Day 10 of Baltic Cruise - Helsinki, Finland

Today we explored Helsinki by first taking a taxi to the LDS temple outside of the main city. This was fun because we got to see the beautiful countryside, and it is filled with trees and lakes. The temple was beautiful. We went back to town and just walked the tourist sites, including a monument to Sibelius (Finland’s most famous composer) and a couple of churches. We decided to go to the outdoor market and look around, and while there got some ice cream. Well, the market has hundreds of seagulls there flying around. We really didn’t think about it much, because the seagull is Utah’s state bird, and we grew up with them. So, we got our ice cream and started to leisurely walk away, when a gull flew from behind John and took a bite of ice cream mid-flight. I jumped, and then I was attacked, as well. Seagulls from all over descended, and I thought I was going to die! They knocked the ice cream off of the cone, and then immediately swarmed to eat it off of the pavement. It all happened so fast, and as many of you know, I am terrified of birds, so this was NOT fun for me! I finally found a secluded spot under a tent that the gulls couldn’t get to, and John was successful at getting me another cone and bringing it to me.