An accidental beer flight in Helsinki...

Another day, another country. This day, we got to visit Helsinki. Was Frozen set here? I thought that it was and was expecting to see a ton of Frozen-themed souvenirs, but alas, I didn't see a one!

Once again, we had absolutely NO plan as to what we wanted to do here. We were really just kind of along for the cruise and wanted to cross another country off of our travel list. Neither SB, nor myself have Finnish heritage, so we walked off the boat and onto land with little to no expectations for our day.

However, the travel gods were kind to us! Our wanderings took us to the market square, where an array of fruits and vegetables that I've never seen (and some that I was, of course, familiar with) were for sale. I picked up a ring made from naturally shed reindeer antlers and a bracelet made of the same material, but with a Runic moon etched upon it. We watched the tiny old street cars whiz by (they reminded us quite a bit of the street cars in Budapest). We visited a church that reminded me quite a bit of the Haunted Mansion at Disney World, but is actually the oldest Orthodox church in Finland (I believe is what we were told). Then, as my wonderful old knee started to get sore on our walk back to the ship, we stumbled upon the Black Door Public House.

If you should ever happen to find yourself in Helsinki, GO TO THIS PUB!

In my rapidly acquiring old age, I don't like to drink all that much, but I LOVED this pub. The bartender was insanely passionate about beer and took a good chunk of time with us, and away from other customers, explaining their extensive menu of craft beers. He then let us create our own flight, which he said is not something that they normally do. We chose 5 different beers from the menu that the bartender took time to organize in the best possible order for tasting. From the American Saison to the Sahti (my personal favourite) it was amazing!

After our beer flight, we practically floated back to the ship for a nap before dinner and the adventure continued...