Out and about in Helsinki

EPOS concluded Saturday.  This meeting was a wonderful kickstart to our European tour.  We head to Denmark today.  Saturday afternoon was free, so we decided to explore the City of Helsinki.  Helsinki, sitting on the border of western and eastern Europe has a beautiful blend of culture.  From a religious standpoint this means protestant Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox.  Like other European capitals, the cathedrals are amazing.  The Lutheran cathedral, formerly know as the Cathedral of St. Nicolai (now just "the cathedral" out of anti-Russian sentiment) is shown here:

The orthodox cathedral, Upenski Cathedral, is equally impressive:

As you can see, this shot was taken from the open air market.  While we were there, Matt and Michelle did a little bargain hunting:

It's still not clear to me whether or not the Fins consider themselves Scandanavian, but the other booths definitely gave Helsinki a Scandanavian feel:

Meanwhile, I was of course drawn to the food.  The pan fried herring looked and smelled amazing:

Unfortunately, for us, the weather still feels quite Scandanavian, so we passed on the outdoor food experience and made our way through downtown Helsinki.  The city is primarily composed of 5 and 6 story buildings (very 19th century in feel), but rivals any major city in shopping options.  I did not stop in H&M for my daughter however!  Here Matt and Michelle are seen walking in the distance down the main shopping drag.  The street car system, which is quite cool, is also seen:

As you may have noticed, I have a big focus on food.  I love exploring foreign countries via the culinary experience.  This is not good for my attempt to keep the weight off!  Nonetheless, we received a great referral from the front desk receptionist and ended up at an off the beaten path Finnish restaurant (in English - "Seahorse"), where Matt and I dined on the herring that SO caught our eyes:

Many thanks, once again to Dietrich Schlenzka our Helsinki host for a great start to our tour.  We are off to the airport today for Aarhus, Denmark and the company of Bjarne Moller-Madsen!