No smoking please!

After Russia I think it's weird to see this sign in Finland. It's the law you can't smoke inside a property in Finland. In Russia, everybody smokes inside the building. In the restaurant there is smoking and non smoking area. I guess maybe ciggrate in Russia is cheap? Or they have too many people so they don't care people die with lung cancer? I m not sure but I certainly like Finland's law much better!

Finland - Rovaniemi to Ranua

We finally arrived Rovaniemi, the northern part of Finland. The train trip was very nice but Iain couldn't sleep coz he was overly excited. After two days of travel, I think I have a mixture of sea sick and train sick coz when I m sitting down now, I feel like I m on a boat and a train at the same time!!

Anwway. We picked up our car at the train station and drove ourselves to the hotel. It's a 5 mins drive but it's very nerve breaking. This is the first time we drove in a left hand country. Everything was so confusing! I m glad that I m not the driver coz I would have just walk. 

We then drove south to Ranua where the wildlife park is. The drive is actually easier than driving in the city! It's only one straight road. Iain was driving like an old grandpa but I don't blame him. I will shit my pants if I have to drive on icy tight road!

The zoo was really great! We saw some native animals, polar bear, brown bear, different types of owls an deers. It's really worth going. In Australia you only find snake and kangaroo lying under the sun! 

Anyway, walking on ice/snow is so hard!! We basically walked like a turtle. Or maybe even slowler. The kids were running around us as if they were wearing thongs. I cannot believe something so easy like walking can be so hard for us here. I think I was so stress when walking I have pulled my muscles! Or is it just old age??

What a day!

We came back to Helsinki from Estonia in  the  afternoon then straight away we went to the train station to catch a train to Rovaniemi, northern part of Finland. Everything went well, as we got off the boat there was a tram waiting for us to go to the train station. 

We areived earlier than we thought so we went to get a cup of coffee. As I went to the coffee shop to grab a seat first, Iain fellow me in, there was a psyco stood right in front of him and stop  him coming in. There were a few people in front of Iain stopped by this crazy man and they just walked off. The psyco doesn't look like a psyco. He looked normal but he kept stopping people to come in. So maybe they think he worked there? Anyway, since I m already inside the shop Iain was a bit freaked out and asked him why he can't come in. The psyco kept talking to him in Finnish until Iain yelled "move" and all of the sudden he said "why" in English! So Iain said "my wife is in there" angrily. The psyco said "oh of course you can go in. Are you sure that's your wife?"  OMG....

I was surprised that one one bother to say somethig to this crazy man. If this happened in Australia I m sure someone will say something. I m shocked that 

even people work in the shop said nothing to this crazy man! 

When I went to get the coffee this crazy man started talking to me. I competely ignored him. At that point I was glad that I m Asian coz I can say "me? Me no English" to whoever I don't want to talk to!

 Anyway the crazy man felt like he was wasting his time so he left me alone. Not much later I think someone in the shop called the security so this normal-looking-crazy-man was arrested by the security people.

So after the coffee we went to check in for our train. We tried to find our train on the information screen but there is no train to Rovaniemi. I was a bit worry so we went to the customer service officer. The first thing she said to us was "is the train cancelled? There is a strike today so  it's a bit messy." Later she found out our train is alright but her comments almost gave us heart attack! 

At the same time the security came in with the crazy man from the coffee shop and gave him a train ticket! OMG! Please don't tell me he is on the same train with us! Or maybe they gave him a train ticket to Russia?? So they never have to see him again!

Anyway. The long distance train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi is a double decker train with sleeping room. We had a room on the upper floor with bathroom. 

The train is really quite. We have an owl bed sheet and pillows. Very clean. Next to our bed has reading light. Power point and music channels. There are room for you to put your drinks as well. 

The bathroom is one of a kind coz you can transform the bathroom into shower by opening the wall !!

So when you open the wall where the mirror is that's the shower space! The toilet seat will stay dry only the floor get wet. Honestly this is the way to travel! 

Tallinn! What a lovely old town!

We took an over night cruise to Tallinn so we saved a night of hotel in Helsinki. Honestly I think this is the cheapest way to go to Tallinn coz a return tickets from Helsinki costs about 70 euro per person but the cabin we have costs only 85 euro. It's the cheapest cabin but honestly it feels better than the hotel we stayed in Saint Petersburg.

Anyway, the cruise arrived Tallinn at 10pm you can go out and walk around the city but you can't get back to the boat. If you are staying, then you can go out from 8.40am. 

Iain set the alarm in Russian time. We suppose to wake up at 8am but the alarm rang at 5am. How good is that....

We walked to the old town on foot in the rain. Took us about 30 mins. All the shops are closed coz they are not open till 10am. 

It's such a beautiful town. I cannot imagine how much works and efforts needed to put in to maintain this town. It has lots of hotels, cafés, bars and shops. I guess that's the place for people to spend money. It feels like a knight will jump out from the old castle anytime but on the other hand you see McDonald on the corner of the the street! 

We met our first beggar in Europe here. He approached Iain first and asked if he is American. Then he asked Iain if he can have money for food. We walked away and he kept following us! Crazy!

 This town is magical. I m so glad that we came. Iain said he is glad that we came so early so all the shops are still closed! Oh well...

From Saint Petersburg to Helsinki

From Saint Petersburg to Helsinki is such a pleasant trip! The train was comfortable , free WiFi, restaurant, border security keep checking people's passport again and again. We had a good time.

On the train...

We are sitting on a 4 seaters section with share table. Here's our table look like.

A table full of iPad, iPhone, Samsung note 2, Nokia, and coffee....

On the other hand some people, like me, are more educated and readin books. 

The guy opposite to me was reading a book call "new earth". What a freak! I wonder what's so interesting about new earth?? Oh well I m reading Bridget Jones. He must think that I m a freak too! What's so interesting about Bridget Jones?

Cruise to Tallinn

Our cruise to Tallinn is lovely. I didn't even notice I m on a cruise most of the time. Our bedroom is compact but bathroom and shower seem even nicer than te bloody hotel we stayed in Saint Petersburg! 

We have buffet for dinner and the food was very nice. They even have sushi in the  buffet but they arnt too nice. What do you expect to have sushi in Estonia?? 

There were heaps of bars, supermarket, shops, restaurants note cruise. But we didn't try them all coz we are so tired after a day walk in Helsinki.

One interesting thing about this cruise was the security was so casual that I think if you picked up a valid ticket on the road, you can get on board easy. Iain didn't even has to show his face when I was checking in for him! After we got the ticket, there is no X-ray of our bags, no one checking our passport! How random! In Russia we even got security check when we got into the shopping center!