Day 24 - Hello from Helsinki

After I signed off last night, I went on deck to get some fresh air and was rewarded with a stunning sunset. I even had a moment of quite liking being at sea…

It would be fair to say that I did not sleep well though, and I was very happy to arrive in Helsinki this morning. With time on my hands until I could check in to my ‘hotel’ (again, not really a hotel - more a kind of self-service mini apartment thing - very nice though, except I fear they have gone a bit too far with the red decor…).

Anyway, some bright spark from the hop-on-hop-off bus world had the great idea of being there to greet passengers off the ferry. I was very happy to take them up on the offer of a 48 hour HOHO ticket, as I didn’t really feel as though I had my bearings yet and it seemed like a good way to get to know the city.

So, I hopped on and got my first look at the city, including the impressive cathedral that I plan to visit tomorrow. I decided to hop back off at a beautiful spot by the sea with a cafe for lunch. It was a good decision (although this was my first taste of quite how expensive everything here is. I was lulled into a false sense of security with my ‘hotel’ deal!), as I got great views, a yummy lunch and my first Finnish geocache!

After lunch, I hopped back on and came back into the city centre, where I then had a short walk to my accommodation. Given my lack of sleep last night, a nap was very much enjoyed.

I had seen that HJK Helsinki (the local football team) were playing tonight, so then decided to walk the 2km-ish to the stadium in hope of getting a ticket. It was a lovely walk through the city’s main park and also past the Olympic stadium. Did you know that Helsinki was supposed to host the games in 1940, but ultimately hosted in 1952 when the world had calmed down a bit? There’s a fun fact for you. My pleasure.

The football stadium was rather cute in the shadow of the Olympic stadium. HFK very much gave off League 1 vibes, so I felt right at home! I was very exited to find out that Teemu Pukki, the ex Norwich player who saved a few FPL game weeks for Webby’s Wonders and Great Balls Maguire, now plays for HFK.

During the first half I kind-of befriended the old lady next to me (I respected her decision to bring a rug to the game to sit on), although she had as much English as I have Finnish. Nevertheless, I learnt that she was an Ilves (the opposition) fan, and that she had strong views on players diving! She did not like it when an Ilves player was sent off after about half an hour. I thought it was maybe a bit harsh too….

Things livened up in the second half. Ilves took a rather surprising lead from a long ball, but then Pukki came on off the bench and quickly turned things around, scoring a screamer to equalise before being very much involved with most of the other four goals HFK scored. 5-1 was a bit harsh on Ilves, but fun was had.

It was then time for my walk back through the park and to what looks like a very comfortable bed!

There is, however, time for some stats first!

Countries: 7 🇬🇧 🇧🇪 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇩🇰 🇸🇪 🇫🇮

Cities visited (for at least 2 hours - train changes not included): 11

Distance travelled by train: 2633km (I am now taking this from the website Viaduct as the Interrail app stats are weird)

Distance travelled by ferry: 413km

Parkruns: 3

Football matches: 3

Geocaches (not including today’s in Finland): 41 traditionals, 38 virtuals, 3 mysteries, 2 webcams, and 287 AdLabs.