Railing thru Europe: Stop 10.1 Finland – Helsinki
The alternate way to travel to Helsinki from Stockholm is by the Viking Line, a cruise ship which takes you from the Stadsgården in Stockholm to the Viking Line terminal Katajanokka in Helsinki. Although the journey time is about 16hrs, rest assured that there are entertainment such as Xbox 360 consoles with Guitar Hero, wifi, bars, shopping, a kids corner that broadcasts Disney cartoons and of course food. Before you know it, you’re already at your destination.
If we didn't know better, our hostel corridor looks more like a corridor from a haunted hospital!
Previously we had booked for a dorm, but we were suprised they gave us a service apartment instead! Sweet!
After settling down our stuff, we went to do our laundry and pick up some ingredients to whip up cabonara for lunch before heading out to the pub for some World Cup action!
We had thought Germany would do better but alas...
Took this at around 11pm!....feels so surreal
The Church of St. John
Mikael Agricola Church
Vanha kauppahalli
Havis Amanda - nude statue sculpted by Ville Vallgren
Helsinki Cathedral
Uspenski Cathedral - We had the most pleasant experience watching a little baby being baptised
Helsinki Central Railway Station
Heading to St Petersburg, Russia via Helsinki has been under our consideration as part of our trip as Helsinki to St Petersburg is a popular train route. However, we would have to fork out additional money for the train to Russia. We took a long time to decide and finally agreed to go along with the plan.
(Strangely for some reason, both of us had forgotten a very important point we need to take note when heading to Russia….)
So we proceed to the ticketing counter to buy our tickets. Unfortunately, they were closing and only one kind lady was willing to help us with the booking. She spent close to 10 mins keying in our details and when it time to paying for the tickets, I saw the Lonely Planet book that J was holding and suddenly remembered that we actually NEED A VISA to go to Russia and it takes at least a month with invitation to get a visa.
Upon hearing our conversation, (we can never forget that woman’s face) The lady went, ” YOU HAVE NO VISA to Russia!” (Her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets and looked at us as if we had just committed the most heinous crime) We apologized profusely to the lady for staying past her working hours for our foolish blunder. Thankfully, she was nice enough not to scream at us. whew….
Fate has decided for us, Russia was not meant to be…
Upon further reading on our Lonely Planet Book, it recommended we visit southeastern Finland and Savolinna in particular… Therefore off we go to our next destination!
luv, Yee
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