Day 11: Helsinki

Arrived in Helsinki at 7pm last night and got to our hotel. First thing we noticed about Helsinki is how expensive everything is. Our taxi cost $20.00 to travel about 1 km...no traffic either. Anyway, checked in and were very pleased with the size and luxury of our room....St Petersburg was perfectly located but very small and old on the inside. We even had a few English TV stations so pretty stoked...the small things....
Woke up and ready to hit the town. Had thoughts if using the hop on/off bus to get around...but decided a local bus to the Sibelius Monument and then leg power would do it. This is a monument to a famous Finnish composer of the same name and it resembles a sound wave made of clusters of organ pipes. It is over 10m tall. It was pretty cool. Back to St John's church and then to Market Square where it all happens. Cruise ships were in so the place was packed. Walked to both Uspenksi Catherdral and Helsinki Cathedral in Senate Square. Went in to both. Continued towards the Finnish National Theatre and along the way stumbled across a number of delights. Firstly, an army??? (Military) pop/rock band were playing in a square. Stayed for a number of songs by the Beatles etc....all in Finnish. They were really good. Paused for a take away latte in the park...a cool $8.50 for a small...and do a bit of people and statue watching. Second, there was a seagull sitting on the head of a statue. It reminded me if my favourite Oscar Wilde story The Happy Prince. Third, refreshed we continued and as we approached the theatre there was a festival going on...lol promoting travel in Russia. Watched dancers from different Russian regions.
From here we went to one of the most amazing churches we have ever seen. Known as the Rock Church we walked the few kms to find it....starting to worry that we should have taken the hop on/off  bus at this point. Walked around the outside looking for an entrance. As we gave up and decided to head to the next site, there it was. How lucky we found it. OMG...OMG....it was amazing. Even more beautiful was the girl's choir rehearsing.The interior of this church was rock with a timber dome ceiling and the singing made the experience truly special. Again sat and listened for a while. Headed to our final destination and that was an architectural timber church referred to as the Church of Silence. It is made of timber inside and out. So simple inside but so beautiful.
Tired and sore we bused back to our hotel. Early night tonight, up at 4am to get to airport to head to Germany to get our car.