Day 3/4 : Helsinki

Christmas Eve:
Little bit of ice skating today on the side walks.  The rain froze over as soon as it cooled off a little so you had to watch out for the shiny walk ways.  In the morning we did some shopping at the local shop Stockmann’s.  It had a bunch of high end brands of cloths but in the basement there was a giant grocery store.  

We walked backed by the Cathedrals to see about mass but apparently most Fins don’t go to church except for Christmas so the small churches had people standing out the doors.  I did notice a strange flag that I swear looked like it had a garlic clove on it.

On the way to one of the cathedrals we passed the Sauna and Pool area.  We watch a couple walk over to the pool.  The lady got on the vertical stairs dipped into the water and then got right back out without even letting go of the stairs.  The guys went to do the same thing but he paused at the knees, the then continued but as it got up his leg he stopped and started to get back out.  The lady was yelling at him to keep going so back he went and again didn’t make it and wanted to chicken out.  At this point the lady got down on her knees on the side of the pool and coached him until he dipped to the shoulders, got out real fast and ran back to the sauna.

Christmas Day :
  we packed our bags in the morning since we would be taking the night train to Santa’s Village.  For the day the plan was to go to the zoo.  Luckily the sun was out so it was a bit warmer.  However at high noon the sun was only about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon.
The walk to the zoo was about a mile and a half.  It was all under construction but there was a real fancy pedestrian bridge that went to one island that seemed to just be a large park with bike and hiking paths.  We saw another one of those turtles, green this time, to help guide the way to the zoo.

At the entrance to the zoo there was a giant Sloth and a Kimotodragon.  Some of the animals were hibernating but the owls were out and about.  

We saw 4 different types, the big white ones were real neat looking.  There was also an African bird area with Parrots and a lot of other birds in a tropical enclosure.

Next the zoo had a Bear Cage from 1903. Thank goodness it wasn’t in use any more.  It was so small but the sign said that it was designed to hold 3 black bears.  If ever there looked like a dungeon for an animal this was it.  The picture even showed someone walking up to shake its hand.

After the Bear cage we went to see some very large cats.  You could get up an personal with them with about 5 feet between the low fence and a cage holding them back.  They were so close that the male lion decided to mark his territory and was able to spray Quinn’s leg.  The other cats they had their were endangered with only about 40 remaining in the wild.

The last few things we saw were some camels, reindeer and what looked like moose but they were local to the area and were called Elk.  And the Giant Mosquito, which I’m not quite sure what the point of him was.  At first it looked like a spider.

On our way back we walked by the Cathedral again but were able to go inside.  It was not decorated or really that interesting.  The only unique feature I noticed was looked like they would lock you in the pews so once you got in you couldn’t get out.

Finally the last part of our day was catching the Santa Claus express up north.  The last few cars of the train were for cars stacked two high.  Although it was raining in Helsinki by the time we went about 10 minutes on the train everything was covered in snow.  Super excited for the next few days.