Helsinki
Finland
June 27, 2005
Thanks to the Fun Zone on the Princess Star, for the first time in 10 years we got a day wandering around a European city on our own, sans kids. We moved at our own pace, stopping in at coffee shops, lingering at an outdoor photo exhibit, then meandering through city streets and up hills to find this wonderful modern copper-domed church. And no one complained their feet were hurting.
The church was built into a rock hill during the 1950s, during the Cold War, and we read that a bomb shelter beneath it could host thousands. Its dome is made of 13 miles of copper wound in concentric circles, and appears to hover above the shell of the church, suspended by windows and light supports -- an update of the model that made Aya Sophia's dome appear to float 16 centuries ago. (Click on the image for a bigger picture.)
