(Part 2) Copenhagen to Tallinn, Estonia via Sweden, Norway & Finland.

Aug 12th Up and out this morning at 7.30am and on the road at 9. It is getting considerably cooler but makes sleeping at night much more comfortable. The clock moved forward an hour today when we crossed the Finnish border so it was actually 10am when we got away today. We made our way 70km north to a town called Rovanemei. This is the gateway to the Artic circle and the Santa Claus village, 8km from the town. After a brief visit to the tourist office, we were on our way to see Santa. The Santa Claus village is very commercialised and comprises of a grotto building with restaurant and gift shop, a post office selling all kinds of Christmassy items and Santa’s office where it is free in but one needs to pay €19 to have your photo taken with him (fake beard incl. in the price). All the other things are shops and not a reindeer in sight. One good gimmick though was a letter from Santa sent on the first week of Christmas to a child of your choice whereby Santa mentions talking to the recipient. This cost €6 for each letter and we did it for the 4 grandchildren. Of most interest to us however was the Artic circle. Above the Artic circle at least one day in the year will be in total darkness for 24 hours and one day in the year will have 24 hours of continuous daylight. After that we decided to meander our way 800km south to Helsinki. That evening along the way we stopped at a place with a few trucks and a closed café. We made our dinner and found a sink around the back which we started using. We were cleaning pots etc and making a little racket when this Finnish guy appeared and started giving out to us for being on his private property. We apologised and said we didn’t realise but he kept huffing and puffing. We wrapped up operations fairly lively and moved on to another part of the car park.

Aug 13th Up and out at 7.30am and on the road at 8.15 after a quick shave and brushing of teeth. We decided not to hang around as we didn’t feel too welcome by our host. We drove an hour down the road and pulled into a rest area for breakfast. At this point Dad was starting to feel tired (and perhaps a bit homesick) with life on the road and we decided to take a direct route to Helsinki and not bother with the smaller towns and cities. He said he had seen enough and may change his flight and go home a bit early. We drove to Helsinki and pulled into the main international airport en-route. The cost to change was in excess of €150 so he decided to stay on. We went on to hotels.com and found a last minute bargain at the Crowne Plaza in central Helsinki at €94 per night discounted from €264. At €47 per night each, we checked in for 5 nights. It was a fabulous hotel and we even got two €21 buffet breakfasts each thrown in as the curtain were broken in our room and nobody was available to fix them until the following day. That evening we went into downtown Helsinki for dinner and a walk around. It appears to be a lovely city and will look forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.

Aug 14th We went down for our complimentary breakfast at 9am this morning and boy what a spread. We could have anything imaginable and dad even had porridge with honey and milk. 2 loaded bellies later we went downtown again and got on the ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus for an introductory sight seeing tour of the city. The tour wasn’t great but we got off at the 1952 Olympic stadium and had a look around. It’s still a major sporting and concert venue today and was a superb design for its time. We climbed to the top of its observation tower for a view over the city. We saw a few other sights and after the tour we went to the ferry terminal to book our tickets for a day trip to Tallinn in Estonia. That evening we went into town for a Chinese, where Dad saw a sauce on the table and helped himself to a spoonful. It was chilli and his tongue was out half a mile. He was oohing and ahhing, whoo-ing and jingoes-ing and feck me-ing for over 20 minutes. It was hilarious.

Aug 15th Up and out at 8am for another breakfast and out the door onto the 4T tram to take us to the ferry. We were on the ferry and on the way to Tallinn an hour later. The views of Helsinki harbour were lovely and are littered with islands in the bay. The journey passed quick enough and 2 hours 30 mins later we were there. We walked into town and quickly realised that it’s a magical little place with street vendors all dressed up in their traditional dress selling their wares. Tallinn is a walled city and all the streets within the wall are cobbled with nice little shops, bars, cafes and restaurants everywhere. We went into churches, museums a restaurant and even into the Irish embassy for a look but did not go in. After an afternoon looking around we made our way back to the ferry. We had dinner onboard and were back in Helsinki before we knew it. On the tram back to the city centre from the ferry terminal it was jam packed with ferry passengers. Dad hobbled on with his stick and this young girl of about 7, accompanied by her grandmother, got up and offered dad her seat. Initially he refused but she offered again and he took it. He smiled at her and thanked her. Delighted with her gesture dad reached into his bag and pulled out a big roll of smarties with Pooh bear on top and gave it to her. Initially intended for Beabhin, the girl was delighted with her unexpected windfall. She or her grandmother spoke no English so we think they were Estonians. The grandmother showed no emotion, no smile, no thanks, no nothing. Perhaps she was wary but I feel it was more of a cultural thing of many years under Russian occupation and suspicion. Anyway, the kid was happy and gave Dad a big wave from the platform when she got off. I think it made Dads day.

