Bicycle Built For One!

My tour in Helsinki, Finland is the one different one I selected that I was really looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint. I took a tour of the city by bike. Now I didn’t see all of the “must see” sights like the Rock Church, but I did get to see many of the every day neighborhoods which to me is fascinating. We rode along the harbors - there are many - through a large city park (think Central Park in New York), past a neighborhood playground where little kids from a pre-school were playing, by Olympic Stadium build in 1939 for the 1940 Olympics (they were cancelled due to the war so the 1952 Olympics were held there instead), past the Opera house and the amusement park, over the train tracks, past a couple of dog parks and of course the requisite cemetery. We rode Joppa bikes that are retro bikes from the 1960s that have one speed and coaster brakes. I haven’t been on a bike with coaster brakes since…. Suffice it to say, its been a while. The weather was perfect for bike riding - mid 50s, partly cloudy.

At the end of the tour I met Mom and Dad in town (they decided that bike riding wasn’t for them!) for lunch and some shopping in the market place. We ate at a nice café/bakery then continued down the street to the market place near the main harbor. But first a stop for ice cream (Jan, Elizabeth and Terrie - I’ve made sure to have my share of ice cream - working on the daily cone when possible in town; I haven’t found the gourmet shops, but the corner stands work just fine, thank you very much!). We found some great treasures and even met someone originally from Tennessee who is in Finland going to school. He said he heard our “American accents” and had to come over and say “Hi.” It is so much fun to travel! As we walked to shuttle stop we passed a number of ice cream stands that had sign out front warning their patrons of the sea gulls. Now I’d noticed a few sea gulls, but mostly sitting on the monuments (yes, Helsinki has monuments too; just not as many as St. Petersburg). After passing the first stand we understood the warning. Two moms were walking along pushing their baby buggies (yes, buggies, not strollers) enjoying their ice cream cones. From seemingly nowhere the sea gulls swooped down trying to grab the cones from their hands. It was funny to watch, not so funny to experience as the cones then ended up in the trash. Note to self, check out the sea gulls before ordering your next ice cream cone from a street vendor!