Blogs from Uusimaa, Finland, Europe - page 13

Arriving in Helsinki, we were greeted with some glorious weather as we set about walking to the hostel. Imagining that we would make it part way across the city before we eventually had to stop and get some sort of public transport we soon realised that, with Finland having half the population of Moscow, Helsinki is a substantially smaller city than we were used to. It was therefore no time at all before we had checked into our hostel. Even better, we had a kitchenette so, for the first time in 4 months we could actually cook something! After we had settled in we headed over to the completely unpronounceable Temppeliakio Church a.k.a the Church in the Rock. Built by hollowing out a large rock and then enlarging it, this church felt completely unlike anything I ... read more

No niin... Taas on kauhea säätö takana reissun suunnittelussa ja päädyttiin taas ihan kevyeen settiin. 4,5viikkoa, 8 lentoa(45h koneessa). Suunnitelmissa ensin kierrellä ja sukeltaa Sri Lankaa, sitten vähän Singaporessa. Perthiin mennään moikkaamaan vanhaa tuttua ja sitten vielä lopuksi sukeltamaan tuttuihin maisemiin Manadon kulmille Indonesiaan... Sukelluksia on taas aika läjä suunnitelmissa, taisi olla jotain +30 sukellusta. Oltaisiin mielusti kierrelty vähän enemmän Ausseissa, mutta itäosan tuhkahässäkkä taas vaikeuttaa reissaamista. Lähtö on keskiviikkona Singaporeen ja sieltä suoraan Colomboon, josta sitten ihmetellään eteenpäin. Laitoin jonkin anomuksen Sri Lankan viranomaisille, että saisimme mennä koillisosaan sukeltamaan. Miinanraivaus on edelleen kesken Tamilitiikereiden jäljiltä ja ovat aika tarkkoja siellä hengailusta. Tuskin niistä kuuluu mitään eli pitää vaan kysellä pai... read more

After 5 days in Stockholm, my next stop was Helsinki; a mere 45 minute flight away. Helsinki, whilst being a nice enough city, didn’t really have the same great feeling that Stockholm did. Helsinki is substantially smaller than its Swedish counterpart but yet doesn’t offer the same character or history. Some parts of the city were of course impressive; the main square (Senate Square) with the white and green Lutheran Cathedral, (Helsinki’s most famous landmark) was probably the highlight. A few of the other landmarks, such as the Russian Orthodox cathedral and the Sibelius monument were equally interesting. What I liked best about the city was the fact that it is so easy to get out of the city and into the forests – my hostel, which is actually part of the 1952 Olympic Stadium, was ... read more

Helsinki is my second little Scandinavian stop. As you can see, I'm already pretty late on publishing this entry. The reason is simple, I've spent the last week without much of an internet connection. Helsinki was a lot colder than Stockholm, but this I ok as I'm pretty well equipped. My hotel is not really bang in the middle of town, but on one of the western suburbs, still a reasonable, and pretty cold 20 minutes walk to the center of the capital of the country. My first impression of Finland is that people smile a lot less here than in Sweden, and there are way more people who don't speak English. For the smile it may be due to the fact that this place seems a lot colder than Stockholm in weather conditions. As I ... read more

Sunday 13 March 2011 Ida (our host) insisted on getting up to see us off at 6.30 and providing us with a packed breakfast. We were glad though, once we got to the airport and found there was little on offer anywhere within spitting distance of our gate! We arrived in Berlin with enough time to have a bit of an explore. (Thanks to Rick Steves for his excellent self-guided walks!) Culturally, Berlin seems to have so much to offer that you could spend any number of weeks here. Sadly, we only had one afternoon! As we were staying in the old East Berlin, we decided to just spend our time wandering around the immediate area. Within easy walk of our hotel are remnants of imperialist, National Socialist and Communist Germany. In many ways, the Brandenburg ... read more