Helsinki & Tallinn, Estonia

We spent four days of our long Christmas Holiday travelling to Helsinki and then on to Tallinn, Estonia.  We had a great trip and enjoyed adding another country to our "visited" list.  Here are some of our favorite memories from the trip.

















Helsinki is beautifully decorated for the season.

 We also really loved the Design Museum in Helsinki.  There was a special exhibit of design for kids, where we saw early and contemporary LEGO and many wonderful toys.  James and Anna contributed to one exhibit with their own sketches.

 We caught a nice sunrise the next morning and caught the Viking Line ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.

Aboard the ferry, James and I spent some time on deck as we left Helsinki.

Suomenlinna from the Viking Line ferry to Estonia.

Cats and dogs are accommodated on deck.

We arrived in Tallinn, where we stayed at the CRU Hotel in Old Town.  We were thrilled by the setting and enjoyed Tallinn's on-going Christmas Market.

We also wandered out of Old Town to see the Seaplane Harbor Museum, where James and Annabelle tried their hands at a simulated plane flight over the city (they crashed), and where we saw a WWII-era submarine and stepped aboard a steam-powered Ice Breaker.

James on the Ice Breaker.  He imagines what it will be like when he attends the Coast Guard Academy and gets to do this has his full-time job.

Annabelle and Liz make adorable penguins.

Old town is beautiful, and we had ample opportunity to wander around - cameras in hand.

St. Catherine's Passage

 We even found a pop-up seasonal skating rink in Old Town.  We hadn't forgotten all we learned at the UMass rink.

We caught an Eckero Line ferry back to Helsinki, and James and Liz impressed everyone with their dance moves.

In Helsinki, we stayed close to the Central Railway Station and enjoyed a visit to the Finnish National Gallery.

Now we are back in Kuopio, with one more week left in our Finnish adventure.  Today it is -27 C!