I arrived in Helsinki at 1 pm and was settled in my hotel by mid-afternoon. As tired as I was, I decided to do a walking tour because of the rain forecast for tomorrow. Pictured above is the Uspenski Cathedral with SkyWheel Helsinki in the foreground. Below is the Helsinki Cathedral with the Senate Square. I used Lightroom to remove all but a few of the tourists who were milling about when I took the photo.

Another view of the cathedral taken from a distance with the Presidential Palace in the foreground. Helsinki has strictly enforced no-fly zones in most of the places where you would want to use a drone for photography. The locals were quick to inform me of this, and I had to fly outside the boundaries and use a zoom function to get my shots.

Suomenlinna is an 18th-century sea fortress built across six islands near Helsinki. I hopped on a ferry and was there in 15 minutes. Originally named Sveaborg by the Swedish, it was constructed to defend the realm against Russian expansionism. The historic site features well-preserved stone walls, secret tunnels, historic artillery, and distinct architectural styles from its Swedish, Russian, and Finnish eras. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991, it stands as a unique monument to military architecture. Today, the fortress serves as both a popular tourist destination and a vibrant, living residential neighborhood for hundreds of local residents.

Most of the streets are cobblestone, the large and hard-to-walk-on variety. I watched for quite some time as this craftsman was installing a new section, using the board to his right to “level” the stones as he pounded them into place.

Sukellusvene Vesikko is a restored 1930s WWII-era submarine located at Suomenlinna and operated as an exhibit of the Military Museum of Finland. Launched in Turku in 1933 under the codename CV-707, it was secretly commissioned by the German military via a Dutch front company to bypass Treaty of Versailles restrictions, later serving as the prototype for Germany’s Type II U-boats.

The islands were covered in lush vegetation, and these yellow flowers dominated the landscape.

I returned to the city by 7 pm, with almost four more hours of sunlight left, but was forced by hunger and exhaustion to find food, take a much-needed shower, and collapse in bed.