A detour via Helsinki

After a rather short night, we headed to the airport at 6.30 am sharp with two suitcases, a backpack, and a carry-on suitcase. Everything went smoothly, so we soon found ourselves relaxed in the plane to Helsinki. During the descent, we could admire the white winter landscape and couldn't help but smile, knowing that less than 24 hours later we would be landing in Delhi at 25 degrees Celsius.

Since we planned for a 6-hour layover, we were able to squeeze in a short visit to the center of the capital in decent weather! After a 30-minute train ride, we explored the Cathedral at Senate Square, the largest Orthodox church (Uspenski) in Western Europe, a few cozy streets, the harbor, a market with culinary diversity, and Esplanadi Park. The people here are polite and the city looks neat (hardly any litter, no graffiti) and quite empty. Of course, we couldn't miss taking a break at a café! At Karsi, we had carrot cake and at Lotti, we had traditional cranberry cake with vanilla sauce. Very delicious!

Back at the airport, we unpacked our liquids and electronic devices in a trance-like state, only to be told that we didn't have to unpack anything. The MRI-like tube seems to detect everything so accurately that our bags, along with their contents, could be checked. However, Karsi's backpack was pulled out because the density of Wick MediNait raised an alarm. He was allowed to keep the bottle and it still served us well...

After the security check, we had plenty of time to stretch our legs. We explored the terminals on foot and browsed through the Moomin shops. Unfortunately, we arrived 5 minutes late at the Moomin Café, so we had to get food elsewhere. By the way, if you don't know about Moomins, you're missing out... and you could read about it again in our Scandinavia blog (Finland)!

We boarded the Airbus 330 at around 6.30 pm with freshly brushed teeth. Sleeping didn't work quite as well, but we were still quite awake upon landing... we knew that an exciting day awaited us!

P.S. Britta, just for you:

Blue whales in the deep sea,

Olm in dark caves heavy.

Both shy and fascinating,

Unique and enchanting in their own way.

The blue whale, giant of the flood,

Swims majestically, full of courage.

The olm, rare creature,

Inhabits dark passageways deep in the earth.

Although different and distant,

They both enjoy the element of water.

Blue whales and olms,

Two wonders of nature that enchant us in sound and tone.

(With the help of ChatGPT)