Day Seven - Suomenlinna Island/Fortress
The weather held and we were able to go on as planned. The kids got to experience the Helsinki public transit system which was very smooth! Somehow we were able to successfully and fairly quickly get all the kids from the hostel to our tram to take us down to the Helsinki harbor where we caught the boat to take us to the island.
Our excursion to Suomenlinna Island/Fortress was great! The weather was a little misty, but other than that, it was perfect weather for hiking and taking in the sights on the island.
This island was founded off the coast of Helsinki in 1748. The Suomenlinna sea fortress is a cultural treasure, and it was really fun experiencing all there was to see. One of the main attractions that the kids were drawn to on the island was the Suomenlinna toy museum. This museum exhibits thousands of old toys dating from the beginning of the 19th century all the way to the 1960s. Alex Blanter and Kate Brown were walking around with Katrina for part of the day admiring newly born baby geese with their very protective mothers, so protective, our very own Lifeguard Chris was shortly after attacked by one! He knew for sure that he couldn't take one with him after that experience.
Many of the kids bought little trinkets, jewelry, and ice cream before we headed back to the Helsinki outdoor markets.
We loaded the boat and within a few minutes we were back. The kids were given some lunch money and they also were able to take out some of their own Euros to spend on souvenirs. Many of the kids bought ear warmers, scarves, and hats with very cute reindeer patterns, had some delicious salmon for lunch, and of course, some more ice cream! Catherine Barr was our third victim of the vicious seagulls that hover over the markets, and they swooped down, knocked her scoop of ice cream off the cone, and within a few seconds, there were quite a few enjoying her treat! No need to worry, she still has all 10 of her fingers! Our final victim of the seagulls was Little Ben... apparently a seagull landed on his head, and took a big chomp of his ice cream before it flew away!!
After our afternoon at the markets, we got back on the tram and went back to the hostel for a little rest before our final concert in Finland.
At 4:00, the singers were down in the lobby, dressed in their concert attire, and to their surprise, were treated to another ice cream that was promised by Bob after one of their concerts. Needless to say, they were thrilled. Ice cream and kids, you can't go wrong!
We walked to the tram and went to the Kallio Church, where we were part of a Summer Organ Concert. We performed our tour repertoire and Tommi Niskala performed his pieces on the organ. At the very end, the kids sang Hayden's Gloria with Tommi accompanying them on the organ. It was a lovely concert!
We had a surprise visitor, former member of Piedmont Choirs who now lives in Helsinki, Mary Morgan, come to the concert. She was quite impressed with how much the choir has grown and just being in that environment brought back many fond memories of singing and touring. Shauna also met up with a family friend from Helsinki at the concert, who happens to be a singer herself. She was also VERY impressed with the quality of the singers and how "clean" they sounded. She was very full of compliments. Andrès' parents and little sister were also able to come and enjoy the show.
For dinner, we went and had lasagna at daVinci's Italian Restaurant a few blocks from the church and then we were back on the tram heading back to the hostel. The kids were quite wound up from all the excitement and had a difficult time getting to bed. We have somewhat of an early wake-up call tomorrow morning as we leave Helsinki and head to Estonia!! Very exciting!!
Click through the slideshow below to view some highlights from today:
