DAY 151 THURSDAY AUGUST 23 REUNION BIG BAND

The first wet day we have had for a long time.  Probably since we left Scotland.  We stick to a theory that in Europe in Summer the sun always comes out at 5pm.  We put off some outdoor plans till tomorrow and spent the time arranging for our apartment manager to print out our Korean Railway Pass and out German Shipping Line tickets to Auckland so we would be ready with these pieces of paper when the time comes.  The Citykoti people have been very helpful and we would recommend their apartments to anyone coming to Helsinki.  We sent an email to Igor of Real Russia who have organised our Russian-Chinese section to book a train from Beijing to the wharf where our Korean Ferry departs as he advised us that the bus service to the wharf has been withdrawn permanently. We sent a reply to Laurel Colless to arrange to meet her tomorrow evening.  Then we shopped for food suitable to take with us across Russia on the train.  The rain was only light so we set off on a walk in our Goretex jackets and worked our way around the waterfront, looking at the hundreds of ships and yachts.  It would take a week to cover all of Helsinki's waterfront so we felt after two hours of walking we had given it a fair shake.  When in Uppsala we found a disturbing display about landmines.  This monument in Hesinki about sea mines was just as disturbing, but hopefully this is finished with now.

We were hoping to wander through the "Old Town" as we have in other cities, but did not find it today.  We found the open-air food market and bought a plate of tiny fish called "white fish" for 8 euros and sat down on some benches in front of a stage.  As we ate musicians started setting up on the stage and we saw a notice that a concert would be starting in an hour.  We were tired from our walk and it was still too early to go home and the rain had stopped.  We do manage to sit and do absolutely nothing for an hour sometimes and the wait went quickly as there was continual activity on the stage.  Near the stage was a small statue which will never get the attention of Copenhagen's little mermaid.  Every Scandinavian city has one and this one is somewhat modest.

Now we know what a baby boy merman looks like.
The band called itself "The Reunion Big Band" and immediately took us to thinking about U Bouddi in Killcare.  It was fronted by three young women called "The Soul Sisters" who blended very well and a male lead.

The star of the show was the drummer and he was up to Bob Himbury standard.

There was a keyboard/piano, two guitars, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 4 saxophones.  They spoke in Finnish, but sang in perfect English.  All their songs were American hits of the 70s to 90s: YMCA, Stop in the Name of Love, You Can Keep Your Hat On, etc.  We came away thoroughly entertained and counting six unplanned open air concerts we have been fortunate to sit through since we came to UK/Europe.  At 5pm halfway through the concert the sun came out on schedule.

DAY 150 WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22 TAMPERE

We validated our Eurail Pass in Brussels on May 25 and it lasts 3 months so expires on Friday 24 August. We took our last trip on it today and as usual had no problem hopping on trains and showing it. We have not had a good look at the famous lakes of Finland which are the most expansive of any country.  Our Europe by Eurail book recommended Tampere, Finland's 3rd largest city at 200,000, as it is situated at the junction of two huge inland lakes.  We caught the 9.07 train and arrived at 10.52 in time for morning tea at the station and some good advice at the i office.  We followed the self-guided walks on the map and suddenly came across the town cathedral.

Wow.  The brochure claimed it was the most beautiful church in Finland and we believed it. It is not a particularly old town but old enough to boast a puffing billy.

It has always been an industrial city so this turbine acted as a symbol for them.

No idea what it was used for. There was a difference in height of 30 or more metres between the two lakes and 6000 years ago the water broke through the isthmus and set up a permanent line of rapids and the town was established around this.  Now they have some dams that regulate the rapids.

One of the bridges across the river is used by lovers to publicise their link by attaching a padlock.  Not as many as in Paris.

Like most countries in Europe they love their flower boxes in summer.

As we walked around the edge of the lower lake we saw this ship MV Tampere.  It was about to take off on a one and a half hour lunch cruise so we hopped on just in time at 12.30.

This was the best way to get to see the lake and appreciate its size.  Here are two photos along the way.

Nice place to live or have a summer house.  The ship had an entertainer who sang "Ring of Fire".

A delicious buffet lunch with berry dessert was very enjoyable. All this for 33 euros. Shortly after landing we found this gingerbread house which seemed typical of the town's feelings about cakes.

We explored the town further and worked our way up to the higher lake to take these pictures.

 Walked back to our nicely decorated train,

and got back to Helsinki quickly.  As we walked home we had a conversation with this man from Guyana who was playing his Reggae CDs in the square and walking a rope. He gave us a postcard.

Calls himself the Black Superman.  Also dresses as the Black Santa, which is very appropriate here. Today was our closest position we have been to the Arctic.

DAY 149 TUESDAY AUGUST 21 HELSINKI

We woke to a beautiful sunrise and the lovely view through our windows of the harbour near Turku.  The ship docked right on time at 7.30am and we emerged into the street, realising that all the signs were in Finnish and we did not know words for rail, train, station etc.  Just kept walking and found a luxury train just around the corner waiting for us.  When it pulled into a station after 5 minutes travel and everyone got out, we were puzzled.  We worked out that this was a half hour stop and most people went into the station to buy something.

First class was called "Ekstra" and was upstairs in a double decker.  There was Wifi, power, tea and coffee machine, newspapers (no English), and that little soundproof booth was for talking on the mobile phone.  A great idea but two people so far have taken calls near us without using it.  Dogs are allowed on the trains in Europe but not in Ekstra as you can see.  Top marks for these trains;  as good as our favourite ones in Austria. Arriving at Helsinki Station we joined the many people who try to follow the WC signs and end up going round in circles.  Had a nice morning tea and picked up a map.  Should have brought a mag. glass.  By stopping on each corner for a couple of minutes we found our way to the office that issued apartment keys.  They told us we could not have the key till 3pm but could leave our bags there and explore the town, making suggestions.  We decided to walk to the Silya wharf where we planned to meet Pam and Ken on Saturday at noon.  The train to St Petersburg leaves at 3pm so we did not want to get lost.  First we went to the Metro station nearby and found it occupied a huge city block and took ages to get down long escalators (like Epping).  Buses and trams look simpler. As we walked down the street they call their Champs Elysee we turned into this park:

Any ideas what plant  flowers like that?  Pigeons never show respect.  The most unusual live statue we saw had bark all over:

At 2pm we found the Silya ship which had arrived at noon and it was called the Symphony.

Waiting to board the ship were some ladies in striking traditional dress:

We have not been able to locate a men's barber for some time now.  There were 3 women's salons in our street so Malcolm paid 40 euroas to have a haircut and beard trim.  Lyn shopped for groceries in the meantime and we picked up our key and unpacked in our unit.  It is not much bigger than a hotel room but very well equipped.  We are sure we will be comfortable here till Saturday.

DAY 148 MONDAY AUGUST 20 VIKING FERRY

As we had accumulated a lot of presents and souvenirs it was a good time to send them home. We went to the DHL office that was closed on Saturday and were quoted 4000 Kroner ($600), so we searched for a Post Office.  We were told it was in Ostmalm Square so we walked around it twice and asked two people, both of whom directed us to the building where it used to be.  There was a sign at this spot in Swedish with 2 Ostmalm at the bottom so we went back and sure enough found it there.  Should have looked more carefully.  The PO counter consists of a scale for weighing and a cash terminal.  Nothing is for sale, not even stamps. We were told to go to the supermarket to buy the packages, envelopes and stamps for letters.  After packing our goods into two large boxes we returned and were given declaration forms to fill out.  These were duly affixed and our debit card was relieved of $110 and the parcels were on their way.  It was an efficient operation for them, but very inefficient for us. No other postal service we have seen is so anti-consumer in its operation and we do not think this is typical of Swedish society at all.  The afternoon went by checking our trip to Helsinki, packing and cleaning and posting off our tax rebate forms covering purchases we made in Norway and Sweden. The owner of the apartment told us he would call in to collect the key at 5pm but as we predicted he had not turned up by 5.15pm so we left the key in the door and took off.  It was a nice apartment but we gave it a poor review because of his unreliability.  When we got to the ferry wharf we found that the last boat to Viking Ferries left at 5.15, so Plan B became catching a taxi.  We were lucky to signal one down quickly and it was driven by a Swedish man who was so interested in what we were doing and in talking about his beloved Stockholm that he forgot to start the meter until 5 minutes into the trip.  As a result he charged us less than we would have paid for the ferry and we got there more quickly.  When he accidentally gave us $3 too much change we gave it back gladly and wondered about all the signs in Stockholm warning about taxis overcharging.  We hit the jackpot with this one. We had two hours before the Amarella left for Turku so started by collecting our tickets and showing ou Eurail Pass to try to get a discount on the 250 Euro price we had paid in March to secure a bedroom on the ship.  The girl explained to us that we had bought a luxury suite and hence would only receive 25 Euros refund as it is based on a % of the cheapest fare (sitting up).  We were quite happy with that and it gave us a little cash to start us off in Finland.  At 7.45pm we boarded the ship and sought out our room 9122. All the doors looked the same but when we opened 9122 we both said "Wow!"  Another jackpot.  It looked like a suite from a 5 star hotel. Four times the size of the one we had from Rotterdam.  Queen size bed.

 large desk and double lounge.  Fridge with free drinks. Large TV.  Bowl of lollies. We kept finding more such bonuses. Best of all were the two large windows facing the front of the ship directly below the bridge.

