June 11, 2012 A day in Helsinki Finland

The "bus" ride to Helsinki was less than enjoyable.  Since we left at 11pm and had a long day we were hoping to sleep some.  The conditions were not too favorable for this though.  I would explain the seating situation as tighter than on an airplane.  Very little leg room and since it was so tight, the seat reclined very little and the seat in front of us when reclined was really tight.  My foot had become more swollen and painful and at this point I was not so sure that I had only a blister forming.  I had considered removing my shoes but also was afraid I would not get them back on.  So we had dozed off a little bit due to pure exhaustion and the late hour.  After about 1.5 hours there was a gas station stop.  Everyone got off (21 people) and lined up for the bathroom and I think everyone but us bought food to eat.  Back on the road again for less than an hour and we stop for someone to get on and look at our passports.  (Russians have to get a visa to go into Finland, Americans do not thank goodness).  Then we drive another short distance and get out and wait in line for about 20 minutes then go through to have passports stamped at the Russian Border (leaving).  Got back on the bus and go a little further, got out again and go through to have passports stamped again at the Finland border.  Get back on bus, go a little further and someone gets on the bus and we all open our passports to the page that was stamped and hold them up.........then we drive a little further and stop for 10 minutes at the duty free shop. Very few people get off. 
Finally we are on our way.....that whole process took about 2.5 hours......we have 2 more hours until our destination and so more dozing off and on. 
When we got to Helsinki we had a motel reservation so Lewis and I kept that reservation and went to get a few hours of "normal" rest.  Yulia and her friend who came along went for breakfast and site seeing and shopping. 
Lewis and I went up to the room and I reluctantly took my shoes off, my feet were so swollen and sore, especially the left one.  I had a huge blister on the back and a couple of others that were insignificant comparatively speaking.  Lewis also had a couple of sore spots on his feet.  We were very thankful for a shower and a comfortable bed to sleep in for about 5 hours.
This is a picture of how the blister looked and the solution for walking the rest of the day because my tennis shoes were not fitting well or feeling well to wear.

After purchasing these life saving flip flops we all took a walk to the "Church in a Rock"  This church was litterally built inside a rock.  When you are inside you can see through the window the buildings outside that are on the street level.  Pretty cool.  After going inside and looking around we went outside and walked to the "roof".  One of the pictures shows all the rocks that were covering the church.
There was a display with "inspirational" sayings in many languages.......here are all the languages!!

Next we walked to a flea market, Yulia said they had gone there earlier while we were sleeping and wanted us to see it......not much to see and we did not purchase anything, but fun anyway.  One lady had a coat on and drinking coffee.......I asked her if she was cold and she said "Yes, they promised it would be 80 today, they promised and it isn't 80"  I loved to talk to people in Helsinki......two reasons 1) because they understood English  2) I love their accent

Next we went to find something to eat.  The girls wanted pizza and so we went to a couple of places but they didn't like how the place looked.  Finally we went to an Italian restaurant and got lunch.  Lewis and I shared a very tasty pizza.  It was called "Tropicana" it had ham, pineapple, shrimp and blue cheese on it. Seasonings were in English.....woo hoo!!!
Before we ate, Yulia went to wash her hands and came back laughing!!  We asked her what was so funny and she said go look.......I had to take a picture of course!!!

Next place to visit was a monument to a famous musician in Finland. We walked forever because we kept getting lost........then we finally found it.......Jean Sibelius monument!!!

Next was an ice cream break.  The ice cream is not really creamy, but it does taste good!! I got a cone with Caramel Delight and Nougat Delicacy......Lewis got his in a cup and it was berry and licorice!!  We found out that Finnish people like salted licorice but it is not to good to others who are not used to the taste.

At this point you may think that I am obsessed with toilet picture taking.  Not really, just wanting to share in all the different toilet experiences there are in this world!!!
This bathroom was in the mall.  It was about the size of an airplane bathroom.  But I thought it was pretty smart to have the sink and everything all in the stall, even if you could hardly move around.

Here are a few random pictures taken while in Helsinki Finland this day..........

At the grocery store we were so excited to find Dr Pepper, I don't think they sell it in Russia!!

For some reason I was fascinated with these "little" stoplights that were next to the "big" stoplights!!!

Lewis noticed the street lights look like they are just hanging from a rope that goes from building to building..................

Ladybugs things are everywhere.....woo hoo........................

We saw this picture while walking around.  Asked someone who was walking by what the description said, he spoke English too thank goodness.  He said it was from a painting titled "Organization and Chaos"

This is for Lewis' brother Martel........we saw you driving around in Helsinki and you didn't even wave!!!

One of the streets in town, a McDonald's in English and some giraffes on a balcony.......do they look real????

We had a relatively short day in Helsinki.......14 hours total, with 5 of them getting some sleep.....but it was fun anyway!!!  Now, the dreaded bus, "van" ride back to St Petersburg.  Left at 8pm and should arrive at 2am (actually 3am because of the time change)