Four More Days in Helsinki

So I'm back in Helsinki yet again for the beginning of my new pan-European adventure. With any luck, over the next few weeks I'll be heading south through eastern Europe, stopping off at as many cities and places as I can along the way.

By the sea

I arrived back in Finland Saturday afternoon and gave my friend Gerard a bit of a shock when I remembered that I had forgotten to tell him I was coming. Thankfully he was as welcoming as ever and offered to let me stay so I headed to drop my bags off. The one thing that surprised me most when I arrived was the heat - the thermometer on the flat balcony said 31 degrees! I had been in Helsinki just a month previous and at that time it was still practically winter.

On the boat to Suomenlinna

In the evening I headed to Suomenlinna, the large UNESCO-protected island fortress in Helsinki harbour with some friends for a picnic. We ended up staying until 1.30am, but luckily the boats were still running at that time. We managed to see the sunset over the city, which was beautiful from the island. It was especially interesting as the sun didn't set until after 11pm! It stayed quite bright all night, which seems really strange for someone from England. It makes Finland feel really different from home, but it does have the annoying side effect of making it difficult to sleep.

On the island at sunset

Anyway, we got the boat back to Helsinki and went to the very-crowded Aussie Bar in Kamppi before heading to a flat in Pasila to drink cocktails until 7am. Considering that thanks to my flight I had been up since 5am this was far too much for me and eventually I fell asleep.

Lonely man on Suomenlinna

The next day I drifted back to Gerard's to recover for a bit before meeting with a couple more of the erasmus survivors, including a friend from last year who by chance was in Helsinki this week, which was a nice surprise. We decided to head to the beach here in Leppavaara. We had only recently heard of its existence when someone looked on Google Earth and realised with quite a shock that "oh wow we actually live near the sea!". In fact there was a reason nobody had been there before and it took us several hours of getting lost in forests and down country lanes until we found the sea, but no beach.

On the ´beach´in Leppavaara

We ended up lying on the rocks drinking beer which was good enough for me. Problem was I had to meet some friends in the city so I ended up walking almost all the way to Helsinki until I found a tram line, which was quite a feat as I don't know anybody who has done this.

Best bar view in Helsinki?

I met with Florian, Rafi and Giulia and together we headed to the best bar I've been in Helsinki. It was on the roof of a very tall hotel, right in the centre. The view was absolutely amazing, it was possible to see in 360 degrees across the entire city. I can't believe I didn't know about it! We got to watch a spectacular sunset over the skyline before I headed back to Gerard's for a barbecue.

In the studio

On Monday I randomly ended up in a recording studio with some friends. I can´t sing or play any instruments so I was able to just sit back and watch. It was quite an impressive show - I had no idea my friend has such an amazing singing voice.

Today I´m heading into town to meet a friend before the traditional Tuesday-night sauna and then Bar Fly. Tommorow is the big one...I´m heading by ship to Tallinn to begin my adventure. I can´t wait!