Helsinki
Taking a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea to Finland marks the beginning of the second part of our journey. We will stay in Helsinki for two days and then we will be in back in the forest heading further up north, beyond the arctic circle.
Helsinki is at 60 degrees latitude, about the same as Lerwick, Shetland. Arriving at the campsite on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday in the cold and rain, I began to wonder what are we doing? Why are we travelling into the cold and where the cost of travelling (fuel and food) is more expensive.
Things seemed a lot better on Thursday. We went into Helsinki, a city surrounded by sea, with amazing Art Nouveau and Modernist architecture. By the afternoon, the sun came out and we were already finding ways to spend time in the city by spending less - a buffet lunch at Pizza Hut and then half price Happy Hour drinks. The highlight for me was a visit to the Oodi Library. It's designed in a way to provide joyful and inspiring spaces for meeting people, working and relaxing. Then to explore some shopping areas, the huge Stockmann department store, and window shopping in the expensive watch shops. Missing trees already, we wondered around the Botanical gardens before finding a bar on a boat and meeting a friendly barman from East Anglia and his even friendlier (despite looking like the dog from Toy Story) Bull Terrier.
We returned to the campsite and joined a few French folk in the TV room to watch the Mexico vs France World Cup match.
the last for a while.