Aug 16th No posh breakfast for us today so we helped ourselves to the complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby before heading off to Mass. Dad needed his religious top up so with the help of Google and Google Earth I found a Catholic church along the tram line. We were just on time for 11am mass totally in Finnish. At 12.05pm dad gave me the nod to leave as Mass was still going and he had enough religious credit notched up at that stage. Back on the tram into town and had a lovely brunch in the food court in the Forum shopping centre. As we arrived in the food court, Dad went over to this Turkish lad at a kebab stand and asked in his PJ Flaherty accent ‘Have you Porridge?’ Of course the guy spoke good English hadn’t an idea what he said. I explained he meant oatmeal and the guy grinned. We finally settled on having food that was actually sold there. After that we were on the tram again to the bike rental shop and €15 later we were on pedal power for the rest of the day. I must admit I was reluctant to cycle around all day but once I was going I was delighted. We cycled all around the harbour area, through the city and the parks and more or less all on dedicated cycle lanes. It such a shame this is not more widely available in Ireland. One stop was the Sibelius monument, which was impressive. Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer, whom id never heard of but once I heard the music I recognised it straight away. After 4 hours on the bikes we gave them back and went back to the hotel for a swim in the leisure centre. The night was rounded off by a visit to our Chinese restaurant for a feed of barbequed pork and 2 pints of beers. We watched Uncle Buck’ on the laptop before nodding off for the night.

Aug 17th Dad made his porridge this morning using the kettle in the room and oatmeal he soaked overnight. He was delighted with the results and had his little bottle of Soya milk stashed away in the mini bar fridge. After complimentary coffee and biscuits in the lobby we went downtown to do the laundry. I had two sleeping bags, pillow cases, towel, blanket and all my own laundry to do (a fortnights worth). The launderette used the huge washing machine and a smaller one to do it all. It all came to €28 which I thought was a bit pricey, but was happy to have it done. During the day we went on a tour of the parliament and dad was a great student asking all the questions and even took the tour guide aside afterwards to correct him on his pronunciation. Down to the laundry to collect our stuff, and off to an Indian restaurant for our lunch. In the afternoon we visited an amazing church (Temppeliaukio church) which was built in the late 1960’s. It was built into an old quarry and looks like a flying saucer from the outside than a house of god. Check it out on Google images using:http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=temppeliaukio+church&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=
We then went down to the park on dads request to listen to some music and sat in to listen to a Finnish/Swedish folk band. Dad fell asleep and when he woke up suggested that we go as it was ‘Tripe-ailte’. We meandered our way home through the park before getting to our hotel where we relaxed for a while before going for our evening dip at the hotel leisure centre. Dinner was at our Chinese restaurant again which delighted our waiter and he was all chat, not much of which we understood.

Aug 18th We checked out this morning as it was time for Dad to go home and me to continue on my travels to Eastern Europe. We headed off to the airport about 10.30am in the van with all our bag and baggage on board. We spent a total of 6 days in Helsinki and did justice to such a lovely city. We saw most things worth seeing and had a laugh doing it. We had a great time combining a bit of wildness, adventure, sacrifice and a good dollop of luxury at the end. The holiday was a time of many firsts for me and Dad. We went on our first lads holiday, spent 2 weeks together without other family members, our first day long chats about this and that, and we drunk our first, second and third pints together on this trip too. The occasion will be more significant on retrospect than anything in particular that we did on the trip. No regrets having done the trip with my father, it was excellent. I think of many of my friends who fathers have died, who dads wouldn’t go even if they could and ones that just can’t. They would give their left arms for the chance. For that I am grateful.
After dropping off dad, I made my way back to the hotel to resume my free parking for another few hours. There were parking attendants putting tickets on the cars that were illegally parked. They didn’t put a ticket on mine the whole 6 days. Maybe it was because of the Irish reg or maybe it was the Crowne Plaza card I had in the windscreen, I don’t know and I didn’t ask. I booked my ticket for the ferry to Tallinn tomorrow morning and bought a bottle of wine for my host tonight. I will stay with a Finnish girl, Laura that I met in Laos. You may recall in a previous entry the girl who was sitting on a packed Laotian bus beside a bus driver that was looking at her more than the road. The seat was an uncomfortable one and I offered her my seat. She was most appreciative. So that’s where Im spending my last night in Finland.