FINLAND

The ferry to Finland from Stockholm was a real experience!!!

Clem got an early night and this left me and Karl to go and sample the delights of the ferry unsupervised! In that time we got very lucky at electronic poker taking away about €45 which funded what would have otherwise been quite a quiet night!

We had a few beers from the Pub on board and enjoyed some of the free entertainment including an ABBA tribute group (Perr would have been proud) and a live band. After only about 4 hours at sea it seemed that everyone around us was a little worse for ware including one gentleman who looked remarkably like Boris Johnson, he missed his seat a couple of times, one time taking most of the glasses on the table with him! When the band came on we were able to make some shapes on the dance floor with several swedes and fins. The boat was an amazing night and we didnt end up getting to bed until 5.00am the next day was going to be a long one! The ferry got in to Helsinki at about 9.30.

Hungover in Helsinki

We left our stuff in lockers at the port and were then free to roam. We saw the Cathedral on the way to the city centre. First stop was the much anticipated Modern Art Museum by Steven Holl. In all honesty the outside did not impress me that much, but upon entering it lived up to expectations. When the museum is entered from the front you are confronted by the most fantastic light airy space with a long curving ramp hugging the side wall of that atrium, around, above and behind are glimpses of the route to come in the form of bridges, steps and ramps all sneaking into the central space.The museum is fantasically set out, taking you round what is a seemly random route, but extremely well organise so as to make sure that not one bit of it can be missed. If you were to look at one building where the route through the building is of such importance then this is it!

Following this we ventrued to the Finlandia - Alvar Aalto. The is one of the main music and conference venues in the city. We bought a ticket to look around only to find out that we had just purchased a ticket to look around the Finnish Nature Photograph of the year exhibition. No luck with looking around the building as there were no tours running at that time of the day, we were told to return the following day. We collected our bags from the terminal and called it a day.

Next day we got up early in order to get to the Finlandia once more. Before doing so we took the 3T tram route all round the city, it runs in a figure of 8 shape and we therefore saw a lot of the city very cheaply.
We got to the Finlandia and were told that there were no tours available that day as there was a conference and the orchestra were practicing. Dammit.

Not one to come all the way to Finland without seeing inside the famous Finlandia i broke out the charm, (and desperation) and spoke to one of the security guards, who after much persuasion, to the amazement of Karl and Clem, who were convinced we wouldn't get in, he agreed to show us around at 3 when the orchestra had finished practicing. Second blag into a public building for free on the trip so far!

We sacrificed the rest of the days plans in favour of burning some time with a walk around the area. We took in the sights of the Sibelius memorial the 1952 Olympic Stadium and then back to arrive promptly.
The security guard, Timo, gave us a very nice tour and after he was a little embarresed when we asked to have a photo with him. Legend!

The next day we caught the train to Turku, west of Helsinki. Turku used to be the capital of Finland and it seems that it will be European capital of Culture in 2011. It was grey and wet when we went and we didn't find that much to keep our interest for very long.

The day after we got the train to Jyvaskyla, north east of Turku. This was on our to do list for one reason, for those who haven't studied architecture ths will mean nothing but for those who have it is where Alvar Aalto spent much of his life and is where one can see many o his buildings including the Aalto Museum. Everything we did there was Aalto related and therefore i found it very interesting.

Next morning we caught the train back to Helsinki and then got on the train to St Petersburg. The train is about 7 hours including a long time being checked by border control etc. During the journey we were brought a complimentary beer and nuts, not a policy i see South West Trains introducing, however it might help them justify their extortionate ticket prices! Arriving late in St Petersburg was a real shock, for the first time on our trip, no one spoke english, the alphabet is obviously completely different and this all makes getting around with all of our bags very interesting.