Never mind what day it is, where on earth are we and how the heck did we get here !

 So this afternoon we jumped on a paranoic tour of Helsinki - you know the one where you get driven around in a large red bus listening to a pre-recorded commentary on ear buds that kept falling out.  Angela Merkle's 99 luftballons, it wasn't. However what was interesting is that there were groups of people wearing coloured overalls clustering together so I asked the bus driver. Apparently today, a prelude to the first day of spring - tomorrow, students both past and present gather in their school overalls and at 6pm open champagne as they 'fight' to crown a statue with a graduation cap. As the driver explained it is the one time that the reticent Finns let loose. In that case we will be staying in and having tea in front of the tele as I'm not sure our insurance covers getting caught up in the loosening-up of a whole society - think Hyde Street party, St Patrick's day, and O-week on steroids.  Mind you a society who sauna's together - which involves getting...

 Dear fellow travelers,  This morning we headed out from our apartment for a wander around the local neighbor hood. There is about 180ks or walk ways and cycle path along the Helsinki waterfront - of which he only attempted a small part. So 10k steps before lunch. I'll let the photos tell the story. For the infrastructure nerds Helsinki's Battersea Power Station

 Ok so another day on a train, this time to Helsinki or as it will be forever known in our family, due to someone's weird sense of humour , Heavenfloaty. I blame the father. We were on the top deck in quiet class, once we found the correct seats. Really, come on guys the carriage numbers should be at least 6 foot tall and plastered on the internal doors. This wasn't the only blooper for the day - hmm no wonder the beer was next to the coke in the buffet car - it was zero alcohol. Other than that it was a lovely journey through forest, flowing rivers, and by numerous lakes. Figured out the Heavenfloaty tram relatively easy and following the instruction for our apartment we made it with no fuss in a heat wave with 11 degrees. With a supermarket underneath the apartment it's good bye to hotel breakfasts until our last night in Europe. I was surprised to find that one does tire of the wide selection of breakfast provided. I mean back to yoghurt and fruit doesn't have the sa...

 Well this was the most challenging part of the trip to book as none of the usual carriers proved tickets. Also as there was no train we had to transfer at Haparanda which is a boarder town between Finland and Sweden. Not that one could tell when one country started and another finished. So much so that the Travel Center was set up to facilitate cross country travel. In addition there was no easy way to get from the Haparanda Train Station to the bus terminal, that we could see on-line, so it was old school, as in let's get there and see what happens, which isn't a natural mindset for my travelling companion whereas I like the idea of 5 getting lost in Dorset or 2 getting stuck way up North.  Anyhow it all went relatively easy. We walked from the train station to the bus station, about 20 minutes in a relatively straight line - only offset by a major roundabout. I forgot to say our bags were sniffed by Swedish customs as we left the train station. At the bus station we chummed...