This was our last day in Helsinki. We had a sort of free-day after checking out of the hotel, until 4, when we had to get on the train to Jyv skyl . We (Becky, Shandra, and I) went down to the street market and looked around, and since the weather was looking crummy (sunny and rain-free days in Finland are highly elusive things) we decided to go to the Lutheran Cathedral (again), took a more extensive look inside, and went down into the crypts, which, sadly, we...

Our third day of touring Helsinki went pretty uneventfully. We started out at the Rock Church, built in the 1960s, which was just a few blocks from our hotel. The church was built into the rockside in the center of several blocks of apartments, the interior was blasted out with dynamite, and the left-over rocks used to build the walls up above the rock; and the whole thing is topped off with a copper roof. We then headed out to a more residential part of town ...

This was our third day in Helsinki. We took the train out to Korkeasaaren, one of the islands nearby, and visited the Helsinki zoo, on yet another nearby island. The zoo has a unique lookout tower, made out of wood. We also went out to the town of Myyrmaki to see the Myyrmaki Church, designed by architect Juha Leiviska in the 1980s. It was very lovely; built of light red brick, completely white on the inside. Becky, Shandra, and I also hiked up to the Rock C...

We have finally arrived in Europe, officially stamped passports and everything. We flew out yesterday morning, connecting in Minneapolis and later in Amsterdam. The flights were all uneventful, thankfully. The hotel is lovely, a renovated 1920's building with modern Finnish decor.