Helsinki

I start today with a run along the Gulf of Finland by the Baltic Sea. Afterwards, I learn that Helsinki's early settlement in 1550 survived plagues, wars and poverty while overshadowed by its Baltic trading neighbors. It was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the 1809 Finnish War annexing Finland that the city began to prosper. Russia's influence remained strong and the city was eventually controlled by the Red Guard following the 1918 Civil War (German troops helped expel them). In WWII, aerial bombings of the Winter War (1939-40) and the Continuation War (1941-44) brought the Soviets who, at their worst in 1944, dropped some 16,000 bombs in and around the city. This trip I stay at the Hotel Kamp in the center of town.