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We have arrived in Helsinki but are writing this from a plush 4 star hotel and not our hostel as originally planned! All will be revealed!
We got off the boat at 6am on Saturday after boarding it at 11.30pm on Thursday. The crossing was made all the better for being in a cabin as we decided to upgrade from our lounge seats (we are still a bit soft and not hardened travelers). The Baltic Sea was flat as a pancake and the crossing was very smooth, we didn't even feel the boat starting and stopping while we were asleep! While on board we explored all the levels inside and out, and took advantage of the large breakfast buffet and the huge range of desserts at lunch time all to the tune of some crew members Barry White album on a permanent loop!!
On arriving in Helsinki we headed to the hostel and dumped our bags, so we could set about exploring the city. We headed to the open air market on the seafront for breakfast and enjoyed pancakes and coffee that's so strong it's like rocket fuel. There wasn't a cloud in the sky so we spent
the morning walking around the city getting our bearings.
Some of the highlights where Helsinki Cathedral, Senate Square, Government Palace, Olympic Stadium and Tower (Jason was delighted to see HJK Helsinki training in their stadium!), Helsinki City Hall, Esplanade Park, Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral and the Old Market Hall.
The last of these was a food lover’s paradise and we gazed at the cakes, cheese, smoked fish and Reindeer longingly. We finally succumbed and revisited it for lunch. After which we realised that we had lost all our maps (Jason has already left his watch behind on the boat and I've broken the strap on mine, not bad in 3 days!).
The weather was so hot and we where so tried after our early start that we spent the next couple of hours sat in the sun listening to various bands on an open air stage eating ice cream. After which we headed to the pub to watch the FA Cup Final. There was a surprising amount of supporters there, a small group of Man U fans where singing a variety of English football songs although they where finally silenced when Chelsea scored.
We then headed to
a Finnish restaurant where we ate Rudolph and had warm Lappish cheese and cloudberry jam for dessert, delicious.
With full tummies we went back to the hostel to check in and get a look at our room. The room was very basic and the shared bathrooms were damp, smelly and dirty. We were willing to look past this and just wanted to get our heads down and get a good nights sleep however, the people next door and just about everyone else in the corridor had other ideas. By 1am we had had enough and decided to leave and we are now residing in a 4 star hotel.
We leave tomorrow (Monday 21st) for St Petersberg at silly o'clock in the morning where we will stay until Friday.
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Nick Moss
non-member comment
Cold and Nice
Now thats looks cold on that boat , but nice toilets and what a phone box.