The Flying Finn

Do you know where the Flying Finn is from?  Do you know the given name of the Flying Finn??  I’m hoping you get at least a 50% grade on this test. More on this later.

Finland lies east of Sweden (and Stockholm) and has lots of waterfront and islands like Sweden.  So it has much of the same beauty.

Our Viking Sun docked outside of Helsinki, the capitol of Finland.  Unfortunately, that meant we had a bus tour of the city instead of a walking tour, so my camera was neutralized much of the time we have been here.  We did see the city center along with sixty (60) other busloads of tourists.  But we had fun none the less.

If you want to see a bigger version of any picture, double click on the picture.

Here is Shari in front of the most important Lutheran church in Finland - because the President of Finland goes to this particular church.  If your eyes are really good, you’ll see a sign at the bottom right of the church that reads ‘My Helsinki’.  But, the lettering is in white and the church is white so it must be a subliminal message.  I’m more familiar with the Baptist Church signs like ‘Whoever Stole Our AC Units Keep Em - It is Hot Where You're Going’.

Finland has often been a part of Sweden and also Russia.  When it was part of Russia, the official religion became Russian Orthodox.  So there is another major church in Helsinki.  The golden globes show up better than the My Helsinki signage by quite a bit.

We saw a limited amount of Finland, and very little while on foot.  So I have to repeat myself with one photo.  This one has me at the other end of the lens.

As to the answers for todays quiz, the answer to question one is Finland.  I’m sure this was an easy question for all my friends and family

While on our tour, the answer to the second question was pointed out as we drove past their Olympic Stadium used back in 1914.  The Flying Finn is Paavo Nurmi.  I remember his name from old sports reels.  He won middle distance races including several Olympics starting in 1912 through 1936.  For twenty-four (24) years he was a champion.  That is impressive!