The Nordic countries hold their special parkrun on Ascension Day (in the UK it’s Christmas Day), and this gives a good opportunity to visit two countries on the Thursday and then Saturday. We flew in to Stockholm last night.
Our parkrun country number 9
Thursday – ABBA Museum
Lucy singing and dancing with ABBA
Thursday evening – ferry to Helsinki
Approaching the Åland Islands
Friday – Suomenlinna, Helsinki
A fascinating exploration of the blend of nature and history among the fortifications of Suomenlinna, a UNESCO World Heritage site, originally under Swedish then Russian and now Finnish control.
Heading on the ferry from the Market Square in HelsinkiApproaching SuomenlinnaThe Great Courtyard was the administrative centre of the fortress. The founder, Augustin Ehrensvärd, is buried here.Lucy in Pipers ParkLovers PoolOn the high embankment built by the RussiansThe King’s GateSubmarine Vesikko was built by the Dutch for the Germans then sold to the Finns in1936, spending WWII harassing Soviet shipping. It was the last ever Finnish submarine, being withdrawn from service in compliance with the Moscow Armistice of 1944.The church bell, the largest in Finland, was cast in Moscow in 1885 and weighs 6,683 kilograms
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