The boat to Finland

Well we made it to Helsinki this morning. Yesterday we had most of the day in Stockholm which we just stuck around Gamla Stan and wandered the shops and Royal Palace. We watched the changing of the Guard at the palace which was a big fanfare, they have a 40 minute marching band show with the changing of the guard. After that we then went to the Royal Armoury which held various suits of armor belonging to Swedish kings as well as royal clothing. At the end of the museum they take you down to a cellar which houses the old coaches used by royals for weddings, coronations, etc. They are over the top! I'll post a few pictures. These coaches were used one or two times and cost a mint!





We picked up some postcards and souviniers then headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags and catch a cab to the ferry. It just started to rain as we got to the hotel. We had to check in on our cruise about 3:30 or 4:00 and got there right in between. This was our first cruise experience and it was wierd for us. We've never been on such a large ship. We found our tiny cruise cabin with 4 bunk beds, the room was so small! We also got an inside cabin and the no window thing was hard to get used to. We left our stuff in the room and headed out to the front balcony of the ship to watch the boat leave the harbor. Right after the boat left the harbor it started to rain again and everyone scattered indoors, we stayed out since it didn't rain very much and watched the scenery for about an hour. The ship had lots of different restaurants and buffets but the buffet was about $45 a person so we opted for one of the restaurants instead. I think we were one of the few english speaking people on the ship, most seemed to come for the duty free alcohol. The duty free shop was packed all night with Finn's and Swedes buying cases of the stuff. It was so crazy to watch. We wandered over to the casino which was another crazy thing. You would think you were in Wendover as it looked like any other casino with the exception that children are allowed in and allowed to play the slots! There were kids all over dumping money into the slot machines.... wow. At least there was an age limit on the card tables of 18 or older!

The casino even had a live band on stage and a dancing stage, I think Kareoke was on tap for later at night. They had a spa on the ship and we decided to get a massage since it was 2 people for $100 for an hour massage. That was another experience, they told us to wear shorts for the massage, we weren't sure how they did things over here so it was a bit akward at first. My massage felt great while Chris got beat up by his masage guy from Estonia. I don't think he will do another one for a while. The massage came with free use of the sauna which we lasted 1 minute it was so hot. I guess we wouldn't make good Finn's as they love their sauna's.

Late after the massage we went to the duty free shop and bought some chocolate and cokes and sat ourside for a bit then headed to bed, we're not big partiers as you can tell, we skipped the kareoke.





This morning we arrived in Helsinki about 10:00am, we made our way off the ship and walked around the harbor to our hotel. We then went out to explore. They have a market everyday on the harbor filled with Fish, fruits, veggies, etc. We then did a walking tour of the city from Rick's book and toured the Lutheren cathedral and the Orthodox cathedral. Helsinki has a Russian feel to it, a lot of the trinkets sold are things you would buy in Russia.



Chris is off touring the Finland culture museum while I'm doing laundry and catching up on email at the hotel. I'll let him post some more later.

Oakie Doakie, my turn. I just got back from the Finnish national museum. Quite small as compared to others but it had just the right amount of stuff to see as to not be overwhelming. Helsinki's a crazy little town. It has an amazing feel to it.

Cold and windy.

Actually, they're saying today is more windy than normal and that wind has a colder edge to it than normal. Feels like were just on the verge of either crappy or perfect weather. Hopefully things will take a decided turn for the better starting tomorrow.

The market we walked through this morning was remarkable. The vibrant colors and freshness of the fruits and veggies make you want to be a chef. Then you walk a few more feet to the Finnish fried fish stall and that makes you want to vomit. Seriously, there were these mammoth wok like pans with piles of fish frying away with wafting odors strong enough to overwhelm the faint of nose... All in all though the market was groovy. It's part Farmers market, arts festival and mammoth woks of fried fish.


Crazy part about Helsinki is there aint much here. It's just too new. The Finns have really only relatively recently been a completely free, autonomous country. For centuries they were won and lost back and forth between Russia and Sweden. So, the street signs are all in Finnish and Swedish and the buildings are all pseudo Peter the Great Russian. As you walk around there is a noticable lack of medieval leftovers like walls and motes and what not so common in more southerly European places.



Anneka's ready to bug out and get some dinner and we're going to search for this Italian joint that we've been told about. The prospects of eating herring and reindeer aren't too appealing so it's either this Italian place or some other place thats been recommended too.

McDonald's

Funny thing is we can predict where the McDonalds will be in any city. Today I bet that there'd be a McDonalds within a half block of where we were standing at that moment. Anneka said, "How do you know?" I said, "Because the main scenic icon in the city, the large and looming Lutheran church with its accompanying plaza was only up the block a little bit." Sure enough, on the way there we passed a McDonalds.

I had lunch there... what can I say.

More later!

Chris