Sunday 2 August

Today is the day to explore Helsinki. We woke to a beautiful morning, breakfasted and then headed off towards the city. We passed the Park opposite the hotel which looks so green and surrounds a lake. I will have to walk through there very soon. We walked past the Finlandia Hall where the conference that I am going to will be held. We then came to the place where the hop on hop off bus was starting. It was a double decker bus so we sat up on the top deck so that we could get the best views. The bus driver gave us earphones so that we could listen to the commentary as we were travelling. The commentary covered lots of information about the history of Finland,
 important people who have made a difference to Finland and also how people live in Finland now. I was very interested in the Finnish education system which is reputedly one of the best in the world. They have a real focus on equity and making sure that all children get the same opportunities in life. They also do not start actual school until they are 7 years old but can start preschool from 3. I will find out more about this at the conference.

The Olympic Stadium

Travelling towards the city

One of the many beautiful buildings in
Helsinki

The Railway Station

The Statue of Alexander the Great

There are many islands off the coast of Finland. This is just one of them that we could see from the bus while travelling. 

The Flea Market

Famous statue. Students gather in front of it during graduation

Tasting one of the local fish delicacies

The statue of Mannerheim

We had a great day walking around and going on and off the bus. I loved the market that was by the harbour as it had lots of arts and crafts there as well as wonderful food.