Today we experienced Helsinki the modern capital of Finland. Helsinki proper has about a half million citizens, but the metro area has about a million or 20% of Finlands total population. The city is quite nice - clean, interesting architecture, but it just didn’t have the WOW factor of Stockholm. We had a bus overview tour this morning followed by a boat tour of the archipelago this afternoon. Finland has about 180,000 lakes and 150,000 islands. Helsinki incorporates 300 islands itself. Finland, like Sweden, is an EU country, but use the euro whereas Sweden uses its krona. The government is a parliamentary republic. Tax rates run 0-60% but average 30%. In return, citizens get free healthcare and education among other benefits. Overall, we enjoyed Helsinki. Another cultural learning experience.