We were met in Helsinki by representatives of Earlsdon's resident committee, led by Al, Sari and Joan and accompanied by the Finnish cultural Attaché to Earlsdon - Keijo. The sights of Helsinki were visited at an intense pace and covered two cathedrals, a Fortress, an open air "Finland through the ages" reconstruction, as well as an excellent market and superior Shopping outlets. The nightlife was equally intense beginning with an excellent meal and wine in a posh restaurant, generously hosted by Al and Sari and a guest appearance from Catherine the Great. Afterwards a number of bars were sampled including a rooftop bar overlooking all of Helsinki - The combined guiding talents of Keijo and Sari led us to places no mortal tourist would find. On the Sunday after working up an appetite at the Suomenlinna fortress, we went for lunch at Sari's Mum's - we were made very welcome both her Mum and Sister, then treated to an unbelievable feast of several types of fish - excellent. It turns out that Russian and Finnish fishing authorities have now suspended fishing in the Baltic until stocks are replenished.

After leaving Al and Sari we returned to Helsinki. There we met Joan and Keijo to continue touring the bars we had missed, including another rooftop bar, even higher than the first and as the evening wore on we went to eat (again) … Beer does that. This time Joan treated us, it will come as a shock when we start buying our own food again. The evening was rounded off by returning to our accommodation and polishing off a litre of vodka. Sunday morning saw us visit the "rock church", the cemetery where the Finnish presidents are buried and the beach before saying farewell to the last of our visitors as they departed for the plane. We left Helsinki ourselves the same evening bound for Russia.