Enter Suomi Land of the Finns

The Hieranta Cemetery
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We boarded our ferry at 7.15am bound for Helsinki. The mood was buoyant considering we paid only half the amount we expected for the tickets and we were going to need every penny for Finland (Suomi to the locals). It appeared that half of Finland and Estonia were also clued up about the cheap fares and they joined us equipped with enough alcohol to  sink the thing. As we were soon to find out the price of alcohol in Finland is exhorbitent and Finns flock over to Estonia to fulfill there 120 litre!! quota regularly making this one of the most busy ferry routes in the world. The ferry itself resembled more of a cruise ship with punters playing the fruit machines and lining the bar. Unfortunately they hadn't thought of passenger seating and Emma and I had to resort to constant wandering, preying on empty seats.

The church hewn in stone - Tempekirkkio
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We arrived in Helsinki to bleak conditions and found our hostel. After a while of adventuring we were calmed to the relaxed pace of life in Finland. There seemed to be a trouble free feel to the place even given that half of the population looked like 80's metal heads or car mechanics. The Finns love their coffee shops and in Helsinki when the sun did come out they flocked in droves to capitalize on a street side table sipping their cappuccinos.

Helsinki whilst comfortable was expensive and lacked a whole lot of interesting sights. We trudged the streets and were regularly disappointed when our guidebook suggested we visit such uninspiring monuments like the Tempekirkkio and certain cemeteries (don't ask). Therefore Emma and I were in a quandary. To prevent any boredom setting in we would have to a) Pay lots for beer and wine, b) Pay lots for coffee and snacks or c) Pay lots to go to the cinema. Option c. was the winner. Luckily for us the hostel kitchen was well equipped so we could enjoy the option of self catering again which led to us overeating as usual to chew up more time.

The Senate Square
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Though it may sound like we are bagging Helsinki we felt totally opposite about it. The city is very comfortable and livable but suffers from being fairly unimportant in the world of historical treasures. We do recommend it as a good weekender for anybody who loves to eat money and look classy drinking coffee.

The morning of the 11th we picked up our rental and for the following editions I will compile some entries to fill the map but the overall commentary will be in the next edition in Helsinki.