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Published: February 7th 2008
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The Ice Bar
First sucker for the night! So this is the start of our big winter trip, thru Siberia in particular. Given the expense of flying one way to Russia we decided to visit Helsinki and use Finland as a 'back door' to Russia.
On the 19th of January in the wee hours of the morning we caught a taxi and then a bus to Heathrow London. After our plane was delayed an hour or so we finally began our month long travels with our flight to Helsinki, Finland. We arrived in the afternoon and managed to catch a bus into the city and walk the few km's to our hostel and settle in with a meal at the hostel restaurant. Next day we were off site seeing passing Upensky Cathedral, Senate square and Helsinki Cathedral, the city (quite small but very nice), the 1952 Olypmic Stadium which by this stage was looking it's age, but the view from the adjoining tower was still great.
We continued around the city lake and several winter gardens before we visited the very comprehensive and well organised Finnish Museum. We then had a look at the not so impressive Church in the Rock (maybe it was amazing inside but
we gave it a miss due to the price!).
By this stage we had walked heaps and were getting pretty tired so headed home for a bit of a rest.
Oh, today was Jason's birthday so in honour of this we headed out that night for a restaurant meal at a popular spot in the Esplanade Gardens. We indulged in the Finnish cuisine having a meal of Salmon and Reindeer! all topped off with some rye breads. It was sauteed reindeer and seemed to be a little like lamb but we weren't sure if this was just the way it was cooked..i.e it was quite fatty?
In an attempt to get the night going we then went to the "Ice Bar." It wasn't quite what we were expecting but was still 'cool' nonetheless (sorry, bad pun). It was basically a medium sized cold room with a small ice bar, a couple of ice bar tables and the walls were lined with ice, supposedly from Lapland.. Anyway had our vodka in the chilly surrounds, glad that some other suckers turned up too, and then decided we would head home... Helsinki seems very quiet in the winter!
The following
day was to be our last so we headed out to Sumonlemma Island Fortress. The Islands sit just of the shores of the city and have been utilised as an island fortress for over a century. The fortress was originally built by the Swedes to stop the Russians, it didn't work, the Russians then used it in the Crimean War before it was eventually handed back to the Finnish who used it in the 2nd World War. It is now home to a somewhat eccentric!! group of locals and is UNESCO heritage listed. We wandered around the old fortresses, gun positions etc and visited the too comprehensive museum complete with a ream of information in an English translation book.
The weather was terrible today, it was pretty cold but the wind and sleet were the killers. Headed back on the ferry that afternoon and had dinner and a few drinks back at the hostel. Tommorrow we leave on an early morning train into Russia!
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