Helsinki, part V - Helsinki West Terminal and Katajanokka/Olympiaterminalen, revisited

I got up early the next morning, collected my few belongings, and ran up to the sun deck to watch the ship re-enter the docking bay of the West Terminal. I was incredibly pleased to be on my way again, on my own way. I don't know how people manage to stomach travel groups. It just detracts from the entire travel experience.

I darted off the ship and went through customs, chatted a bit to the hunky blonde Finnish customs officer as you do and had a great conversation with him - I always do. "How was St. Petersburg?" he asks, with a smile. I look at him - he is probably in his early to middle thirties - a handsome, Balticly rugged man with the icy blue Finn eyes I have gotten so used to gazing into. I say that SPB was nice and he asks me where I'm going next, and I say, Tallinn. Will you not tarry longer here, he says. I was here three days ago, I answer. He asks me if that's all the luggage I have, which I affirm. He goggles at me, says he's very impressed, which I bet he is, and wishes me safe travels. I smile and thank him, and take my leave of him.

I walked out of the port, and down Tyynenmerenkatu, past Mechelininkatu, and somehow found myself on Bulevardi. I have a fairly good sense of direction - I would have to have one to navigate all these countries on my own, and without a compass - and knew that I was going in the right direction, up north, so any road going that way would do. Bulevardi, as it turned out, was a lovely road to walk down, and I sauntered along without a care in the world. It was about 14 degrees, I was listening to Duele el Corazon, the sky was the colour of periwinkles and there were plenty of trees lining the roads, providing leafy green shade from the mild Baltic sun. I hadn't had my morning coffee yet, so I stopped at a supermarket express and got two Starbucks, and sipped along happily. The cashier smiled at me - he was probably from the local university - and I walked out of the mart, thinking that this stereotype of cold Finns was somewhat unfounded.

Off I go. I arrived at Katajanokka, and had a bit of time left, so had a careful look at all the vendors. I wondered how much I wanted cream of sea soup and chips, and decided maybe next time, although it was fun to see other people enjoying them. The food really did look very good, but 13 euros - nah.

Helsinki, part IV - West Terminal and St Peter's Line

This is mostly going to be a pictures entry as I've said all that can be said about this part of the journey in my last entry. I located the West Terminal after copious amounts of Baltic walking, then realised that I had hours to kill before the boarding, so I walked around the neighbourhood a bit. I didn't want to walk back to Kamppi - though I would have had enough time - because I didn't fancy the long walk up and down Tyynenmerenkatu again. I went to the 'nearby' supermarket, got some more food, which I munched upon a bit morosely as I milled around taking photos and looking at the Brutalist buildings. There was a fairly large electrical appliances store nearby, which I went to visit, although I have to say I found it a bit boring. I got a kick out of seeing all the ASUS and ACER products on display.

St Peter's Line, pr Maria

Helsinki, part III - Kamppi and Tyynenmerenkatu

I walked, VERY slowly, in the general direction of the West Terminal, getting lost a few times within the rather confusing labyrinthine concrete roads of Kamppi. It's hard to keep all your bearings sometimes when every street more or less looks the same, and leads into identical squares. It was lunchtime by then, so I found a gigantic supermarket in Kamppi, bought myself some extremely economical ham and cheese slices (YUM!) that amounted to about 3 euros. I found myself a bench in one of the identical squares, and munched through my ham and cheese. When I'd nearly finished, a couple came towards me, asking me for money. I told them I had none but they persisted. I managed to shake them off, but decided that I was vulnerable, so gulped down my last slice of ham and headed off sharpish.

I got lost somewhere close to Pursimiehenkatu, but saw a tram heading in straight to West Terminal, so decided to follow that. It was all worth getting lost, though, when I turned a corner, and saw the sparkling blue waters of the port.

I figured that the West Terminal was just around here, and walked down Tyynenmerenkatu jubilantly. What I hadn't reckoned on was how long it was. It went on, and on, and on, and at several points I seriously wondered if I was really on the right trail. I found another supermarket, and went in to get some more sparkling water, and asked the cashier where the West Terminal was. Just keep walking down, he said. Righty then.

I found the Terminal and checked in to the St Peter's counter. I have to admit that I wondered a bit whether the ticket that I'd bought via Ksenia was valid or not, and I heaved not a small sigh of relief when the ticket officer confirmed my booking and printed off my tickets. I still had about 4 hours to go before the ship was scheduled to leave, so I went back, and spent most of the remaining afternoon dangling my legs over the Baltic sea water and walking up and down Tyynenmerenkatu.