The Nordic Explorer - Helsinki

We are under way!! Both of us had looked forward to doing our first cruise. We already told you in our last posting how beautiful our cruise ship is. So, let's sail and enjoy the journey. God willing, good weather - and it was!! Quiet seas - and it was! Good company - and yes, excellent!

Setting sail in the early evening from Stockholm, we joined others on the top deck for 'happy hour' and seeing us sail from Stockholm in company of a number of other cruise ships and ferries. Stockholm is obviously quite a shipping hub. I wonder how it is in the middle winter (but not really interested in finding out)?

We depart Stockholm in convoy of quite a number of cruise ships.

Idyllic weather for our departure and first experience of cruising.

 Here is looking forward to experiencing new cultures, sights, food etc! Cheers!

 The Marina has an excellent band and provided live music on deck as we left Stockholm.

While Jan was ever ready with her camera to capture each moment!

 As you can see, the weather was sunny, the seas calm and the views delightful!

Twelve days of sheer luxury, being pampered awaited us. However, the following morning saw Jan not feeling well, putting a damper on things. Arriving in Helsinki was not a huge deal, and while we got around using a hop on-hop of bus seeing Helsinki in a nutshell, Jan was not able to fully enjoy it because of the bug that was not kind to her.

Being a Saturday, there was a flea market in Helsinki. These events always gives one a sense of atmosphere and we enjoyed wandering around, seeing what was on offer.

While the buildings are quite different, there were similarities with Salamanca Place in Hobart. 

Thinking of Salamanca, there were not as many patrons.

Glad the weather was good. And thankfully, Jan's illness did not prevent enjoying this experience.

We found toilets were not always easy to find, but at the appropriate time found a shop that was happy to help us. As it turned out, this was a Craft Co-operative that had opened its door for the first time that day. This type of shop was well to Jan's liking as she herself was involved with a co-operative for artists at the Rocks in Sydney (a must do for every tourist to Sydney!).

Being the opening day, there were three musicians to celebrate the occasion, and it was a joy to listen while we had a cup of coffee. However, I think just chatting with these folk was even better than the coffee.

Nearby was the Lutheran Cathedral, an impressive building that caught our attention. A distinctive landmark in the Helsinki cityscape, with its tall, green dome surrounded by four smaller domes, the building is in the neoclassical style. Pure white with delightful Corinthian style columns and other decorations. As the following photographs show, this church is well worth a visit, though I wonder how many local folk frequent it for worship.

 Impressive!

 

The interior was delicately simple and relaxing.

The altar presented a worshipful invitation. 

And below, I would loved to have heard the organ - or even play it!

This is a rather short blog, but with St Petersburg next on our itinerary, I probably will need a longer chapter. So, let's set the 'sails' - so to speak, and head for Russia!