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 I - Olympiaterminalen

I woke up at 8, which was fairly early, or so I thought, but what I'd neglected to bear in mind was that Helsinki was one hour ahead of Stockholm, with the result that when I rose and went down lazily, I found chaos - namely, all the passengers with their luggage, queued up and ready to disembark. I jumped a bit and found an officer and asked how long I could stay on the ship for. He said I was allowed to stay till 3pm, which was much better, but that I had to vacate my cabin by 10am, so I went back to my cabin, collected my few belongings and strolled onto the sundeck. I Facetimed my family and stood there at length, enjoying the cold (Finnish!) breeze. I was inordinately excited; I'd never been to Finland before and genuinely had no idea what it would be like One jaded traveller referred to Helsinki as a 'an overpriced concrete jungle that cost twice as much as Tallinn.' In retrospect, after having visited both cities - I can safely say that there's a bit too much of a difference in both cities to compare. I never really got to explore Helsinki very thoroughly, or even stay there for a full day at a time, whereas Tallinn I stayed for 4 days and 3 nights and, sorry to say it, by the second day I was bored stiff and longed to leave. During this trip there were a few instances in which I rued the fact that I had a rigid itinerary to adhere to, and that I should have decided to just go along with the flow, as it were, and Tallinn was one of those instances. Helsinki on the other hand had a diffident charm. It was a very idyllic place to be, another of those Baltic sea port cities which had a remarkable air of self assurance, neverending speedwell-blue skies and calm turquoise seas, and leggy blonde joggers slaloming along the promenades.

Of course, I'd downloaded an offline Google map of Helsinki to help me navigate my way from Olympiaterminalen to West Terminal Länsiterminaali, where the Russian ferries were. I had about half a day to saunter through Katajanokka, so that is exactly what I did. More to come later.

I was the last passenger on the ship by this point and it was both cathartic and a bit unerving

Yeah just me

View of Olympiaterminalen port from the ship

One last view of dear Silja

I didn't know Silja even had a shuttle of its own, but stands to reason that they would