Helsinki - Nordic Star

The entrance to the port of Helsinki is already spectacular. Hundreds of small islands line the fairway and the skyline glows in the background. Together with the other passengers with a lot of liquid luggage, I left the ferry and decided to walk the half hour to the hotel and just made it to the dry before the next rain shower of the day.

Now I had to catch up on some sleep first, which the 'night flight' to Tallinn had cost me. Around 9:00 pm I decided to go on an evening sightseeing tour and it was an absolute highlight. The lighting conditions are unique, it never really gets dark and I had the sights in the city center all to myself. The center was really deserted but maybe that was already due to Midsummer week and many city dwellers had already traveled to the countryside. In any case, a unique evening in a fantastic city. I had never been to Finland before, but somehow this country always appealed to me. Not without reason: the people are super friendly, speak perfect English - which is a great relief for people like me who do not know Finnish - and are somehow deeply relaxed. This atmosphere, combined with very exciting architecture and lots of green space, makes Helsinki a place where you can certainly live well. However, I don't know how I would cope with the dark winters.

The next morning we first went to the famous Rock Church, where several tour buses had deposited 4 to 5 travel groups of categories 1 and 2 as well as one from Spain. By the way, you won't find travel groups of category 3 in Finland, the alcohol prices are far too high for that. Then it was straight to the 'Chapel of Silence', a very interesting wooden construction in the city center. After a stroll to the harbor, I spontaneously decided to hop on a ferry to Suomenlinna, an 18th century fortress that extends over several interconnected islands. A unique scenery with old fortress buildings and a lot of beautiful nature. On the packed ferries, in addition to travel groups category 1, there was a new group that I classify as category 4: Finnish school classes. These are characterized by very attractive and extremely determined teachers...

Then it was time for the next trip and I comfortably reached Vantaa airport by S-Bahn train from Stadler Rail, one of the most beautiful and efficient airports I have ever flown from. On my way to Stockholm, where my ego trip was to end and Bettina was supposed to join me.