A nice slow start to our day today as we didn’t crack the door to outside until noon. Sometimes you need these days and this was one of those days.

It allowed us to recharge ourselves for exploration, to get set to see Suomenlinna or Sveaborg. It’s the fortress at the south edge of Helsinki it depended on who was ruling whether you called it the Fortress of Finland, or the Fortress of Sweden. Very practical people here

For me what makes this place unique is the fact that there are some 650 residents who call the fortress home. There’s an elementary school, convenience store, amongst other things – it’d be like you were able to live inside Heritage Park.

But enough of that, it’s too hot to face today without ice cream! Some mudcake for Janelle and chocolate for me.

For dinner tonight we’re stopping by a noodle place that every time we’ve walked by it it’s been packed. The noodles are freshly made and hand-pulled. First you need to decide from 5 different noodles you want, then what dish you’re having. It was so good, no wonder why it’s always busy!

Our last stop tonight is Sompasauna, an authentic Finnish sauna. It’s community run and free to go. We learned that years ago the City of Helsinki tried to kick out this group a few times by dismantling the saunas and removing everything. But the community rebuilt the saunas and finally it was the City who gave in. And we’re so happy it did.

Everything is volunteer run, from getting the wood to breaking the wood down to smaller pieces. Getting the wood to the saunas, oh and the water. People entering just seem to know what needs to be done. You have to keep the fire going!

We do none of this, we leave it to the experts. We take in the heat, then once fully charged head down the hill to the sea and fall it.

When we cool down enough, it’s back up the hill to get back in the sauna. It’s exhausting! Lol. Going to sleep well tonight.

Sorry no pictures of us here, it would have been very poor etiquette of us. You’ll just have to come here yourself.