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OK, so I made it! Yes, me and my bicycle are together here in Tallinn although it was a bit touch and go at Melbourne airport. .. Damn Finnair and Cathay Pacific with their different policies. But thanks to great parents who helped pay a pretty hefty excess baggage fee and that was even after some negotiation. I almost saw my trip fall apart but all's good in the end. And, I am soooo happy (and proud!) to report that I did indeed manage to pump up my tyres, fix my handle bars, put my seat up, put the wheels back on and the pedals too all by myself. Yay! Who would have thunk it. Mind you, I didn't do it in world record time and I did have an audience which was a little disconcerting when I tried to put the back wheel on the front (hey, I just got off a long haul flight - cut me some slack) and there was a little bit of talking to myself as well) but I got there in the end.
So, it was me and my bike riding to Helsinki. A short enough trip in a car, but not so with my bike. My google map print out proved to be useless. But I did make a lot of Finns stop and help me find my way. And it was sooooo exciting to see birch trees and fir trees and squirrels.
It's always such a relief to have that first night's accommodation booked and know that at least for the first night you have somewhere to sleep (in this case 2 nights). The hostel was in a great location in the centre of Helsinki. Within walking distance to a lot of sights and had some really interesting guests to boot - project manager for nokia, iranian toxicology student, young performer from aland in helsinki to audition for the theatre. Really, if I'd been in a hotel there's no way I would even had the remotest idea of who was staying there. You gotta love a backpackers.
Helsinki is a really pretty, compact city with most of the things worth seeing quite central and easy to get to. Now, when I arrived I was able to dump my bags but not officially check in so I had quite a few hours to spare. By 3 o'clock I was stuffed and had to call it a day. I ended up falling asleep and not waking up until 10! Oh no! What about Eurovision (I can't find the damn question mark on this keyboard...) Well, I was told they don't make a fuss about it. If I wanted to see it I needed to go to a bar and pay the entrance fee. I was prepared to do this. I had a shower, went out and then saw that I was wearing ugly clothes not fit for a Saturday night out, was by myself and not really feeling like drinking or sitting in a bar alone. So I went back to the hostel and slept some more. So, who did win Eurovision? (found the question mark!)
Next day I went to the Design Museum which also had a Marimekko exhibition showing. Gee the Finns know how to design. Well. In the afternoon I went with said Iranian student to visit the Sibelius monument followed by some serious running across town visiting churches and train stations. Sadly the Russian Orthodox Upinski church was closed. There was a lot of walking involved there. I was pooped.
Today was another silly day of running around. I needed to organise my passage to Tallinn which involved getting lost trying to find the ferry terminal, in the rain. That wasn't a whole lot of fun but at least it meant I knew where I had to go later in the afternoon to catch the ferry. My ferry wasn't leaving until 5.30 so, as it was only just after 9 I had plenty of time to make a day of it. I took me and my bike on the ferry to Suomelinna island. It was cold and wet but, after about 2 hours of cold and wet it stopped being wet and was just cold. Yay!
Suomelinna island was built as a maritime fortress when Finland was part of the Swedish kingdom. Now, it seems, it also hosts a lot of tourists. People also live on this island, as do some barnacle geese and swans. There is also a ceramics studio there, and I was very fortunate to receive a bit of a tour of the space by Johanna who has been there for the past 10 years.
Four hours of running around went by pretty quickly. The 55 minutes I had to wait because I missed the ferry by 5 minutes didn't. One last stop at the Design Forum to see what the bright young things of Helsinki are making and then it was off to tackle that blasted ferry terminal. They're doing some serious road works there and the wayfinding did leave quite a lot to be desired. And oh, that hour of standing in the middle of a lane waiting to get onboard the "Superstar" (the name of my ferry) also went by very slowly. It wasn't raining but it was mighty cold. I wish I had a bike stand. And wouldn't you know it, the sun shone when we pulled out of Helsinki. Not fair. Although it did make for a beautiful celestial looking sky for the crossing.
Am now bunked down in the Monks Bunk here in Tallinn. Booked in for two nights, might need to make it three and then, really, I need to start doing something about getting 3,000km under my belt.
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