Helsinki
I was feeling pretty buggered with a cold so i didn't get to do as much in Helsinki as i had planned. Did manage to do a walking tour round most of the sights though.
I had the misfortune of arriving in Helsinki on the eve of midsummer's eve. As a consequence the city pretty much shut down for 3 of the days i was there (shops closing e.t.c. and all the locals out picnicing). On the otherhand though it was kind of cool to be there during the midsummer's eve festivities. I made it out to the main event at Seurasaari Island. There were lots of traditional Finnish customs on display (including flower wreaths, wood carving, oldschool blacksmithery and Finnish folk dances). Unfortunately it pissed down with rain for most of the four hours i was there and i spent a lot of the time underneath fir trees and other make-shift shelters and so didn't see a lot of the performances/dances (the sea of umbrellas pretty much made it impossible anyway).
I did see the main event – the lighting of the midsummer's eve bonfires (there were about 7 fires, each one designed and made by a particular province of Helsinki). Despite the rain, all of the fires were successfully lit (with the aid of a petrol-can-wielding man). The last one (the biggest) is traditionally lit by a bridal couple and was lit by the bridal party (dressed in Finnish costume) from a row boat. Very cool spectacle to watch. So much so that there were a bunch of yachts stationed around the island and even tourist cruises offered out to the island. It's not something i am likely to experience ever again so i think it was worth going to (despite the drenching).
Helsinki is a fairly youngish city (by European standards), think it was founded in the 1500's and was pretty much only a small town for quite a while. Now, though it is quite big and vibrant with a pretty awesome public transport system (including ferries and causeways out to it's many outlying islands).
Because it is so close to Russia (and was occupied by either Sweden or Russia until the 1900's) it has some cool, Russian-influenced buildings which makes it unique in Europe. It also has some striking architectural masterpieces, especially some Alvar Aalto buildings which apparently are used as examples in architecture school, including the Olympic stadium of 1952. I paid the 2 Euros to go to the top of the Olympic tower and it was definately worth it for the view. It actually still looks modern too!
Some of the coolest buildings were the cathedral (the huge white building in the photos), opera and contemporary art museum buildings and definately the chuch that is built into the bedrock (it is like a cave church)! There is heaps of exposed bedrock in Helsinki - it just occurs in small hills all over the place. Vey unique.
There is also a lake with a very pretty park all the way around and a beach (beside which is a very cool steel pipe monument called the Sibelius monument). And of course pretty statues and cool art (a common theme in Scandanavia). There was a guy with a very novel money-making scheme running around too - you could pay for the priveledge of removing a wax strip from his chest, with your photo taken during of course!
