Helsinki

A few days ago there was a sudden snap. One day we were in our shorts and the next day there was a high of 8. Turns out it wasn’t just a one off bad summer day. Everyone simply acknowledges that summer is short in Finland and is now over. By the first week of Sept they will be having proper frosts and by the first week of October will likely have 20-30cm snow lying around.

So we were somewhat relieved to be heading south, and after hopping back in the car after our cold wander round Turku I drove us to Helsinki.

Unfortunately the instructions that David had printed off were all in Finnish. Google itself works in English but google maps won’t let you get out of the language of the country you are in.

To cut a long story short we took a wrong turn and once you get ‘off map’ in a pile of spaghetti roads in a city the size of Helsinki it can be quite tricky. But, we were a good team and managed, through David’s navigation and me keeping us on the road and out of trouble, to find our way across Helsinki, (albeit right through the centre of town in rush hour in the pouring rain) and out to the suburb where we were to stay with David’s cousin Leena and her partner Teuvo.

It was great to meet them after hearing so much about them and they made us very welcome. As mentioned in an earlier blog we have some great photos of family but will save them for personal viewing on our return.

We had just one day in Helsinki as we were due to leave early Sat morning for Turkey.

David spent the morning working and I played catch up on a few things that needed internet access that had been tricky to access while in rural Finland. Then we hopped on the train for a look at Helsinki (in the sunshine!) and the island of Suomenlinna about 15mins boat ride.

So, three more pics of city buildings, then a few from Suomenlinna. I was interested in the underground buildings and also couldn't help noticing that the only Finnish beach we had seen was guarded by a gull on a post – the gull was wearing gumboots!