After waking up this morning, I threw open the curtains to see if we were in port yet and I was dismayed to see grey clouds and rain. The boat was rocking like crazy and there was rain all over the sliding glass door. I opened the door and stuck my head out to check the temperature: brrr! Not a good omen for our outdoor tour today of Suemenlinna Fortress.
We met up with the rest of the family at 8:00am and headed off the boat. We walked briskly to our bus through the chilly, windy weather. Once underway on the bus, the rain started again and Pi, Kent, & I exchanged looks: It’s going to be a rough morning. After getting off the bus at the ferry docks, we scurried through the light rain and jumped on our ferry boat.
It was about a ten minute ride from downtown to the island fortress. We were snug & cozy at tables inside the boat, but I soon became too warm and went up on deck to cool off and get some fresh air. Much to my delight, it had stopped raining and the skies looked brighter ahead. There were only a couple people on the top deck. I was standing by the rail enjoying the view. When one of them stood up and strided purposefully toward me. He appeared to be middle-Eastern, kind of scruffy looking, and had a strange intensity. I immediately got a “bad vibe” and moved away from the rail as he approached.
As I moved to a safer position, he asked, “Can you swim?” I said yes, but it was too cold for a swim today. He asked where I was from and I told him. He told me he was from Iraq and began a tirade about American soldiers stealing money from his mother. I informed him that I am not a soldier nor do I set US foreign policy and that seemd to appease him somewhat. By this time, we were pulling up to the dock, so I was happy to get away from that character!
The weather cleared up nicely and the sun even came out for a while. It was in the low 60’s. As we had hoped, there were plenty of wide-open spaces and the kids had fun running, climbing, and exploring the fort. They especially loved playing on the cannon’s. Our tour guide led us for a 1 hour walk around the area and we ended up back near the dock with about 30 minutes of free time. We went into the café for a few minutes and grabbed a quick snack. Guess who stopped by our table to say hello? Yes, my new Iraqi friend. He asked Brandon where he was from. I told Brandon it was OK to answer, he did, and our friend wandered off again. Weird! I was definitely keeping an eye on that guy!
Soon, it was time to board the ferry again and return to Helsinki. We elected to get off the bus downtown to walk around the city and explore on our own. We went into a couple shops and found the IceBar, but it didn’t open until much later. It started to rain again, so we hopping in a cab and went back to the ship.
Tomorrow, we will be in Russia and we have a private van hired for the morning. I’m not sure why, but I am very excited to visit here. Maybe because we were cold-war enemies for so long. Anyway, tune in tomorrow to see how it goes.
We met up with the rest of the family at 8:00am and headed off the boat. We walked briskly to our bus through the chilly, windy weather. Once underway on the bus, the rain started again and Pi, Kent, & I exchanged looks: It’s going to be a rough morning. After getting off the bus at the ferry docks, we scurried through the light rain and jumped on our ferry boat.
It was about a ten minute ride from downtown to the island fortress. We were snug & cozy at tables inside the boat, but I soon became too warm and went up on deck to cool off and get some fresh air. Much to my delight, it had stopped raining and the skies looked brighter ahead. There were only a couple people on the top deck. I was standing by the rail enjoying the view. When one of them stood up and strided purposefully toward me. He appeared to be middle-Eastern, kind of scruffy looking, and had a strange intensity. I immediately got a “bad vibe” and moved away from the rail as he approached.
As I moved to a safer position, he asked, “Can you swim?” I said yes, but it was too cold for a swim today. He asked where I was from and I told him. He told me he was from Iraq and began a tirade about American soldiers stealing money from his mother. I informed him that I am not a soldier nor do I set US foreign policy and that seemd to appease him somewhat. By this time, we were pulling up to the dock, so I was happy to get away from that character!
The weather cleared up nicely and the sun even came out for a while. It was in the low 60’s. As we had hoped, there were plenty of wide-open spaces and the kids had fun running, climbing, and exploring the fort. They especially loved playing on the cannon’s. Our tour guide led us for a 1 hour walk around the area and we ended up back near the dock with about 30 minutes of free time. We went into the café for a few minutes and grabbed a quick snack. Guess who stopped by our table to say hello? Yes, my new Iraqi friend. He asked Brandon where he was from. I told Brandon it was OK to answer, he did, and our friend wandered off again. Weird! I was definitely keeping an eye on that guy!
Soon, it was time to board the ferry again and return to Helsinki. We elected to get off the bus downtown to walk around the city and explore on our own. We went into a couple shops and found the IceBar, but it didn’t open until much later. It started to rain again, so we hopping in a cab and went back to the ship.
Tomorrow, we will be in Russia and we have a private van hired for the morning. I’m not sure why, but I am very excited to visit here. Maybe because we were cold-war enemies for so long. Anyway, tune in tomorrow to see how it goes.
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