Helsinki

After bouncing around on trains from Lahti to Riihimaki to Tampere...Michael & I ended up with one day and night to kill in Helsinki before heading back to Ireland. We checked into our hostel then struck out for the Market Square and the Harbor. After a brief trip back to the hostel to get Michaels phone, we struck out again for the Market Square and the Harbor.

Downtown was nice, the weather was cool. We were looking for a place to eat and were told that there were vendors set up at the market...

When we got to the orange tents of the waterside market we were pleased to find Finnish delicasies we had talked about trying...yes, you guessed it people, Reindeer !

We got an assortment of Reindeer products including reindeer sausage, reindeer meatballs and some brown stuff called Reindeer hush...served with sides of hasbrowns, salad and lingonberry sauce. Washed down with a low-alcohol Finnish beer...yummy !

We ran into Canadian friends Sean and Ashley at the market....

Ashley did not have the reindeer...she opted for a buffalo sausage.

After lunch, we all had finnish pastries that tasted like jelly donuts.

Michael and I said goodbye to the Canucks and kept on exploring....hey whats that !

its the Helsinki Cathedral

All in all a great day.

Travelers Tip

How to spot a tourist

Thanks to Sean Gibson for coming to Helsinki in his Canadian Tourist outfit

and to Michael for posing with this stuffed reindeer.

more pics and stories to come soon.