Day 12 - Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland

We rose fairly early so that I could have breakfast and then walk, with Eric, to the underground car park and collect our cars. Contrary to my forebodings that something might happen to the cars while they were in the car park, nothing had. After collecting the cars we drove back to the hotel to load up our bags.

Before going to the port, Wendy wanted to see St. Catherine's Palace, built by Tsar Peter I, in honour of his wife Catherine I, which was just a couple of kilometres from the city centre. It is now the Presidential Palace. We found the park where it is situated, but not the palace! As we had to be at the port by 10am for check-in, we decided to abandon our search. On the way to the port we discovered we had been looking on the wrong side of the park!

We met Eric in the check-in line and both of us were soon through the barriers and waiting in line in front of the ship, the Tallink Superstar. As we were waiting, Kenny and DeeAnne arrived telling us that they were not on the boat, as the shipping line had no record of their booking! A few minutes later, Bob turned up with the same story!!! There was nothing we could do about it at such short notice, so Eric and I boarded the ferry and, via emails, learned that Bob and Thelma & Kenny and DeeAnne would have to remain in Tallinn for the night and get a ferry across tomorrow.

I noticed this sign aimed at drivers who were entering Estonia. It suddenly occurred to me that I should have filled up with diesel in Tallinn and saved some money. It was too late now.

 

Waiting at the ferry terminal to board the Superstar.

The two vehicle loading doors at the stern of the ship. The Superstar was definitely the largest car ferry we have ever sailed on. It came into service in 2008 and weighs a staggering 36,400 tons! It can carry over 2,000 passengers and 665 cars. As we had discovered, from Bob and Kenny not being able to get on the boat, it was totally full.

Driving up one of the ramps to take us up to the third car deck level.

The colossal bow window that gave four deck levels a view out to the sea.

Our first views of Finland as we negotiated the narrow channel between low lying rocky islands.

Approaching the port in Helsinki.

The sailing to Helsinki takes about two hours and we had a very smooth crossing, arriving at 1pm. We had to wait quite a long time to disembark, as we had been loaded on to the third floor of the car decks and the two lower floors had to unload first. We finally got off the ship and headed through the outskirts of Helsinki towards Vaantaa Airport, about 30 kms north of the city, where we had arranged to pick up Peter, who was flying in from Vienna. Peter, who I have known since I was three years old, is coming on the tour as our passenger. He will be with us until we get to Tromso, from where he flies back to Germany and then on to Australia via Vienna.

A couple of photos Wendy took as we drove away from the port and around Helsinki. We will post more photos of the city after we have taken a city sightseeing tour tomorrow.

 

We called Peter on his mobile and learned he had landed and was waiting for his bags. We had time to fill up with diesel which was about 10% more expensive than in Estonia. We then drove round to the arrivals at Terminal 1 of the airport. As we reached the terminal, we saw Peter pulling his bags across the road from the Terminal. It was perfect timing! A hurriedly snapped photo of Peter as we parked to load his bags.

It was great to see him again and as we drove away from the airport we all exchanged news. Us, about our tour and Peter, about his recent visit to Gabon and his imminent move back to Australia from Vienna, where he has been working for the past seven years. We are both looking forward to the eight days he is travelling with us. A lot of banter and good humour will certainly add to the fun of the drive through Finland and Norway.

Just before we left London, another school friend of mine, Michael, had told us about a famous Finnish architect, Eliel Saarinen and the house he designed in Hvittrask, some 30 kms to the west of Helsinki. Knowing our interest in architecture, he said it was well worth visiting. How right he was and a big thank you to him from all three of us.

We reached Hvittrask in about half an hour and drove round the lake and eventually (because I foolishly did not listen to the navigator and slavishly followed the SatNav!!) found the house. In fact it is two houses designed by three architects, Saarinen, Gesellius and Lindgren. Two lived in the main house and one in the smaller house. The style of the houses and the interiors is very much along the lines of the Arts and Crafts movement. The furniture, wall coverings and carpets all reminded us of the William Morris designed houses, Standen and The Red House.

The interior and some of the wonderful tiled wood fireplaces.

Wendy took this photo of two old (very old?) school pals. For me, a very special lifelong friendship.

We left the main house and went into the smaller of the two houses where a cafe was located. We had tea, coffee and cakes, including this strange-looking cake, which apparently is a Finnish speciality. Wendy Googled it and we found out it was a May Day Fritter which is traditionally served during the May Day celebrations. It looked like a heap of worms, with sugar on top, but I can assure you it tasted much better than sugary worms!

We left Hvittrask and drove due east into Helsinki. Little did we know the problem we would have getting to our hotel! We reached the hotel, in fact we could see it, but within 50 yards of the front door there was a demonstration going on. We never discovered what they were demonstrating about, but the road was blocked by a police van.

Peter talking to the police.

As the road was one way, we couldn't get to the hotel from the other side so, following the police advice, we drove up a tram lane, barred to cars, before passing the hotel again. In fact we went past the hotel three times before I finally decided we had to drive the wrong way down the one way street to the hotel. With cars flashing their headlights at us as we went down the street, we finally reached the hotel. It had taken us nearly half an hour to travel just 50 yards!!

We checked into the hotel and met up with Eric and Lynn who had arrived a few hours earlier. In the evening we went out to a local bar for a meal. Eric had told us they had seen several smashed bus shelters and as we walked I saw the glass of an advertising sign shattered on the pavement. We asked the waitress at the bar what had happened and she said it was drunk fans who had been watching the Finnish Russian ice hockey match that we had seen on the TV when we were in Tallinn. Here it was vandalism by ice hockey fans, at home it's soccer fans. It's the same story, just a different country and sport!!

Tomorrow we have a chance to see Helsinki and hopefully meet up again with Bob and Kenny. Ahmad, his son Darvish and Reza arrive back from St. Petersburg, so we should, with a bit of luck, be back to the full group of five cars as we head north on the long drive to the North Cape.