We landed just prior to 7:45am at London Heathrow. Both my father and I had a fantastic rest, stretched out on our chairs. I tried to watch The Town, but it was, well, bad, and I slept instead.
We got off the plane and began the obligatory mad dash past the herded cattle on their way to immigration, which, as happens all too often, was empty and not worth the run. We officially entered the UK at 8:06, after inquisitive looks and astonished reactions from the customs officer who asked "where are you in transit to?" and "so you're just picking a place today?"
We trekked through several tunnels and an elevator before arriving at the Central Bus Station, which gave us some trouble last year. This time we just bought tickets to Gatwick South by credit card (under the assumption that we wanted the south terminals, and that we didn't need Pounds in cash first cause we weren't staying long).
The 1:25 bus ride over, we discovered our assumptions to be correct---ish.
When we got to Gatwick, we wandered quickly to the EasyJet desk, the location of which we remembered from last year.
Our choices this year:
On EasyJet:
Copenhagen, £407.98 for both tickets
Helsinki, £257.98 for both
Sofia, Bulgaria, £177.98 total
Zagreb, Croatia, £197.98
RyanAir:
Oslo, Norway, £323.68
Stockholm, Sweden, £393.68
We debated them for a bit. Then checked the weather. Zagreb and Sofia had rain all week. Copenhagen was foggy and cloudy, Oslo and Stockholm were alright, and Helsinki was sunny all week. We debated over a cup of coffee at Cafe Nero on the second floor of the terminal, as we did last year. At 11:07, we shook hands in agreement.
We decided Helsinki was the place to go. Sure, it'd be cold, but it'd also only be 2 hours from Estonia by ferry and sunny in both places all week. It was also not nearly as expensive as our second choice - Oslo-Goteborg-Copenhagen. The flight was leaving five hours later, at 3:45.
Time was spent for a while looking up hotels we might want to swing by tonight, contacting Riku, my friend from last summer on the Trans-Siberian Railway who lives near Helsinki, and trying to figure out just what to do in the city itself.
At 1:15 we tried to find our way to the gate, or at least past security, only to find that the flight to Helsinki left from Gatwick North. We took a shuttle to the other Terminal.
After a short skirmish with the EasyJet check-in desk, who insisted we could bring one carry-on, not two, onto the plane, we checked our bags by paying online (for £18 instead of £40 in person), and went through security.
Around 2:30, we ate our first meal since Virgin Atlantic served dinner yesterday evening. And I indulged in a pint of Beck's.
I slept most of the plane ride, waking up only to hear the occasional dull dronings of a pilot who found himself to be exceptionally witty.
We landed close to 8:30, Finnish time, after three hours or so in the air. The woman in our row on the window taught us "hello" and "thanks" in Finnish - Jeff of course struggled immensely to figure them out.
Our course of action last year was to rent a car to explore with. But no rental place will allow their cars to be driven onto the ferries into Estonia, and as we discussed our options, we realized it was perhaps best to rent a car for a day or two from the city center.
From our preliminary research, we found ourselves with three unanswered questions as we left the airport:
1) How many days do we realistically need in Helsinki? Everyone says the city can be seen in a day, and Riku is meeting us tomorrow to wander with us, and there is just so much around here to see.
2) How far away is Lapland? Home of Father Christmas, reindeer, and vast expanses of snow-covered nothingness, it's supposed to be beautiful.
3) What is the best way to get from Tallinn to Riga? It's supposed to be a four-hour drive, but we can't bring a car over the straits. So do we take a bus, a train, or do we rent a car in Tallinn and drive?
Took the bus from the airport to the city center, and walked from there to a hotel we found online, but didn't book - the Hotel Hilton Strand.
First impressions about Finland/Helsinki:
-it's mid-March, and snow is everywhere.
-Spruce and birch trees must make up the majority of total land usage in this country.
- Everyone is blonde.
- Monty Python's aptly named song entitled "Finland" keeps popping into my head.
- Incredibly modern - there's hardly any sign of soviet influence.
- the country is expensive as hell. Cabs starting rate is €8, just for getting in.
We got off the bus nearish to the hotel we wanted to book and walked the remaining distance, only making one wrong turn.
When we arrived at the Hilton Strand we found it to be a beautiful site. The building is modern, elegant, and right on the water (though the water is frozen solid and covered with snow). We went inside and met Kim and Jani, two gentlemen running the front desk.
There was some confusion about pricing, so we went online to book there, and saved a few €. Then Kim gave us a tour of Helsinki by tourist map. He pointed out the only restaurant in all of Helsinki open past 10, for tonights dinner (at this point it was 10:45); several other restaurants, including Finnish, Russian, Kazakh, and French places; a modern art museum and a Finnish history museum; Finnish parliament building; the location of the ferry lines to Tallinn, etc.
We got to talking, and it turns out Kim studied in Redding, CT in 1987, at Joel Barlow High School. Small world.
At 11:15 we made it up to our room, which has a gorgeous view of the river (ice). We may try to join the ice-fishers tomorrow..
We relaxed for a while and then wandered out into the street to get food at this one restaurant, Manala. We had the taxi stop at an ATM first, so we could pay him. It didn't work.
Manala was mostly empty, so we sat at the bar. The food was expensive, the bartender was friendly, the steak my dad had was delicious, though there was enough and my Reindeer stew was named Prancer -- I mean, it was fantastic. It came in a croc pot plain, with another pot of mashed potatoes, and a smaller cup of elderberries ("your mother smells of elderberries!"). I mixed them onto my plate and enjoyed each bite.
At 1 we left Manala and walked back to the hotel, passing the casino (with a €50 Hold em buy in table) on the way. We might go back later.
It is ten to 2am and we are back in the hotel. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I'm exhausted. Time to sleep...
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