THE HELSINKI TEMPLE AND MORE SNOW!

The Helsinki Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is in the town of Espoo...about 15 minutes from where we live.  It is very beautiful, especially in the snow!!!

 

Another view through the trees.On the property is a center that has apartments for Temple missionaries and also rooms for people to rent who come to the temple from Estonia, Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It has a lovely foyer.

There are two side by side kitchens for people to prepare food! The rooms have beds for 6 people, either families or youth groups, and 2 bathrooms per room.

The first week of January the center was full of people from St. Petersburg, Russia,  who were on holiday!

Now switching to the last week and SNOW!!!

This buried car was right outside our apartment door!  It is really fun to watch the efficient snow removal that goes on constantly.  When it is snowing, our sidewalks are plowed three times a day.  Eventually a truck comes to pick up all the piles of snow!

There's been a lot of snow to plow!!  But is has finally stopped!  We go for long walks, even in 20 degree weather to get out of our apartment and get some exercise.  Usually we head downtown but today we wanted to see the ice on the sea!

These floats in a ship lagoon are right by our apartment!

We can't tell how thick the ice is but it was pretty with the sun shining on it!

On our way to the open sea (10 blocks away) we passed by this car wash that costs $25 for a "quick wash".  We will do our own!!!

Now to the open sea!

The sea is not frozen solid...these circular shapes (called "pancake ice")  were all moving with the flow of the water.  Here's a close-up view!

Very strange and beautiful as was the ice that has formed on the rocks.

That's life in Helsinki in the winter.  We are so grateful that we now have very close underground parking by our apartment.  It is wonderful to find our car warm, dry, and not covered in snow and ice.  We did have to buy a shovel for when we park at the center and it is snowing.  We may have to dig out our car!  During the day we mostly walk...even in 20 degree weather.  Here's the happy news: we are gaining 3 minutes of daylight per day...that's 1 hour every 20 days..YIPPEE!!!