  An even better view than we had on the Manet.  The sun was setting and we sat and watched the ship make its way up the channel to the Baltic Sea in the fading light.

Margot and Lennart Oscarsson used to live in one of the houses along the left bank there and we appreciated what a great place it was for a house.  Margot had shown us a oicture of the house once but we could not pick it out.
 Best departure of the whole trip.

DAY 147 SUNDAY AUGUST 19 UPPSALA

We slept in till 9am for a change then set off for the station around the waterfront.  Yesterday while on the other side of the harbour we took two pictures to show the expensive apartment blocks there.

Not a bad spot to live when you have a country house to spend weekends and holidays.
We had to walk really fast  to catch the 10.11 train to Uppsala and made it with 2 minutes to spare.  It is only 66 km  and the train was almost empty. Swedish trains are excellent.
At Uppsala Station we saw three large parking stations for bikes. All of them nearly full on a Sunday! This is a University town like Heidelberg and maybe students leave them there when they go home.  Cyclists are treated with respect here. This is one of the three parks:

 We followed the instructions in our Europe By Eurail handbook to find the Information Centre.  We got a map and over morning tea decided to follow the 7 stage tour recommended.  Unfortunately the map and the tour points did not match up very well but we got by.  These things are always written by local experts who do not try them out on mugs like us to see whether they are foolproof.  We started by walking along the river and came to this little diversion which might have been a fish ladder.

We climbed the hill to the Cathedral,

but found the Sunday Service was still in progress so went across the road to the Gustav museum. This was the official University museum and not well funded but featured a fullsize replica of the first Anatomy Theatre from the 16thC.

Standing room only for 100 people to watch convicted criminals be dissected (after paying a fee).  There was a display for the history of this uni., Sweden's oldest.  Another display traced the history of computers. Spot the Apple II and the Commodore 64.

The church and the museum are positioned opposite each other to represent the relation between faith and reason.  Into the cathedral and we found another big organ and a series of tableaux including this  scene of Jesus with the children:

Then we climbed the hill to the castle which overlooked the town. One section was called the Peace House and entry was free.  They had a display on Landmines which consisted of posters of beautiful women competing for the title of Miss Landmine.  All of them had lost at least one leg after stepping on one. Another section dealt with the achievements of Dag Hammarskjold (please insert the missing accent). He was General Secretary of the United Nations after WW2 . He described his job as the hardest in the world.  They showed a video of President Kennedy announcing his death in an airplane crash in 1961. He was even more popular than the Beatles at that time and greatly mourned in Sweden.  He studied at Uppsala Uni. for his degree and we decided to look for his grave which the staff here told us was in the cemetery.  The toilets were also free here and they won our prize for the best ever. Cotton towels to dry your hands!

Dag was rated as the second best known Swedish person in history.  The number one was Carl Linnaeus, the greatest botanist of all time.  His last work was a treatise discussing every single plant that was mentioned in the Bible. On the other side of the castle was a garden devoted to him.

We bought a bookmark consisting of a slice of wood from the elm tree which grew in his yard to give to someone. After some searching we found the H. family grave.

Just a minute while I correct the spelling above. The gravestone is the one with the flowers.

It was time to relax after soaking up the town's culture. So we sat next to the Swandam and enjoyed the weather along with the ducks and the infants.

At the end of the rainbow you will find . . . a black duck. They are in every country we have been in.  We had an appointment with Evelyn's friend Susie (now Susanne) at the station at 4pm and we met her stepson Martin (15) and son Felix (12).  They both spoke excellent English and were keen to converse with us.  We told Susie that we had walked around the town and loved it, so she took us out to a lake in a forest.

We explained to them what an Australian bush walk was like as we walked across fields. Lyn found a tiny frog in the grass.

Evelyn wanted a photo of Susie:

We climbed up a tower which may have been for bird watching or maybe fire spotting but it gave us a view of the lake:

We took a picture of the boys with Susie:

and then walked to the lake.

Meantime Susie had walked back to the car and brought it round to the lake. We picked up Susie and Johan's daughter Amanda (5) and went back to their house where Felix proudly took us on a tour of the rooms and Johan prepared a wonderful barbecue meal.  After a very interesting discussion with them about their lives we caught the train back to Stockholm and walked to our flat, coming in at 11pm.
Must not forget to show Amanda:

 Once again we found ourselves treated like visiting royalty.