Passing through Helsinki, Finland

     After the wedding festivities, we took the train back to the rainy Helsinki, our main travel hub.  I say rainy because that it did every day we were there.  Upon our return, we checked in at the Hilton, where PDub was able to use his points for the room (if it's free, it's for me!), and proceeded to prepare for the next leg of our trip.  During our preparation and over the evening and next day, we did get to do some touring of Helsinki.

The Hilton...Our first free night and the largest room yet.  (The bathroom even had a floor warmer).

     Helsinki is the capital of Finland and located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland.  Although Helsinki dates as far back as 1550 (first established as a trading town), it was appointed by Russia as the capital in 1812 to ensure Swedish persuasion was minimal.  It was around this time that the city center was built, and this area is where we spent most of our time.
     Our favorite area to stroll was called the Esplanadi, consisting of two main streets overseeing the water and garden and lined with several shops and cafes.  Nearby is the Uspenski Cathedral, which was built from 1862-1868 by a Russian architect and overlooks the city of Helsinki.  Although we were unable to go inside (closed), I have heard the interior is lovely.  Another church in the area, the Helsinki Cathedral, cannot be missed seeing that it is the distinctive landmark for Helsinki's skyline, like the Eiffel Tower for Paris or the Arch for St. Louis.  It was built around the same time as the other church, started in 1830 and finished in 1852, and it sits on one side of Senate Square, the area where citizens did and still do congregate.  Lastly, you can't miss the more recent church that was built into and out of a rock, Temppeliaukio Church (opened in 1969).  Think we have a thing for churches....or is it just this city?

Uspenski Cathedral....PDub can't handle keeping both eyes open when the sun is out.

Up close.....no worries for the looming storm cloud, it does contain rain.

One of the Love Lock Bridges we saw on our trip.  You get a personalized lock for you and your love and put it on one of these bridges....an expression of locking down your own love and ditching the key (a pair of bolt cutters would probably ruin this symbolism pretty quickly).

Overlooking the Helsinki Cathedral from the Uspenski Cathedral....pocket pose.

Standing in Senate Square looking up to the Helsinki Cathedral.

Overlooking Senate Square from the Helsinki Cathedral.

Inside the Helsinki Cathedral.  Everything was very white....very pure in my mind.

Martin Luther himself....stone pose.

The organ in the Helsinki Cathedral.

The Temppeliaukio Church (Church of Rock).  Again, don't worry about the storm cloud, gettin' caught in the rain is no biggie.  It's almost like the Finnish are unfazed by it.

The interior of the Church of Rock.  All natural light makes it very earthy....it could be that it was also built out of surrounding stones.

The altar of the Church of Rock.

     Other than one more layover, which consisted of several chapters in Game of Thrones in the Esplanadi, I hereby conclude our Finland time.

A Rehearsal and Wedding, Finnish Style

     It seems that we are traveling all over the world to witness our friends tie the knot but no complaints.  Our own wedding took place in Mexico under a gazebo on the beach.  The next destination wedding we attended took place in a castle in Ireland.  This destination wedding in Finland occurred in the largest wooden church in the world.  Thank you for giving us a reason to travel and see and experience so many new things!  I am looking forward to many more destination weddings (already have one on the calendar for January).

     So after the long hours of traveling and brief tourist outings, the wedding festivities quickly arrived.  On Friday evening, we attended the rehearsal at the church, dinner at the father of the bride's house, and drinks at a local place.

The groomsmen....and I thought PDub was tall...

The groom and PDub.

Rehearsing.

The lovely couple.

      On Saturday, we attended the ceremony and reception.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful and was held in the Kerimäki Church that was built between 1844 and 1847 and can hold 5,000 people.  Although the rumor has been disproven, the size of the church was blamed on a miscommunication between the architect (working in centimeters) and the builder (working in inches).  Ah, the beauty of having different measurement systems.  After the ceremony, we went to the reception venue, which overlooked one of the many lakes.  The dinner was scrumptious with the best reindeer meat I have had (tasted like a cross between pepperoni and salami); plus, this Fazer guy really knows how to do good chocolate.  Paul's speech was fabulous (no really, it was), and the band even learned how to play country music.  You couldn't have asked for a better evening!

