Well we have had another adventurous couple of days. Yes we arrived in Finland, the country where I want to be having breakfast and dinner.....as Monty Python would sing.

The Viking line ferry arrived on time and we set our watched into a new time zone and changed currencies again. The ferry was great fun and an interesting way to cross to Finland from Sweden. Like a one day mini cruise with bars, restaurants and nightclubs along with all the duty free shops. Sundecks adorned with sun baking Scandinavians who were happy with a sweltering 15 degrees. Chris and I hid away in a less wind blown deck. Talk about spot the Aussie, we were still carrying out scarves and beanies.

We disembarked on time and walked the 500 metres to the S/S Borea. This was a 1960s Baltic Ferry converted into a YHA. Another boat to end the boating days of this trip. Checked in then down into the bowels of the ship as we had the last 2 rooms and the end of the furthest galley way at the back of the boat. Double room has been a challenge with the hostels as we have generally been given twin rooms and struggled with 2 single beds. But this time we had 2 rooms with a single in each. Well the YHA saved on washing bed linen. This morning we had several hours to kill before the train to Helsinki. So we rented bikes and rode along the river that cuts Turku in half. However there we many bridges and passenger ferries that join both sides. We even found an Aussie Bar on a boat and had to go have a look.

The bar was run by a Kiwi guy who's brother runs a sister bar in Helsinki. He said he wanted to open as a Kiwi bar but people would think it was a fruit shop not a bar. Fair point, 'Kiwi' is not a world recognised term for New Zealanders yet. But we had a nice chat, a coffee and a pizza on the sun deck and had our first day without jumpers and were beginning to regret having jeans on. I can see maybe a few opportunities to wear shorts while in Europe.

From here we rode back to the youth hostel via the river and returned the bikes. Also we went to the Turku Castle this morning. It was a medieval castle that was established by the Swedes when they controlled Finland. After the Russians moved in and they moved their capital to Helsinki to avoid the Swedish, then Turku lost it status as the capital and Helsinki took over. We also visited an art gallery where there was a great 3D collage of the history of the street. It is the longest street in Turku and the work s images from before the castle s built till the modernist architects took over and started demolishing older builds to the disappointment of many citizens. Regardless of the politics behind the work it was very interesting.

Anyway, again this blog site has gone into photographic no mans land so I am a few albums behind. Hopefully I can catch this up in Helsinki, after all this is the land of Nokia and Eriksson. We are now sitting on the train to Helsinki waiting to leave at 2:30, about 15 mins away.

Written by Rod