We met Chris at the Viking Ferry Terminal this morning at 6am ready for our trip to Turku, Finland. Chris had stayed the last 2 nights in a hostel 20km north of Stockholm. While we did the tourist thing in Stockholm, he tried to sort his GPS problems and did some shopping so missed out on seeing Stockholm with us tourists.

The ferry was running 2 hours late so we went to find breakfast before boarding. We got back to the terminal at 9am and still had to wait 45 minutes before boarding - the ferry hadn't even arrived yet. But when it did, what a treat we were in for! The MS Viking Grace was huge and did a U-Turn in front of us before tieing up beside the wharf - we could almost reach out and touch the hull! This ferry is the first large scale passenger ferry to be powered by Liquified Natural Gas. It also has a revolving sail funnel to take advantage of the wind. It can carry 2800 passengers as well as cars, bikes and trucks. Our trip to Turku was 11 hours. We had decided on a day crossing to Finland and were really glad we had as the views of small islands almost all the way was amazing.

We arrived at Turku, Finland late, but still daylight. Our accommodation was only 7km away and really was just a spot to sleep before we ride on to Helsinki.

Helsinki, capital city of Finland, was only 160km ride so we took our time getting on the road. The E18 freeway we took was picturesque - both sides of the road had rock walls that the road had been carved out of. There were only five tunnels but they were the most modern and well lit that we have travelled through in Scandinavia. The tunnels also gave us brief reprieves from the wind.

Our arrival in Helsinki was early but we didn't mind as we had washing to do and correspondence to catch up on. Dinner was at a nearby restaurant/bar called "O'Leary's" - significant to us as O'Leary was Kerrie's maiden name! We watched Moto 3 and the World Cup football game between Russia and Spain - Russia was a very popular winner with the spectators in the bar.

Helsinki Day started with a train ride from near our hotel into the city - only 4 stops. We wandered for a while and then ended up taking our usual hop on/off sightseeing bus. The route took us passed the main sights and we got off to explore Temppeliaukio Church - or Rock Church. This Lutheran church has been blasted out of solid rock and is highly decorated with copper, it is supposed to have great acoustics and we were reminded by announcements to be quiet! After morning tea in the Church Cafe (not as good as the one at Braddon Bridge on the Isle of Man!) we got back on the bus and stayed on for the rest of the route. We passed The Olympic Stadium (1952 Olympics) which is under restoration but did manage to catch a glimpse of the statue of Paavo Nurmi who won the 5000m and 10,000m double at both the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. We ended up back in town at Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral.

The rest of our day was spent on our own walking tour of Helsinki. We had delicious crepes and fresh fruit in Market Square for lunch. We strolled up to get a better look at Uspenski Cathedral, a beautiful building with golden topped domes. We spied a few people swimming - for us that seemed strange as we had several layers of clothing on to keep us warm in the 12 degree temperature - we guess the Finnish people are used to the chilly temperatures. Chris then guided us back to Stockmann's Department Store - the biggest in the entire Nordic region.

Some observations of our taste of Finland:

*There is hardly any graffitti - anywhere!

*The streets are spotless - even very few cigarette buts.

*Buildings are well maintained.

*Even the building sites are well organised.

*Finnish people are proud of their country as evidenced by the above.

*Cheaper than Norway and Sweden.

*The train system was very efficient and clean.

We think this would be a great place to live if you had a bit of OCD - we would fit right in except that the language is (for us) unreadable and unpronouncable!