So now we’re doing the “another day, another country” thing but at least our home moves with us & we’re not packing, unpacking all the time. Thank goodness!

We docked here this morning about 8 & caught the free shuttle bus into the old town. We really appreciate these free buses that Oceania put on. It allows you to go into town & just enjoy it. Many people did tours but we really don’t want to tour any more castles, cathedrals or churches as we’ve seen plenty over the years so we’re happy to wander on our own.

Helsinki is surrounded by water on 3 sides & overlooks the Gulf of Finland & the Baltic Sea. We loved the fish market, very similar to the Bergen Fish Market – lots of delicious looking fresh berries, peas & potatoes – made us wish we had an apartment & could stay a while: (In the background you can see the lovely building which is the city hall).

There are a couple of beautiful old churches. Firstly, the Lutheran Cathedral ( this is the most popular religion here):

And the Orthodox Church:

We had great fun shopping here. There were sales everywhere & we bought some lovely things.

Apparently 33% of Finland is green space & we saw plenty of lovely parks as we drove into town & walked around:

It is lovely to see the sun & obviously the Finns thought so too. As I sit on our balcony, I can see many people enjoying water sports on the harbour.

We sail very shortly for Riga in Latvia & to meet our Jewish genealogist for a tour & to learn more about the life & culture of Jews, better to understand the life of David’s great great grandparents who migrated to Australia in 1888. Looking forward to that!