Finland
After Kauppatori on Sunday afternoon, we went back to the Helsinki Central Library Oodi. Not much is open in Helsinki on Sundays, but the library is! And we wanted to check out Level 2 and the secret room we'd missed on Level 3... 0:00 /0:14 1×
Finland
Today (Sunday), after a quiet morning at our hostel, we set off to Kauppatori Market Square. This is an open-air market at the same harbour where we caught the ferry to Suomenlinna yesterday. Here, we finally had the chance to try some Finnish food, including reindeer meat! This is a
Finland
While B and the boys were visiting the Military Museum at the Fortress of Suomenlinna, I went to the Toy Museum. It was extremely fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! The Toy Museum is a private collection of toys dating from the 1830s through to the 1990s. It consisted of
Finland
While A was visiting the Toy Museum, the boys and I spent a few hours at the military museum. Our tickets (free for the boys) got us into the main museum, the "artillery" museum (no actual artillery, that was in the main museum) and a submarine... great value
Finland
On Saturday we availed ourselves again of the excellent Helsinki transit system (HSL... the system is great, the app/website has some issues if you're not from Helsinki). Trams and ferries this time, to visit the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. The fortress was initially built in 1748 and has
Finland
While researching what to do in Helsinki on Friday afternoon/evening, I discovered the Temppeliaukio church (Church in the Rock) was hosting a free concert with student conductors leading the navy band. So we went along! This Lutheran church, an architectural marvel built into a rock hill and popular with
Finland
On Friday afternoon (still the same day we landed in Finland!), we took the tram into the centre of Helsinki and spent an hour or two hanging out at the public library. It was AMAZING!!! I had a great time in the children's area on Level 3, looking
Finland
After we checked into our hostel on Friday, I went for a little walk around the local area (Katajanokka). It's a lovely spot (technically an island I think) and includes the Viking Lines ferry terminal (not the one we're taking to Estonia on Monday). Despite the
Finland
We have arrived in Helsinki, Finland after our 13.5-hour all-night flight from Singapore! We left Singapore around 10pm on Thursday and arrived in Helsinki before 6am on Friday, so we really just had an extra-long night. We all got a few hours of sleep on the plane and are
Singapore
Addy connected us with her good friend Nachi, who invited us to lunch during our final few hours in Singapore. It was lovely to meet her! Some Singapore Airport sights... 0:00 /0:26 1× Finland, here we come!
Singapore
Something I started doing on our last holiday (a cruise back in February) is writing a haiku each evening to capture a moment/memory from the day. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines, with the lines having five, seven and five syllables respectively. We have
Malaysia
In Malaysia the best things... The best thing I ate was chup-a-chups. OR... chicken 🍗 (chicken wing chicken wing hotdog 🌭 and bologna chicken and macaroni). The best thing I drank was... milo (again). The best thing I did was... scritch doggies 🐕 (see the other post). The best thing I saw was.