Helsinki, Finland (21/5/07 - 23/5/07)

Like I always do, I rocked into Helsinki without any accommodation. This time it would catch me out. There was a conference in town so every hostel and hotel room was booked solid. The tourist centre was only able to help me find a hotel 20 minutes out of the city by train, costing 98 Euro/night. I had no choice but to take it.

After looking around the city for a bit, I made my way to the hotel and organised myself after the benders with the boys. I was exhausted, so I just watched some TV and caught up on sleep.

The following day, I jumped on a tour of the harbour in the freezing cold weather. Apparently the bay completely freezes over and people skate on it in winter. Accommodation was still impossible to find, so I spent some of the day trying to change my flight back to London for the next day. Again, Helsinki had some nice scenery and people but there wasn't a great deal to do. I visited another famous building and headed back to the hotel for a sauna. That's one thing the Scandanvians know how to do - it was damn hot!

In some ways, I guess I didn't give Helsinki a proper chance as it was mainly recovery from Stockholm and I'd picked a bad time to visit with the city completely booked. Maybe it would be better during warmer weather with some friends.

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