Sight seeing, part 1

Today was the first sunny day we've had since I've been in Finland, although the high was still only 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Apparently, this has been the coldest winter since 2003, and the most snow they've seen since the 1960's. It's a good winter to be in Finland! But since it was nice and sunny today (for the few hours the sun is actually up) I took the opportunity to really check out the city.
First, I went on a tour of the Finnish National Parliament. Apparently they hold the record of having the newest parliament building in the world, and the first country to have women in parliament. The tour guide was very dramatic about everything. I've never heard anyone talk about wall-to-wall carpeting with such suspense!

The Session Hall:
They think pretty highly of the Finnish physique.

The dome of the Session Hall. The tiles are made out of compressed sugar cane pulp for better acoustics. Crazy!

The cafeteria of the Parliament. The tour guide made a little joke about "this is where all the real politics take place." She was pretty pleased with herself for that.

The view to the city from the hall:

After the tour I walked around for a while. It's nice to be in a city that's so safe you can just get lost without having to worry about wandering into "the wrong neighborhood."

Vanhakirkko. The oldest church in Helsinki:

A park where people were sledding:

The sun setting over an industrial section of the harbor (the boats you can see are frozen into the ice)

After that I took the tram around the city and out to a few of the islands, but it was too dark to take pictures. You'll just have to trust me that it was lovely.