TehCapn Around the World

I don’t have any more photos to share at the moment.  After the first few days in Finland, I mostly spent the rest of my time with Kata’s family relaxing and getting to know each other.  It was such a nice trip, and Kata’s family is really open and welcoming (for Finns)!  Glad I was able to go.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, Kata and I get to spend the summer in the U.S. together~

I got to spend a night at Kata’s family cottage.  It was very pleasant out there.  I could easily spend a long weekend there relaxing.

At Särkänniemi Amusement Park in Tampere.  There was a tower near the entrance of the park that offered a great view!

Last of Suomenlinna.  At the center of the old fortress.

Suomenlinna fortress bunker.

Some more pictures of Suomenlinna, including a submarine, some more fortress walls, and part of a park.

Suomenlinna, aka Viapori or Sveaborg.  It’s a fortress built along 5 islands off the coast of Helsinki.  Originally constructed by the Swedish to prevent Russian expansion in the 1700s (known as Sveaborg at the time), it is now part of Helsinki.  It has school and shop buildings, as well as a stable residency.  I would have loved to take more pictures of Suomenlinna, but when we went there it was very cold, windy, and rainy; we could only endure for so long.

Some islands we passed by on our way to Suomenlinna.  It’s crazy to think that people plopped houses out on these tiny little islands off the city coast.

Some views of Helsinki as we left for Suomenlinna.  As you can see, Finnish cities, including its own capital, are not very “tall” cities.  There aren’t any skyscrapers to be seen.

Some photos taken in Helsinki.  We didn’t do too much sight-seeing of the city center.  These are just some photos I snapped with my phone while we were roaming.

I’ll be heading off to Finland again on May 21st!  I’ll be returning to the states with my fiancée on June 1st.  We’ll be stopping in Helsinki, Tampere, and finally her home town of Oulu.  Hopefully we will have some pics to share with everyone!

Some Final Thoughts.

There are more photos/videos of my trip to Finland, but they are currently trapped on Kata's phone, which she broke right after I left.  Hopefully she will be able to recover those photos/videos, and I can upload them here.

Oulu - Part 3.  The castle shown above is a reconstruction of the original castle that burnt down, but the original foundation still stands.  Kind of looks like a lighthouse, huh?  Some pictures of the city hall and the city symbol of Oulu.  The castle over the fish represents the city's dependence on salmon fishing in early days.

Oulu - Part 2.  Oulu is a port city, so they have a heavy focus on the water.  Just some more pictures around the docks.  New and old buildings, again.