki, though, has an abundance of charm. Teenagers in lime green shirts patrol the streets offering assistance to tourists. The 3T tram operates as a cheap and effective hop on-hop off bus: it makes a figure eight through the city’s principal sites.

Not that there are a lot of sites. Most of the city dates from the early 18th Century. Happily, there are no edifices constructed for the edification of the tsar. The practical Finns, to accommodate the tsars’s visits, built a hotel.

It was a pleasure to visit sites of a populist nature. The Church in the Rock hosts not only worship services but concerts. The altar and crucifix were markedly understated. It clearly celebrates life rather than dogma and is the only church I’ve visited that is not instantly oppressive.

The Sibelius monument sits in a large park. I’d love to post a photo here but it’s all I can do to get simple text on the website using the ship’s connection. Photos are hopeless.