Well at least as close to the top as we're going to get in our tour. Boo is possessed by the idea that Santa lives just a little bit further up, all these reindeer are testament to her accuracy. Our first privately organised tour of the trip meant we were in a for a new treat this trip. Liisa met us at the dock and led into the town centre.

This city suffered a three city destroying fires over three centuries. Eventually won by Russia from Sweden, Peter the great awarded Finland to himself as a private dukedom then set about using Russian funds to make it a jewel on the Finnish coast. He brought in Swiss architects and got to work in the first half of the 18th century, so most important buildings are from that era. When the Russian revolution removed power from the Romanov's there was no one left to own Finland, it sort of gained it's independence by default. The vacuum of power led to a civil war almost immediately, once the internal struggles were resolved Finland decided to rebel against it's parent and embrace the Nazis in WWII. While Sweden opted for neutrality, Finland welcomed the Nazi's in to keep the Russian away from the front door. The head of state at the time insisted that no Finnish jews be processed by the Nazi's, so the 3k-4k Jews in Finland at the time were protected by the state. With 300-400 Jews in the military, this led to Jews fighting for the Nazis and the Nazis needing to accept a synagogue within their camp!

You know how it ended for the Nazis, the crippling retribution fees on the Finnish state almost sent it bankrupt. Despite successes like Nokia and Linux the state has struggled somewhat ever since. Today they suffer double digit unemployment and a shrinking economy, but atleast they don't have Sweeden and Russia trying to take over anymore.

Our first stop was at the Rock Church, a brutalist building encased in a rocky crater. It's one of the more famous buildings in the city. Surrounded by mid 19th century apartment buildings it also seems an odd place to put it. But the city had looked at this rock hill and wondered what to do with it for over a century. The ceiling is composed of 22km of copper strapping, with many other areas clad in it too, the copper thieves I've read about would have a field day in here.

Next Liisa took us to a local market on the "worker" island. With Workers and Owners living on distinctly separate islands, the bridge that joined them was the scene for many of the civil wars battles. As we exit the tram it's clear we're on worker island with the Metal Workers trade union and many others surrounding the square. But we're here for the local favourites. First we try Karelian pie - a slice of Rye bread with a lump of porridge in the middle, the edged are pleated around to form a little parcel then the whole thing is baked before being served with "Egg Butter" mashed egg mixed with butter. I think I was a bigger fan of Egg Butter, but the Pie was a great vehicle for it. 

Poro or Reindeer was next. The kids wanted Hard Rock for lunch, so I agreed that if they tried Reindeer we'd go to Hard Rock later. Fid not only tried it, he loved it. Smoky and salty meant there was no way to actually taste Rudolf. Finally Cloud berries are out of season right now, but we tried some cloud berry jam and marmalade - so delicious we bought a jar of it. Outside in the open air market we discovered this part of the Baltic must be just as good at Strawberries as those guys back in Warnemunde - Strawberry stands were everywhere. We bought a punnet and enjoyed them and some wild forrest blueberries.

On to the main city square and to Senate Sqare and the cathedral. The steps were teaming with thousands of gymansts. There is a big competion going on this week with thousands of Gymnasts from all over the world in attendance. Whist they were busy doing their dances on the steps we were busy trying to snap the funniest picture of them. We walked around the old buildings of the square and along the harbour before heading along the main street towards Stockmann - the uber department store. We had lunch across the road at Hard Rock as promised, then took the kids for ice cream while the ladies held a viking like raid on Stockmann. Finland is the worlds highest per capita consumer of ice cream, but we couldn't find it anywhere. We were eventually successful and delivered the satisfied kids back to their mums at the agreed time - responsibility masters!

On the way to look for a cab we passed an Italian restaurant with a very happy guy sitting out in the courtyard with his Franziskaner. I'd had two Finnish beers at lunch, but they'd fallen short of the mark. Fid and I sat and stressed over returning to the boat in time, though calmed somewhat by the Franziskaner - the girls raided Stockmann once more before collecting us for the return to the boat.

The people are nice, the food is odd but nice enough, the architecture rivals Germany in the boring stakes. I don't know that we'd rush back, but it's great to have seen it for ourselves, where else can you eat Rudolf?