Monday, August 29, 2005
Today's Trip Pic
Let's leave St. Petersburg behind, just for today, and continue with our next port of call - Helsinki. This was a memorable port, but not for the usual reasons. Do you remember this story? A helicopter carrying 14 people, including two Americans, crashed in the Baltic Sea off the Estonian coast Wednesday, and all aboard were believed killed.Well, we sailed to Helsinki in those self-same winds, and during the day that we were there, they abated only from about 70 mph to around 40, it was rainy and not a tad bit chilly.
The U.S.-made Sikorsky S-76 helicopter, operated by Finnish firm Copterline, was on a commercial flight from the Estonian capital, Tallinn, to Helsinki, Finland, when it went down in strong winds shortly after takeoff near the island of Naissaar, about three miles off the coast, officials said.
When you add to that the fact that Helsinki is a lovely city, but with only fairly recent history, it was reminiscent of visitng someplace like Columbus, OH in rotten weather. Not that Columbus, or Helsinki, are not nice places to visit, but gale force winds and St. Petersburg hangover make it pretty unremarkable.
This is the Luteran Church on the hilltop at the center of town -- beautiful and along with the library next door about the only really memorable thing in town. There is also the "Church In The Rock," a modern architectural achievement, carved out of a very large piece of solid granite where we were treated to a brief piano concert and we heard "Finalandia" -- AGAIN!I am afraid I am sounding too negative about Helsinki, under other circumstances I am sure it is lovely, but as it was I hurried back to the ship for a nap.
