Apple juice, Nesquick, and tea in plastic cups and spoons provided in the room :D. It's a bit random that the hotel provided a microwave and kettle, but only giving cups and spoons to eat anything from.
Also had a shower using "All Over Shampoo". I thought this was sweet. So heres a picture....
Sarah L was also creeped out, and she could see someone staring at her through the window...
Turned out to be this strapping fellow...
Onto things you probably care more about... Our first stop of the day was Senate Square. This is a big town square in the middle of Helsinki, accessible by only small roads, with a Lutherin Church at the top.
The square looked as if it should have had a market in the middle, but it didn't :( The square was also surrounded by the University buildings, but better looking than any of the buildings on campus at home.
We decided to venture up the icy stairs of death and into the Church for a peek. It was strangely warm inside, and was very very plain. The walls were white, and hardly decorated at all, which is a huge difference to what you would see in a Church in Britain. Da Vinci should be twitching in his grave.
After this we decided to visit the tourist information point, to buy a travel card. For 6 € you can have unlimited travel on the trams, buses and ferries around Helsinki for 24 hours, which worked out really well for us.
Lunch next, and being students we couldn't go past the University without sampling the food in the student canteen. The choices were, Carrot and Nut Curry or Chicken and Cinnamon Stew, served with salad and bread. Was very nice, especially with the accompanying glass of milk :)
Our travels then took us towards the Harbour. Quite a comparison to Southend Sea Front for sure. The sea was still frozen, apart from a path of slushy ice that the ferry had left. Lots of ducks were quite contently sat on the ice, and only disturbed every now and then by the odd ferry engine noise. There was a little market place also just by the waters edge, selling fur and cakes :)
The ferry from the harbour took us to the islands of Suomenlinna (not Semolina...language fail 2). We past many little islands on the way, some just stranded out in the ice-sea with just one or two houses on them. That must be a strange place to live.
The islands themselves were beautiful and all connected by footbridges. Very quiet, hardly any people around, and it just looked so undisturbed. I don't think I could live there, but the peace and tranquility was overwhelming.
However this is where we encountered yet another major fail...
Footwear... Climbing up icy hills in normal English trainers doesn't work, and we found ourselves slipping and sliding all over the place. Typical English... :P
We explored the island for a bit, then caught the ferry back to Helsinki mainland were we needed a hot chocolate to warm up. We attempted to ask for it in Finnish, but then we encountered language fail 3 :P
Next on the Helsinki agenda was a quick jump on the tram and round to the Olympic stadium. Wasn't really much to this actually, just literally the stadium. It did, however, have a very high viewing tower, with a lift (grumble) up to the top, so you could see over Helsinki...
Unfortunately, our stomachs were screaming again, so we headed back on the busy tram round to central Helsinki and dived into a noodle bar! Yummy!
Before heading back to the Hotel, we stopped off at
an ice bar for a quick cocktail. We were given coats to wear inside that looked like sleeping bags with holes in for the arms. Although, it wasn't that much colder in there than it was outside! It was -5oC and we were allowed to stay in there for 30 mins. Just enough time for one drink, many pictures, and even more puns about how "cool" it was....and the "chilling" music.... o dear o dear.
The evening was quite relaxing, we chilled out and watched some Finnish Tv, "Frenit" and "Simpsoni". The Finnish have some amazing adverts. Bananas are for monkeys. We also went to a bar for a quick drink with one of Keira's friends. We had the most expensive drink I think I've ever had. €7 for a vodka and orange... shocking...
However we did walk past an amusing bar on the way home....
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