Suomenlinna

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Finland is the sea fortress Suomenlinna. (It's also a UNESCO World Heritage site.) Suomenlinna was built on islands off the coast of Helsinki (actually not far from our favorite sledding park) in 1748. This was what Sam most looked forward to visiting upon our arrival here in Helsinki. (It's all about the guns and cannons for him!)

Since it was ski break last week, we decided to check out the sea fortress in the winter--later we'll go back and experience it without all of the snow!

I think my favorite part of the whole trip was the ferry ride over.

The ferry moved through the crushed ice "road" created by ice breakers and made an awesome crunching noise as we moved along.

When I visit a place like this, I can't help but think about how difficult it would have been to build a place like this hundreds of years ago before cranes and trucks and other modern tools. It's really quite amazing.

The church on Suomenlinna is the only church that doubles as a lighthouse!

I'm looking forward to our sprintime trip to Suomenlinna so I can see what I'm walking on!