The original plan, if that's what we can still call it, had us arriving in the lovely city of Helsinki on a ferry from St Petersburg. In "So, We're Not Going to Russia", you'll remember that we decided against the bureaucratic nightmare we would need to undertake to get Russian visas.
Instead, we arrived in the mid-afternoon after a ridiculously early trip to the Ulaanbataar airport. Flying rather ironically through Moscow and eating at an American BBQ restaurant while there, we easily found our hostel "Cheap Sleep". A nice place for sure, but certainly not cheap. Particularly when you have just come from Asia!
When we left for our Mongolian roadtrip, we weren't entirely certain whether Dad would be joining us in Finland or not. We left him our (really rather vague) itinerary and found out part way along the road that he had booked accommodation to align with us! That first afternoon, we had a quick break and then showed up at his hotel.
Truth be told, it had not been long since we had seen a friendly family face, with Sarah joining us in Beijing in May, and Ann in Ho Chi Minh City in March, but it's really a delight that we've been ale to do it so often on this trip! The old man was fresh off a plane himself, and catching up over a pizza, we made (still vaguer) plans for a time to meet in the afternoon the next day at the Tourist Information spot, allowing us the morning to find a laundromat and get ourselves together.
We made quite a spectacle trying to find that laundry, I can tell you. Wandering around the neighbourhood with laundry bags, trying to be polite "I'm very sorry, I don't speak Finnish, do you speak English?" and them responding with English better than you will get at home.
We met up with Dad again, poking our noses in churches (it had been a long time since we had been very close to one), exploring the harbour-side markets, snacking on reindeer burgers (one week patting and cuddling them, the next week eating them on the other side of the North Pole) and making plans for a visit to Suomenlinna Fort.
None of us were very clear on Finnish modern history, and we sure got a nice big dose of it at Suomenlinna fortress. Originally built when Finland was part of Sweden, its strategic value was significant when Finland became part of Russia in the 1800's (not as a part of the Soviet Union as I had mistakenly believed). In fact, Finland gained its independence from Russia while the Russian were busy with their own revolution in 1917. Now part-town, part museum, Suomenlinna has a lot to offer lost Australian tourists. Lashing winds, cold rain, warm coffees, detailed museums, dark and scary ammunition bunkers, locked up gaols and the last Finnish submarine.
When we weren't dragging him walking all over the city, we enjoyed coffee, beer, food and stories with Dad at strategic cafe stops, it was pretty good to have a doting parent around!
After our side trip to Tallinn in Estonia and Turku in west Finland, which Kat will write about soon, we returned to Helsinki without Dad. We continued the couch-surfing journey with Tarmo, a one-man poster-child for couch-surfing. Our first night, with Kat so knackered she fell asleep on the couch before it transformed into a bed (Kat edit: it was 11pm, not my fault the sun doesn't go to bed when I do), Tarmo and I spent the evening walking in the woods behind his flat; as he says "in Finland, you are never far from the woods". Walking with him was both relaxing (because of the walking) and invigorating - he listens to podcasts at double-speed so that he can learn more, he grew up in reindeer country but is now an independent-grocery shopping vegan working in IT. Later we also heard about how he has slept under a bridge in Japan because of a couch-surfing experience that didn't quite work out and is trying to downsize his already one room apartment so he can save money to ride across Russia in a few years time - ON A BICYCLE. The man is a dynamo, and he whipped up a great tasting soup for us from basically nothing. We loved our stay at his place, I hope he can visit us in Australia some time.
July is also the time for this little couple to celebrate their anniversary; which we did with a visit to the trampoline gym, nice long walk along the coast and a relaxing dinner for two.
Instead, we arrived in the mid-afternoon after a ridiculously early trip to the Ulaanbataar airport. Flying rather ironically through Moscow and eating at an American BBQ restaurant while there, we easily found our hostel "Cheap Sleep". A nice place for sure, but certainly not cheap. Particularly when you have just come from Asia!
When we left for our Mongolian roadtrip, we weren't entirely certain whether Dad would be joining us in Finland or not. We left him our (really rather vague) itinerary and found out part way along the road that he had booked accommodation to align with us! That first afternoon, we had a quick break and then showed up at his hotel.
Truth be told, it had not been long since we had seen a friendly family face, with Sarah joining us in Beijing in May, and Ann in Ho Chi Minh City in March, but it's really a delight that we've been ale to do it so often on this trip! The old man was fresh off a plane himself, and catching up over a pizza, we made (still vaguer) plans for a time to meet in the afternoon the next day at the Tourist Information spot, allowing us the morning to find a laundromat and get ourselves together.
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| Just walking around |
We made quite a spectacle trying to find that laundry, I can tell you. Wandering around the neighbourhood with laundry bags, trying to be polite "I'm very sorry, I don't speak Finnish, do you speak English?" and them responding with English better than you will get at home.
We met up with Dad again, poking our noses in churches (it had been a long time since we had been very close to one), exploring the harbour-side markets, snacking on reindeer burgers (one week patting and cuddling them, the next week eating them on the other side of the North Pole) and making plans for a visit to Suomenlinna Fort.
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| Cute, furry & yummy! |
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| Suomenlinna Fortress |
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| A warm cup of decadence |
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| A street art programme comparing Chinese... |
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| ...and Finnish architecture |
July is also the time for this little couple to celebrate their anniversary; which we did with a visit to the trampoline gym, nice long walk along the coast and a relaxing dinner for two.
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| Good weather days in Helsinki - you couldn't walk past a man without him taking his shirt off |
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| Going around the sentries at Suomenlinna fortress |
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