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Kemi - Finland
I found another reindeer!! Finland Tour
Shane & Evonne
Helsinki - Finland Before we dive into another travel update, Shane & I would like to thank all those who have been leaving messages & comments. It's really good to hear from home, they mean so much to us. Thank you 😊
Finland; the land of hip fashion, coolness &... shopping.
After leaving Sweden (the bus from Haparanda took 20 seconds to cross the bridge to Finland) we arrived at Kemi airport, Finland. We boarded the plane, not before getting excited about the snow that was falling during boarding and take off and flew down to Helsinki (this day was particulary long as we travelled literary all over the country in one day!).
When we arrived in Helsinki we made our way to the massive Helsinki train station, where we decided to taste the local brew (Shane - very good) & partake in people watching before boarding our train to Lappeenranta in the far east of the country (Lappeenranta is in the lakes district of Finland, not far from the Russian border).
That night we continued sampling the local brew down by the lake. If we hadn't had our multiple layers of jumpers, gloves, beenies, pants, coats, socks, etc.
Kemi - Finland
Snow at Kemi airport. we would have frozen to death. Luckily for us, we were also wearing our beer coats which warmed us nicely after a few beers and as we discovered, a handy thing to have in the cool Finnish evenings!
The next day was spent wandering the town, the old fortress (where many battles between the Swedes & Russians took place) and being very fancy by attending a high tea (AKA, eating lots of yummy homemade cakes & drinking potted tea). The rest of the afternoon was spent once again kicking back, people watching & sampling the local brews. Our waitress was 2 months off going on hoildays to Australia, it was good to share some of her enthusiam about home. On this particular night we also had the chance to watch the ice-hockey at the local pub. Finland were playing arch sporting rivals Sweden in the Ice Hockey World Cup (held in Moscow). Sweden 1 to Finland 0. A very disappointed crowd.
Our next stop was Helsinki. This city would have to be up there as one of our favourites! It was all about the vibe! The people were very nicely dressed (we had to go shopping because we
Lappeenranta - Finland
Overlooking the lakes of Finland stood out way too much, plus it was cheap - surprisingly) & friendly, the food was excellent & the pubs were good. And to top it all off, the city was hosting the Eurovision Song Contest while we were there. Funny!
On our first night we went to a lovely Belgium pub/bar/restaurant. The food was amazing and very cool/hip inside! This was followed by a day of shopping. It was like a snowball rolling down a hill. It started with one item, then the next and before we knew it, we were justifying our purchases by saying things like "We never go clothes shopping, when was the last time we went?; when you see something you like, buy it otherwise you'll regret it; we never can find anything at home; and we can always buy another suitcase, people always have lots of suitcases & bags at airports". We haven't had to do this yet... (meaning that there is always room somewhere for more stuff!).
After our shopping adventure, we dressed up to the nines in our new clothes and headed out on the town. First stop, the ice-bar (you have to do the touristy things!). Funny experience. The
Helsinki - Finland
I like mine with ice please.. bar tender though was as icy as the bar itself. Never once did we see even a hint of a smile or a friendly hello to any of the patrons, even when he was in photos. We then soaked up the Eurovision atmosphere and headed to another bar. Lots of fun.
On our last day in Helsinki involved running around looking at the sights and catching the afternoon boat across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia.
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Chris
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having fun?
Sounds like you're having a ball!! We went out for Dazz's birthday on Tuesday night, he got spastic - spewed twice (once b4 getting into the car) and had to pull over -- he had to 'work' next day at 10am, woke up at 11, thought he'd lost his phone which he found when he got back home on his kitchen bench. He was supposed to play in musical as well but got someone to fill in for him. Funny night - i have video and photos... I'll put it on my youtube website soon (2 videos of my niece at the moment 17/5). He also has gone vego until the 31st may so you've got to give him some shit over that... In regards to my trip I'm flying out 12pm on 11th June (Queens bday), what time do you get in to Melbourne?? If it's early I'll get there early so we can catch up for a bit. Tuesday was the realisation that I won't be able to drink and catch up for a while so we've organised a night at Hard Rock this Saturday (a warm up for my bday/going away party). I can catch up with Carl and Andy in New York though and maybe in Vancouver - it all depends on my plans which aren't really set yet - just options until it gets closer.