We just got back from a week-long trip visiting some of the Nordic and Baltic countries. It was an awesome -- though pretty cold -- vacation, where we admired several beautiful cities and tried a bunch of new-to-me cuisines like reindeer, elk and bear. 

We unfortunately lost our first evening in Helsinki to a horrible first day of travel. Our flight out of Baltimore was delayed 2.5 hours, which caused us to miss our connection in London, and the next London to Helsinki flight wasn't for another four hours. So we arrived in Helsinki around 9 p.m. local time instead of the 3 p.m. arrival we initially planned. 

But after putting a bad travel day behind us, we woke up to a fairly sunny morning the next day, which was perfect for exploring the city on foot. 

Helsinki is pretty small, and we found it very easily walkable. 

We started our first day exploring some of the major sites. The beauty of visiting in the winter is that there weren't a million other tourists there at the same time so nothing was overly crowded. 

Our first stop was Senate Square, home to what is perhaps Helsinki's most famous landmark, this massive Lutheran Cathedral. 

It anchors the other buildings in the square, which include university buildings, the government palace and the national library, all of which were built by the same architect in a similar style in the 1800s. 

The art inside of the library was especially beautiful (and apparently some of the best non-ecclesiastic interior architecture in the country, per the one of the guidebooks I read).

From Senate Square we took a stroll over to Katajanokka, a quieter island neighborhood that's home to a large Russian Orthodox church as well as beautiful architecture along quaint streets. 

As we were walking over the bridge to the island, a friendly local man pegged us as tourists on a stroll and offered to show us around the neighborhood. He walked with us for probably 30 minutes, pointing out some of the different buildings and key landmarks. He also provided some colorful commentary on some of the historical and more recent changes in Finland. 

After we parted ways, we stopped in to visit the Russian Orthodox church and take in its ornate beauty. 

We finished our morning stroll looping past the archives and the national bank of Finland before heading to the Central Market along the water for lunch.

Our local friend highly recommended the salmon soup, which I'd also seen recommended on several Helsinki travel blogs. So after checking out the multiple market vendors, we settled in with a big bowl of delicious soup.

With some hearty fuel in our bellies we set out to explore Suomenlinna, an island fortress that's about a 15-minute ferry ride from Central Market. 

This fortress was originally built by the Swedes to protect against the Russians, but it eventually came under Russian control (like all of Finland), until Finnish independence in 1917. 

Now the island is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We spent the afternoon exploring the old fortifications, walking along the sea and checking out the bunkers placed throughout the island. 

Of course, while we were on the island, the wind really started to pick up and it got quite chilly despite the sun. 

Our day concluded with a visit to the sauna before heading out to Restaurant Savotta back at Senate Square for dinner. This might have been my favorite meal of the whole trip where we got to try a whole variety of traditional Finnish dishes. 

Our appetizer platter featured traditional food from land and sea. This is where we tried bear for the first time. Ben got the reindeer and I got the lamb for our entrees. I was surprised the reindeer wasn't nearly as gamey as I have found venison in the U.S. to be. 

On the way home, we picked up some Frazer chocolate for dessert to end our first day on a sweet note.