Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 November

We have booked a cab to meet us at Helsinki Airport, and there was our driver, holding a sign with my name on it. A large-ish woman, she introduced herself as Charlene. Originally from LA but more recently 14 years in North Carolina. Married to a Fin, they spent 4 years here when first married and then she moved him to the States. Two kids and 23 years later they move back to Helsinki. She had been in the Police Force and was getting a bit sick of criminals, he was offered a good job here and so they moved here four years ago. And we’re not at the taxi yet. I use that word advisedly. It’s a van that once was white but it has not seen a hose or soap since it was first registered, many years ago. A bit cleaner inside but near impossible to get in. Charlene instructed us to step up and do a shimmy between the front and back seats, since the back seat is rusted into position. Eventually the dance moves work and we strap ourselves in.

Driving into Helsinki is like entering Moscow, without the glory. Tall, bald face blocks of units, all identical, on both sides of the road. But Charlene keeps talking. Are we interested in trying Finnish food? I responded that I always finish my food. She can recommend some restaurants near to our hotel, and one a bit of walk away but worth trying. The latter is set in an old Greenhouse and is in a park somewhere. Actually she tells us exactly where it is but we have no idea what she means. So we nod enthusiastically. The other two are great she says. A Pizza Place and a Burger House.

We arrive at the hotel, extricate ourselves from the van, grab our bags and wave farewell to Charlene. An afternoon walking through the streets of Helsinki has us wondering why on earth we bothered. There is really nothing to recommend it.

But the street signs are nice

Not surprisingly we decide against Pizza and Burgers, and choose a little Italian eatery we discover on our walk. We have taken to two meals a day, Linner, eating around 3 or 4pm, since breakfast is included in all Scandinavian hotels. We enjoy a delicious meal in the company of the house chocolate Labrador Leo. He was flesh and blood, not chocolate at all

On our stroll we were advised by the menu in the window of those eateries we passed, and did not always succumb

However, things look up on Sunday, despite the drizzling rain, which has us walking in the opposite direction and we see some really lovely architecture, amongst the dreary stuff

We walk past a lovely park which has community members raking up the leaves and binning them. It is a volunteer day and we turned the down the invitation to join them with a rake each (there were plenty on site) and a bowl of hot soup with bread.

Instead, we park the dog

And head to the Design Museum. Finland is, of course, home to Marimekko so it’s not all bad. The stuff that Finland has designed and developed, which are now in commonplace usage throughout the world is something else.

They even designed the first porcelain sink with tap

Those Fins saw me coming

But, hey, it’s Sunday. And the purchase of alcohol on Sunday is banned on Sunday, Yikes. But Christmas is alive and well, and already the decorations are up and the windows alive with the sound of Santa

So, we Finnish in Helsinki. A big day trip tomorrow to Tallin