Our flight from Venice to Helsinki was a little late but there was no passport control and the bags came through quickly. We caught the train to the suburb where we were staying - we got on the train without tickets and the inspector was very patient whilst we downloaded the app and purchased the tickets we ought to have got in the station. We got into our apartment late in the evening via video instructions. Neither of us slept well - Martin had also caught the lurgy.
We went into Helsinki city by train but it was soulless and we did not stay long. We just had a snack for supper as we did not feel like cooking nor eating a big meal.
Our next stop was Tampere and the train journey went smoothly. We found the view out of the window did not change much from woods and lakes. In the city we ate our lunch by the rapids in the sun. We had to check into this apartment with new technology - entering a code on a website opened the communal door then when we knocked 3 times on the flat door it opened! These flats certainly make good use of the space. The washing up goes into a cupboard to dry over the sink. After another bad night I stayed in all day whilst Martin walked on his own around the area. Again it was not very inspiring so I didn't feel like I had missed out.
Our last few days in Finland were in Turku and we got the train there the following day. It was a long 30 minute walk from the train station and, not feeling great the backpack felt really heavy and awkward. This time we were in a traditional wooden house within a small community. The apartment had 2 bikes which had no brakes - you pedal backwards to stop. We used them to cycle around the town along the river to the cathedral. After a bad night coughing on the sofa we caught the bus to Naantali which is an old town. It wasn't warm and there were a few old houses but nothing to write home about. On our final day in Finland we had all day until we caught the ferry to Sweden at 9 in the evening. We had paid for a late check out. I was still bad so I stayed in the next day whilst Martin took the bike into the countryside.
The ferry was big and there was a live band and several couples had dressed up and came to dance. The journey was smooth but there was a bit of vibration. We were woken at 5.45 then again at 6 as they were keen to get us out and off the ship to turn it around. An army of cleaners were queueing up to come on board.
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