Our ship is docked in Helsinki today. Our excursion starts much later than our last 2 days in St. Petersburg, and it’s also much shorter. It starts off on a small boat cruising the Helsinki Harbor. We get a brief history lesson, and some wonderful sights. There’s a lot of discussion about the harbor freezing, and everyone walking across the ice to all the destinations we’re cruising past today. The winter nights are very long, with only 4 hours of daylight.

One of the four ships in the Finnish Icebreaker Fleet.

After the boat ride, we’re dropped in a market area in the center of town for some souvenir shopping. After boarding the bus, we get a few more photo stops, including a monument to the Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.

Sibelius monument

We’re back at the ship by 1:00 pm with an afternoon to kill. The ship seems empty and so relaxing. There are no crowds, anywhere. We really enjoyed Helsinki. Today gave us enough of a “taste” of the city to entice us to come back. The evening act in the theater is an illusionist (magician). It’s a really good act with nice variety and humor.