Day 3 - Saturday 7th July

We had an easy morning, getting up quite late, before we headed towards the centre of town on foot. We wanted to visit Stockmann department store as Sandy was looking for some sunglasses. We had a long, lazy look round this huge shop, before we headed back to the hotel, stopping off for ice creams along the way.
Olivia wanted to head back to the area close to the harbour this morning, so that she could have another ride on the pony she rode on yesterday!

Early in the afternoon, our friend Pauli arrived to take us to his place for a late lunch with his wife Hannele and their son Santtu. They live on the outskirts of Helsinki in a quiet residential area, and we were greeted by a couple of baby red squirrels in their back garden! We had a lovely, relaxed lunch and would like to thank the Kauppila family for their hospitality!

Back at the apartment, we decided to have a session in the sauna, before settling down to some dinner and TV this evening. We'll need to pack later as we leave tomorrow after breakfast to head to my colleague Sari and her husband Petri's place in Mäntsälä for morning coffees, before heading on via Kotka, where we stayed in 2006 and 2008 as we head east towards Parikkala, where we'll stay in our rental cottage there with Anna's mum and dad, and sister Olga and her son Arnold.

The weather today has again been very warm, around 25- 27C, and although it is now raining this evening, tomorrow should be sunny and warm by the time we get to Parikkala.

Read more...

Day 2 - Friday 6th July

Our large apartment is on the top floor, so this is one of the windows in one of the bedrooms!
This little park is more or less next to our hotel. It's a popular attraction each time we walk out of the front door!
In Helsinki, coffee seems to be served in a glass!
At the train station.

We had a lazy morning, walking down towards the centre of town in the sunshine. Already at 1pm, it's 24C- and climbing- today should reach around 27C. This afternoon, we're heading down to the South Harbour to meet up with friend Pauli and his son, from where we'll head out on the little ferry to Suomenlinna island in the archipelago.

Now back home from a very enjoyable afternoon trip to Suomenlinna. We met up with Pauli and Santtu at the South Harbour in hot sunshine and got ourselves onto the boat for the 15 minute trip over to Suomenlinna island. There, we strolled around admiring the wonderful surroundings, drank and ate snacks and eventually headed back to the mainland at around 5.15pm. There were lots of people on the island, some sunbathing by the edge of the sea, others simply happy to wander around in the lovely weather. What a difference from back home, where it appears there has been more rain today.

Heading down to the South Harbour after lunch.
Olivia was desperate to have a go on this pony. You should have seen the smile on her face afterwards.
On the island. Sandy spotted a football, so we had Santtu trying some shooting while Sandy was happy to practise his saves!
On one of the cannons.

By the King's Gate.
All of us together with Pauli and his son Santtu.
Returning to the mainland, we passed the huge Silja boat, departing for Stockholm.

Read more...

Day 1- Thursday 5th July

We awoke at 3.00am this morning, to allow us to get to the airport in plenty of time for our early morning flight to Tampere. Sandy had hardly slept, as he was still awake at 11.30 last night, so he was looking a bit tired right from the start! At the airport, we got checked in quickly and our flight left Edinburgh more or less on time at about 6.45am.

By 11.15am Finnish time we had landed in Tampere and were getting our rental car, a very comfortable VW Golf TSi BlueMotion. Guess what- after all the rainy weather we have experienced in Scotland since April- with rain almost every day- it was just great to arrive to what seems like the usual summer weather that we experience in Finland- warm sunshine with temperatures hovering around the 25 - 26C level- fantastic!

Bacon rolls at Edinburgh airport for breakfast at 5.15am!

We ate lunch close to Tampere, a very good buffet for 9 euros each which consisted of soup, salads and various hot dishes, as well as unlimited drinks. Then we headed on towards Helsinki, where we arrived at our hotel, checked in and changed, then headed out to explore the area around once again. It's a wonderfully clean place, Helsinki, and it's just lovely to wander around and watch the Finns going about their lives in the sunshine. After a pizza dinner, we returned to the hotel apartment and sat on the balcony for a while in the sunshine, before getting Sandy and Olivia ready for bed.

Close to our hotel in Helsinki.

Read more...

Where we'll stay...

After arriving in Tampere, we'll pick up our rental car and head straight towards the capital, Helsinki, about an hour and a half to the south. We're booked in at the Hellsten Helsinki apartments, where we stayed for one night last year, and this time we'll spend three nights here, in the same room as we stayed in in 2011. It's an amazing value hotel- the rooms are really full sized apartments- ours is a two bedroom, two bathroomed apartment, with balcony where you can have a meal, a full kitchen and a sauna in the apartment to relax in as well! We can't wait to base ourselves here again- the value is outstanding at €110 per night for a city centre hotel with all these facilities.

Read more...