A Fantastic Day!

Today was a fantastic day! The weather was perfect for what we had planned for the day. Everyone bundled up and we headed out for the Finnish National Opera. We got a tour of the entire opera house, including a rare trip onto the actual stage, where a new opera will debut in a couple of weeks. Here are a couple of pictures of the opera house. After the opera house we visited the Sibelius Monument. Really very impressive. A couple of pictures from the monument and the Rock Church.

We also went on a tour of the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. We arrived at the fortress by ferry. It was a little nippy on the bow of the boat, but the sun was shining so it was really quite nice. The tour lasted a couple of hours, with a lot of walking on cobblestone streets. Then we had about another hour of free time to explore downtown Helsinki. I think bed will feel real good tonight...again! We are back at the hotel now for about another half hour and then we will board our buses again for dinner down town at a local restaurant. So far no one has been sick and everyone seems to be enjoying the food. Then back to the hotel. I know there are several kids that want to try the sauna. Big thing to do here in Finland. Here are a couple of fortress pictures.