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A week or so ago, I found a fantastic last-minute travel deal to Helsinki, Finland.  We jumped at it.  Why?  For me, I’ve always wanted to visit the city.  My father traveled there often when I was a child and told me it was an incredible place.  For my husband, the opportunity to sing Monty Python’s Finland song every day leading up to the trip was enough.

Finland, Finland, Finland
The country where I want to be
Pony trekking or camping
Or just watching TV
You’re so near to Russia
So far from Japan
Quite a long way from Cairo
Many miles from Vietnam

Chet just was excited to go on another airplane and visit what he referred to, unsolicited, as “Hel-stinky.”  And, yeah, he liked Daddy singing Michael Palin’s tribute to Finland, too.

But the thing about doing a trip last minute was that we didn’t know much about our destination.  In fact, when we arrived at the airport late on a Thursday night, we realized that we didn’t even bother to look up what kind of currency the Finns use.  Just a minor oversight if they had a similar currency and exchange rate as their Swedish neighbors.  But what I had done was ask around on Twitter about where we should go.  And the response was unanimous - go to Suomenlinna.

I suppose you can’t get a real feel for a place in 140 characters.  I imagined that Suomenlinna might have been a bit like Stockholm’s Djurgarden, a small pleasure island with cool museums and a slight-amusement park feel.  And Suomenlinna does have its fair share of museums, including the city’s old sea fortress, Sveaborg, and a seriously cool submarine you can explore.  But really, the draw of this island is its simple, gorgeous landscape.

We visited the museums.  We ate at a restaurant.  We even tried the beer at the local brewery.  But mostly what we did was explore.  Walking along the ramparts of Sveaborg, we threw stones into the Baltic.  We climbed along the rocky shoreline.  We people-watched the families picnicking across the island.  We enjoyed walking and running along the trails.  And with nearly perfect weather, I couldn’t have imagined a better family day.  I don’t think Chet could either.

So if you get the opportunity, definitely take your family to Suomenlinna.  And be prepared to be blown away.