Since Jonathan and I really only have one full day in Helsinki, we decided to spend it visiting the big 3. Churches.

We first met up with Jonathan’s friend Annika, and her husband David, for lunch. Jonathan and Annika met 10 years ago when they were both studying in Germany.

It was really great to finally meet someone I’ve heard a lot about over the last 9 ½ years. Can’t wait to see you both again soon! Thank you for lunch!

From there it was a short walk to the Orthodox Cathedral.

The church itself is stunning. And so incredibly large. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go in because we got there right at 3:00pm, and on that particular day, the church decided to close at 2:45 instead of 6:00pm.

But, it sure was pretty from the outside.

Another short walk led us to the official town cathedral (every town has one). This one is Lutheran.

This church caused a bit of a controversy when it was built. And it causes a different one today.

Inside, it is typically Lutheran in its sparseness. There are very few decorations inside. In fact, almost none.

But, when it was being built, it was criticized for being too lavish.

Today, it catches some flack for how simple it is inside.

Funny. How times have changed.

Then we were off to yet another of the world’s most unique churches.

The Hole in the Rock Church. It’s pretty awesome. But, Jonathan wants to tell you about it. So, here you go.

To get there, we had to walk past Parliament. So, we checked that out too.

That concluded our day of sightseeing. We met up with Kaveli for drinks after that, and had a great day in Finland’s capital.