Jean wasn't well today, so I went alone to Suomenlinna, an island a short,15 minute ferry ride from the nearby Market Square. The island had been recommended to us by our hotel receptionist for its very nice buildings. If we'd planned to be here an extra day, we'd have taken a two-hour boat ride across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn in Estonia. Everybody has recommended Tallinn, and I regret we're not going there. I also regret we can't go to Lapland, the only place possible in Finland to see the Northern Lights, but you can't have everything.
Suomenlinna is a World Heritage site, preserved for future generations as an example of the European military architecture of the 18th century. It's a sea fortress, and is still used today. Therefore, Suomenlinna has been utilised for the defence of three states - Sweden, Russia and Finland, in that order too because the country was under the rule of Sweden until 1809, then Russia until 1917, when Finland gained independence.
On the way across to the island, I took photos and it seemed to get colder by the minute. My hand was really noticing it. The water was icy in part. When I reached Suomenlinna, my hand was in pain from taking photos, so I sheltered briefly in the Visitor Centre, and my hand recovered.
Suomenlinna actually consists of two islands, and I crossed to the second one, taking photos of various things, the Lutheran Church, museums, canons, the coast, and the snowy terrain.
The ferry
Frozen chunks of sea
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