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Published: November 16th 2010
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30th August 2010
Boat arrives in Helsinki, Finland
The boat docked at 8.30am but we didn’t have to disembark till 10am, so at 9.30 we jumped on a tram and 5 minutes later we were in the tourist info. centre in the train station. We bought a 72 hour bus / tram / subway ticket for 24 euros each, but Sid was free. All the hostels in Helsinki were booked out for the next few months, so the only place I could get was an old lodge.
We got the bus out to ‘the lodge’ which was 30 mins outside the city, but absolutely fabulous with gardens full of giant oak trees and lots of games dotted around like darts, croquet, boules and an indoor swimming pool and sauna. Our room had a balcony onto a giant field. Sid and Nigel went straight for a swim but retreated quickly to the sauna when they discovered the temperature was below zero.
We had some games in the garden before jumping on a bus to…. an unknown village we later found out was called ‘Vaanta’ which was 20 mins away. We quickly found a playground for Sid and then went
looking for dinner. The restaurants were all out of our budget and we didn’t fancy fast food, so we went into the supermarket and bought some delicious deli meals and fresh soup. We got the bus back to the lodge and used the mini kitchen to heat everything up- yum dinner, and bed.
31st August 2010
Helsinki here we come!
Time to investigate Helsinki….. so we hopped on the bus to town. There was a tour of the Parliament building which was very interesting but the guide happened to be the slowest talker in the world, and we all grew weary. Afterwards, Nigel had a dentist appointment for a root canal so Sid and I went to lunch while we waited.
After Moscow, St.Petersburg, and now Helsinki, Sid was growing tired of sightseeing in big cities, so we took him to the Zoo instead, which is quite small but very nicely organised on a little island. It was a beautiful day and Sid was happy. Suddenly it was evening- where do the days go? Back to the beautiful lodge.
1st September 2010
Helsinki
We jumped on a bus to Helsinki and then hopped on a
tram which took us to the market square. We spotted some bear statues en route, so we doubled back to take a closer look. Turns out they are United Buddy Bears promoting living together in peace and harmony. The bears have been on tour since 2002- but they still looked new. 142 artists from all over the world painted a bear and in the process have raised 1.6 million euros through donations and auctions in aid of UNICEF. Sid wanted his picture taken with all the bears where he knew people from- so, Ireland was the first one, USA for Brona, Germany for Lenny, Thailand for Ari, Australia for Ms. McDougall, Morocco for Ms.Niki, China for all his mates there, Denmark for the crazy Danes and so on….. we had fun!
Then we got the ferry over to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress; a paradise for little boys- hopping, climbing, jumping around an island dotted with huge canons, rocks and old fortress walls. The island was empty, the sun was shining and there were ducks to be fed! We were there until 7.30 and got the last ferry back. We fed Sid chunks of salmon and chicken before the 9pm bus
Checking out the ship ....
.... and a bit of karate :) took us home when an exhausted boy fell into bed ☺
2nd September 2010
Goodbye Helsinki- Hello Stockholm!
We checked out after breakfast and got the bus and tram to Olympia Ferry Terminal. We put our bags in a locker and hopped back on a tram to find somewhere to play. We hopped off when we spotted a huge playground full of children. Turns out the local school uses the playground, so Sid had great fun with the other kids. We were in a beautiful old part of town with funky shops and cafes. Found a Thai buffet- bonus! and a secondhand shop where we spent ages looking around and we made some purchases.
After the shopping spree we made our way back to board the ship. Our cabin was in the bowels of the boat, UNDER the car deck and Nigel was getting a bit claustrophobic, so we upgraded and got a room with a view of the 'promenade'. This boat was a lot bigger than the last with a promenade- shops, restaurants, a playground for kids and a wii, playstation and chill out area for adults. Again, Sid stayed up for the cabaret and dragged
Nigel up to dance ☺
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