Suomenlinna Sea Fortress... Sort Of

So I've lived here for nearly two months and as of yesterday had yet to visit Suomenlinna, the sea fortress off the coast of Helsinki. The fortress, built by the Swedes in 1748, is quite historic and serves as one of the biggest tourist attractions is Southern Finland. Hence, why its ridiculous that I had not visited it my entire summer here. Yesterday I remedied that problem and took a ferry to the island with Aino, my long lost friend whose been inter-railing for what has felt like forever.

While on the ferry it was raining, but on the island the weather was perfect for jaunting about. Our jaunt turned into a strenuous hike and left us exhausted at the end of the day. Alright, so it really wasn't much of a hike, but Aino was still exhausted from her trip and I'm just always lazy when it comes to walking, so we became quite tired early on. We didn't explore as much as we should have, but I'm planning on going back quite soon! Mostly because I really enjoyed the island and would love to have a picnic there and also because my camera died halfway through the trip, leaving me with no pictures of the actual fortress.

You might be wondering what the heck did I take pictures of then.. Well, mostly Aino and I just took pictures of one another. Oh, and she took several of me trying to catch some field mouse-gerbil-thing. It's funny, you'd think I'd be acting pretty mature and adult-like these days, but I still can't help myself when it comes to trying to catch animals. Ever since I was a kid I've been obsessed with capturing animals, naming them, and then setting them free, whether it be mice, lizards, snakes, or snails. Why, just the other day I saw a massive hare while I was walking home from the train. I desperately wanted to catch it and followed it for quite sometime, but eventually it got away.. Damn.





























Though you can't tell as much from the pictures, Suomenlinna is a very cool and beautiful place. I loved how the fortress occupied the entire island, yet was blended with cafes, museums, beaches, and people's homes. Yeah, people actually live there! And now, I wish I did too. Really only because all the little buildings covered in grassy hills reminded me of Middle Earth, but thats neither here nor there. I loved it and I'm going back.