Tuesday, July 24 – Suomenlinna and Tram 3

We spent most of the day on Suomenlinna, a nearby island (and originally, an old military fortress) which was included in my public transportation card, so I decided, what the hell? It was great.

We started at the toy museum, looking at old doll houses and dolls and planes and ships and toy cars. There was a doll school set-up, and, most certainly, some super-old moomins (which do not look at all like hippos). There was also an old Mickey Mouse (Mikki-Hiiri) doll…he used to look a lot more like a mouse when he was younger, just saying. 

Then, we went down to the fortress and saw the tomb of the guy who designed the thing and explored the windows of the fortress, they were perfect moomin-sized caves (see above).

Next, we checked out the boat yard, which is actually currently in the middle of being reconstructed. 

These were the only two boats in the yard (the red one is HUGE, like cruise-liner huge, random side note), but they apparently plan to turn it into a place dedicated to building traditional Finnish boats.

On our way out, we stopped by the library, and met up with some friends.

I got through three childrens’ books in Finnish with help from my dictionary, woohoo!

With a final stop at the church, we got back on the ferry and landed in Market Square in time for a super-late lunch.

On the way to the tram stop, we were completely distracted by a group of street musicians. A violinist and two cellists were playing through a set of about 5 different popular classical pieces (all super showy violin pieces) including parts of Vivaldi’s Winter. It was super-amazing. My hypothesis is that they are conservatory students who had nothing to do in the summer, but I don’t even know where the conservatory is so…musicians of unclear origin…

 We then took Tram 3 (T and B) through the entire city as a way to get situated. We passed by The Olympic Stadium and some big churches. There was a super-artsy neighborhood that I kind of want to check out later (but buying anything there looked expensive, so maybe not…food is pricey enough here)

The day ended with the best strawberries ever, bought at the market, now almost eaten (I managed to save a couple for breakfast) They were probably the best thing I’ve bought since I got here, except, possibly, my tram card.