The Vesikko is a World War 2 submarine that's permanently docked at Suomenlinna. During the war, Finland had five subs but when the war ended, they sold four of them to Russia to raise some cash. The Vesikko is the last of the subs. Nowadays, you can take a tour of it.
Inside, it's predictably cramped, but tidy and thoughtfully designed, the way things are in Finland. The docent tells us that while the Russians and the Germans would cruise around the open ocean in their submarines looking for trouble, the Finns were much more careful, which is probably why the submarine survived the war and Finland did, too.
I get the idea that being careful is a guiding principle for Finland. Perched way up north with Europe on one side and Russia on the other, it's a country that's made an art of being careful. read more