The largest wooden church in the world.

The groom's family.

Before the ceremony....

The interior of the church.

After the ceremony.....

Rice.

More rice.

A happy couple.

Another happy couple...wait...same people.

Cheers!

The boys gave the groom a ball-and-chain keychain.

Caution: Suspenders.

Every wedding needs a kick line.

Two-steppin' for their first dance.

My favorite picture that their photographer took....really captures the beauty of the area (and the couple of course).

Savonlinna, Finland

Savonlinna, Finland

     On Thursday, we slept in attempting to recover from the previous day.  However, our travels were not over as we had to catch a 5-hour train ride north to Savonlinna (wedding location). While waiting on the train, PDub asked me if I thought they would allow him to drive the train; I guess he thought his degree in engineering meant more.  Thankfully a true engineer (conductor) drove us through the rocky hills, forests, and lakes of Finland and landed us in the beautiful Savonlinna, which happens to be a chain of islands on several lakes.  We checked into our room at the Sokos Seurahuone Hotel that overlooked the lake.  Downfall: we had two twin beds, which made us feel like we were back in the 50's questioning if we should push them together.

"I got my degree in engineering...Let me go ahead and take the wheel.  Plus I look pretty snazzy with this cup of coffee."  Thankfully I've trained him out of using the pinky-up drinking technique.  Great improvement, PDub.

Our first train ride....ever.

The view from our room.

     After only having some mini homemade donuts at the train station in Helsinki, we were starved, so we headed to the lakeside Restaurant Kalastajan Koju for some fried muikko fish, a recommendation from the bride and a local favorite.  Just like the newest KFC commercial with the dad saying, "I ate the BONES!" you actually did eat these bones; something strange for both PDub and I, but you couldn't even tell they were there.  I am not a seafood fan by any means, but these were pretty good.  After a walk by the lake and stumbling upon a castle (that we visited the next day), we ate some ice cream and headed to bed to watch some Finnish television (highly populated with tall blondes), a Julia Roberts movie, and finally deep sleep.  Unlike anywhere in the continental USA, Finland does not find darkness in the summer nights and instead only a dusk color if and when the sun goes down.  It makes you feel like you can stay up into the late hours and by far does not help with those of us who have issues with time changes.

Bbbbbeer.  Koff....a Finnish thing.

More beer....and a photo bomber in the background.

Fishie!

At the restaurant overlooking the lake.

Our scenic walk.

More scenery....and I'm not referring to PDub.

I found a Castle!

The Savonlinna Castle

     On Friday, we headed to meet the bride and groom (and all other visitors) for breakfast at the local market.  Over apple pastries and hot cocoa (coffee for PDub), we became acquainted with the families and friends of the bride and groom.  A group of us then headed to the castle (the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing) for a tour.  In Finnish, "Savonlinna" translates to Castle of Savonia, and well named, seeing that the city was built around the Olavinlinna castle back in 1639.  The castle was founded in 1475 to protect the Swedish border (Finland was then a part of the kingdom of Sweden) from their Russian adversary.  During the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743), Russia captured this castle and remained there until 1812 after which they granted the city and castle back to Finland.  The castle still stands today, and the city still prospers around it.

Olavinlinna Castle

More castle!  He was going to storm it, but I convinced him  he didn't have the manpower.

     During our tour of the castle, we were told to remain with our tour group seeing that some doors would be locked behind us to prevent unguided tourists from entering into certain rooms.  Generally, I follow rules with no exceptions, but you see, we bought this really awesome camera....Needless to say, one of my new friends (from the wedding party) and I lagged behind a bit and ended up with a door separation between ourselves and the rest of our group.  I pulled and pulled on this door (mind you, the thing was extremely old), and it wouldn't budge.  We shared a moment of panic before she attempted it herself (push....dur), and we happily reunited with our group (no worries, we were missed, so they may have found us eventually).

Inside the church of the castle.

One of the three keeps (rounded and thick to withstand canon fire).

Playing with the camera...

Getting left behind...