Our time in Finland got cut a little shorter as our flight from Beijing was cancelled thanks to Finnair! So we had to get a flight the following day and just had 4 days, Martin's birthday was spent on the 8 hour flight to Helsinki. On arrival we headed 200kms north to Tampere for a couple of nights. Tampere is situated between two lakes and is quite scenic, we got a good view from the observation tower on top of a small hill in the town. The first thing we noticed was how green the country was after spending time in Mongolia! Being so far north the sun doesn't set until after 11pm, even then it doesn't go really dark and the sun is rising again by 4am.

We then went back to Helsinki and got the tram into the city centre and ferry over to Suomenlinna, the Fortress of Finland which is a UNESCO World heritage site. On our return to Senate Square in the city centre, the Helsinki Samba Carnival was in full swing with hundreds of colourful costumes, marching bands and decorated vehicles. Hundreds of people were crowded on the huge flight of steps in front of the Tuomiokirkko Lutheran Cathedral to watch. Sunday we spent most of the day with Todd and Vicky Sorrenson and family.