Eventually, we said our goodbyes and Juan and I went to explore another nearby island called Porkkala, here we were promised an abundance of moose, and one cannot simply not go seek out the moose, can they? I saw two deer, or maybe they were moose – being they always ran away too fast to be sure.

After another small hike, we were feeling quite tired and decided to drive back to Helsinki. Along the road, we found a couple who were walking, with waaaaay too much luggage, guitar included. They threw up the hitchhiker thumb, and being we have a 7-seater multivan with plenty of room for all that luggage, kind of had to stop, didn’t we?

Apparently, it was their first time ever camping, and they also didn’t realize the buses don’t travel on Sundays. Oops! Lucky them, as we drove them the 20 kilometers directly to their train station. Hugs were given.

Eric McDermott

Our Sunday was spent exploring parts of the city we hadn’t yet seen, such as the botanical garden, the refuge of silence, and the church of the rock. This refuge of silence was particularly cool, as it was shaped like a large wooden cone or egg, and though it resides directly in the middle of the city, it shelters those who enter it from all sound. A sealing of the door can literally be felt. The church of the rock, or Temppeliaukion kirkko, was also an amazing sight to be seen. This church, as maybe you could have guessed, was built in some sort of symbiosis with the nature around it, namely, some rock. With its large copper dome roof and uniformly spaced concrete pillars, it was truly cool.

Eric McDermott