Day 30 - Helsinki

After getting off the train the hotel was a fairly easy walk away. We were having trouble finding it so stopped to ask to be told we were one door away. It is an unusual hotel in that it has no reception. You get emailed a six digit code which opens the outside doors, the lift and the door to the room. It is a small room with double bed near the door and a fibreglass bathroom unit in the middle and then a sitting area next to the window. Two of the chairs fold out to be beds with the linen stored inside. We all slept well and woke after 7AM.

Since I arrived in Finland the first time I have been trying to get third party insurance for the Imp. Jyrki has been asking then agent he uses who advised that they don't offer insurance for foreign registered cars and my insurance company won't insure Australian cars overseas. In the end though someone Jyrki contacted told him that I need frontier insurance and I should have got it when I crossed the border. I did ask but got completely blank looks so drove on without it. Jyrki's information was that there was not going to be anyone at the insurance bureau today and that I'd have to wait until tomorrow. However, I thought I'd try my luck and it turned out well. €180 later and I have insurance for pretty much all of Europe for two months.

From the insurance office we walked down to the market square which is on the edge of the harbour. Here we bought some delicious strawberries and then found a tent for lunch. I had fried whitebait with vegetables and roasted potatoes. Michael had squid rings and the vegetables. Timothy had a combination of both.

From there we caught a boat out to Suomenlinna island. This is an ancient fortress that has been used by all the different nations to occupy Helsinki to guard the city. There are several museums, docks, old buildings and artillery on the island. At first the boys wanted to explore on their own. I let them but after no sight of them for about 40 minutes I began to worry. However, I found them after about 10 minutes of searching. After that we visited the military museum and then wanted to go inside the old submarine but it had just closed. So we had a snack and continued to were the main fortifications and canon are. The boys loved playing around with these. After a wait of around 20 minutes the boat arrived to take us back to Helsinki. I think we finally had a day the boys enjoyed.