Moominland aka Helsinki

After a night of birthday celebrations for Adam we got up at 5am to get the 7am ferry (we walked to the ferry port.) We were both definitely feeling worse for wear as we trudged through the slush and ice to get there....

Once we were settled at the front of the boat we got plenty of snaps of the icy sea (which was pretty cool.) You could tell that it was a popular route for the Finnish to go on a booze cruise as Adam saw one guy buy 10 litres of vodka at 8am.



Arriving in Finland we were greeted with industry, a far cry from the medieval town of Tallinn. After an hour and lots of puffing as we walked (we'd heard that taxis charge a minimum of 8 euros before you even move and we are meant to be loosing weight after all) we arrived at our pretty central hotel. After days of shared dorms in hostels it was lush to have our own bed, bathroom and room to breath!!

After a quick snooze in the hotel we ventured out around helsinki and took in some of the sights. We went to a recommended cafe and had a lush dinner (served by a guy from Scotland.) WE treated ourselves to the cinema and saw Jack the giant hunter which was pretty cool.

The next day we had a pretty busy day which began with the hotel breakfast.Seeing how expensive Helsiniki was we stockpiled the bacon, cold meats and meatballs (yup) so we would be full untill dinner. We then ventured to the moomin shop which was amazeballs. There was moomin everything and for Helsinki it was pretty reasonable priced. I feel that I was very restrained to simply get a Moomin jelly/cake mould and a cutesy print.



 


We then headed over on the little ferry to the Suomenlinna fortress which was pretty cool. We'd already been impressed by the massive ferry moving the massive blocks of ice that were the sea, however being outside watching this tiny ferry was even more impressive!!





The fortress was pretty expansive and over 900 people still live there. There is also a working army barracks which we saw evidence of. We decided that we were a bit museumed out, so just strolled around the Island admiring the views and buildings.




After a long day we went to one of the many Nepalese restaurants in the city which was delish!!!We then crashed again as a whole day walking was super tiring.
Our final morning in Helsinki was spent pottering around and in their very cheap and efficient post office where we sent the Moomin bits back to England and a packet of cigarettes back to my Uncle Malachy.

We then grabbed the bus to the airport to head back to Blighty for the night


Next up Heathrow (bit boring)