It was a great trip!
The cruise ship had lots of restaurants and shopping opportunities which made us both full up and broke.
Helsinki offered a beautiful, sunny but a bit cold day. I had never thought about it before, but Helsinki is situated further up north compared to Stockholm and is thus a couple or three weeks behind when it comes to spring. It was still ice in the harbour for instance.
After having indulged in a huge dinner buffé the evening before and also a huge breakfast buffét we realized that we needed to see Helsinki by foot. So we did lots and lots of walking, visiting both the Temple church and the big white cathedral which both offered peace and serenity. There were easter preparations on top of the stairs by the Cathedral. Those are steep stairs btw!
A woman explaied to us that each Easter there's an outdoor theater (about the last days of Jesus) taking place on several places like parks and squares of Helsinki (correct me if I'm wrong Uptimist) And outside the cathedral the crusifiction was to take place. It all takes place on Saturday and the audience watching can be up to ten thousand people.
We also walked through Stockmann's and of course visited the Marimekko and Fazer shops in central Helsinki.
After four hours of walking we decided to return to the ship for some sauna and jacuzzi. We actually sat by the relax area's panorama windows watching the ship leave Helsinki. Huz was right about the ship being really close to the Suomelinna fortress as well as some other small islands. The captain was obvioulsy talented in maneuvering that huge ship.
There will be pictures I promise. If not today, I'll post them tomorrow.
