Mario asked for a few more photos of Helsinki and that is a question you should never ask a photographer. The first photo is more of the cobble stone texture to be seen throughout the downtown area. The second is a stern view of the ice breaker fleet tied up at their summer mooring in Helsinki harbor. Each is capable of breaking ice 15 meters thick, so that should give some idea of what weather conditions can be during Baltic winters. The third photo is another from my round the islands cruise, and the fourth is a ship model in the Helsinki City Museum, a free museum illustrating the history of the city. What a difference a week can make. When I arrived in Helsinki, I looked down from the plane and observed a single blaze of maple having turned its fall colors. By the time I left, the trees all over town were turning, and the leaves were falling fast. What a difference a week can make!

In the 1800's when Finns emigrated to the US many settled in Northern Minnesota where climate and geological conditions are most like those of Finland. While Minnesota has been described as the land of 10,000 lakes, in Finland there are 187,888 lakes larger than 5 acres in size. One lake for every 26 inhabitants.