Baltic States and Scandinavia

Arrived at a reasonably sensible time at the hotel located in Espoo, some way out of Helsinki, so the time spent in waiting for the luggage to be delivered to the room was spent walking along the edge of the midge ridden lake.

For the first time that I can recollect the room key had to be used to get off the ground floor. You used it to make the lift work and also needed it to gain access to the stairs. When you wanted to come down, then no key required.

The rooms had no air conditioning, which was a pity today, because it was quite warm. There was, however, a fan in the room to blow you about a bit. The hotel was kind enough to provide a bottle of bath foam - I think they were teasing us, because we only had a walk-in shower available. There were also bars of soap, as well as the now ubiquitous liquid soap dispenser on the wall.

I must be getting tired, 'cos I couldn't work out how to open the fridge, which did have a lock on it, but I was assured later by a fellow traveller that I only had to pull the door, which I must admit that I thought I'd tried that option (being one of the more obvious choices!). We had a warm beer that night.

The next morning it was time for the city sightseeing. The way to town was through some quite nice spacious areas of lakes and green land.

Arriving from the south the tour took us past a "garage/car-boot" sale before heading up Bulevardi (a shopping street), then left into Mannerhelmvagen (another shopping street), before making a right turn past the station to get to Senitor Square and the Cathedral where we are to pick up the local guide at 9.00. No guide there (she has been told 9.30 and is on her way) so we all wander about and go into the rather fine Cathedral building. The other buildings around Senitor Square have been modelled on those in St Petersburg.

When the guide turns up we set off down along the sea front with ice breakers in dock and a fruit market in full swing and then past the statue of the mermaid Havis Amanda, designed in 1908 it is also known as manta and is commonly regarded as the symbol of Helsinki. After driving round the bay and parks we find ourselves back at the car boot sale then up into town again as we head for the Church in the Rock, in time for its opening (10.00am). Hewn from solid rock and completed in 1969 it has a tranquille atmosphere.

After a short spell here we tour round the leisure areas of the city - lakes and parks, before stopping again, this time at the Sibelius monument

Sibelius Monument

This piece of modern art was designed by artist Eila Hiltunen in 1967 to honour Finland's most famous composer, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957).

The tubes thing was the real monument, but under some degree of persuasion the artist also included a mask of the composer, too.

One of his most famous works is "Finlandia", which a small three piece brass band is playing for us - well they said it was that!

After this, the drive takes us past the residence of someone important, close to the island where much of the celebrations for the summer solstice will take place. This diversion eventually brings us round to the Olympic stadium - the location for the 1952 Olympic Games.

It is possible to go up the tower (by lift/elevator) for a birds-eye view of Helsinki. Only us and two others from our group are interested. The rest concern themselves with going to the toilet and having a cup of coffee, though maybe not in that order, unless something else happened which we missed because we were up the tower. After that we had a quick look at the stadium from the seats before dashing back to the bus and getting on it last. I'm glad we went up the tower - its is described as one of the Helsinki highlights in a Lonely Planet Guide.

The bus now heads back to town passing among other things the post office and the railway station. Other things were probably pointed out, but it is difficult to keep up - on your left this, on your right that, up there to the right the other. The bus follows the tracks already taken and eventually we get back to the Cathedral, again. Here we are dropped of with instructions to return again at 3.00 - you're on your own, chaps.

The first stop on or own walking tour is Havis Amanda the mermaid statue and fountain - now unless we're looking at the wrong thing this is not a mermaid, not with them legs, anyway. The picture we took had to have a seagull on her head 'cos it wouldn't move, even though we waited for about 10 minutes. It turns out that Havis Amanda is also known as 'The Mermaid' because of the water-spouting fish and sea lions of the fountain and the sea weed by her feet - well fancy that!

The rest of the time was spent wandering through the Esplanade park, as we made our way to the Post Office for a simple lunch in one of the cafes in the building - Val had some really nice tea called Tiikerinpaivauni (Tiger's Daydream) and I had a perfect ham sandwich. We looked at an exhibition on 50 years of Coca Cola in Finland which was also in the building before going to the main square and a slide show of old photos of Helsinki and what it looks like now - very nice, too.
Note: Whilst in the post office we resisted the temptation to send a request for a Santa Claus letter for a mere 6 Euros - apparently he lives in Rovaneimi, Finland.

We bought some of the Tiger's Daydream tea, but it didn't make it home - left on the bus we think - bother.

We got back in good time, had an ice cream in the hot sun before getting on the bus for the short ride to the harbour, where we boarded the Silje Serenade.

Farewell to Helsinki, from the sundeck of the Silje Serenade - Cathedral on the left.

The ship is cruise ship standard with restaurants, shops, casinos and other bars all ready to take your money. The cabin was a reasonable size for the two of us, but would be extremely cosy (?) for those who have 4 in them - i.e. those who didn't pay the optional upgrade at booking.

The washroom has the notice shown, requesting that certain items are not disposed of down the lavatory (see left).

I am not sure if some vandal has removed some of the paint but it would seem that oranges, bananas, telephones and staples should not be thrown down the toilet - I don't think that I would have done that anyway.

The evening is spent in the bar suffering the croonings of a singer who doesn't seem to know whether to sing folk songs (wild rover !) or more popular rock and roll. A couple of beers later with some good company, time gets on (past midnight) so we head back to the cabin via the casino (to watch) and cabaret bar to cringe.

Finland - Helsinki