Baltic cruise (Day 9 – Helsinki)

Central Helsinki is quite compact, so we all took the shuttle bus into the city and walked through the Esplanadi [Main photo], a long elegant park lined with Finland’s flagship design stores, to the Market Square at the harbour [Extra 1].

We went for a ride on the Finnair Skywheel, which had some great views over the city; it’s a recently opened attraction in the new Helsinki Allas harbourside development of spa, saunas and sea-water swimming pools, which is still under construction (completing next month).

Next, a look at Uspenski Cathedral, the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Western world [Extra 2, with tram] before Mrs Lomond & I wandered up to Senate Square for a look at Helsinki Cathedral whilst Dad sat resting his leg. While he was sitting there, a young man came up to him and asked if he wanted a drag on his (fragrant) cigarette to help ease the pain - Dad told us he declined the kind offer!