Monday 10^th June – Day 8

We slept in to 08:30 today due to our late finish last night.  It turns out that my Dad went to the same school (in the same year) as one of the Australian chap’s Mum.  Small world!

We left the hostel at about 09:30 having had a huge breakfast to head up towards the train station to book our trip to Oulu in Finland.

Having queued for nearly two hours we eventually reserved our seats and put our baggage into lockers so that we could have a look around Stockholm before we left.

We spent a magnificent day travelling around all the old castles and churches and sat down to have lunch at 16:00! Looking at our maps we reckoned that we had walked twelve miles since noon!

After our lunch it was time to leave wonderful Stockholm and head north.  The train journey itself passed rather quickly and we started chatting to a rather plump German about what we had done on our trip so far.

Tuesday 11^th June – Day 9

Having had no sleep at all due to our German friend shouting in his sleep we somewhat wearily changed trains in Boden at 06:00.  After a short trip we arrived in Lulea where our bus to Haparanda was awaiting us.  Apparently, we are so far north we are less than 1000kms from the North Pole yet it is 31° in the shade!

The train bound for Oulu only takes one hour and ten minutes and again we have a few hours spare before our next train.  As in Kemi the hours flew by as we walked round enjoying the sights.  The city is very quiet and relaxed and we have already started planning a return visit!  Since it was still about 27/28° at 22:00 we found shade in a shop and wrote our postcards to home.

Before long our train bound for Helsinki pulled in to the station and its time to say goodbye to Oulu.  Unfortunately there was a drunk ice hockey player in our carriage who ensured that we had another sleepless night.

Wednesday 12^th June – Day 10

We arrived in Helsinki at 07:00 and by now I had gone 48 hours with no sleep and was no longer able to focus my eyes properly on objects!  Because of this Sean took control of trying to find our hostel and our ten minute walk from the train station ended up taking one hour and forty minutes!  Thanks Sean.

When we arrived at the hostel we both had showers and managed to get past the ‘woman-at-the-till’ and have a free breakfast.  At the breakfast table we got talking to an American girl called Jasmine who offered to show us Helsinki as she knows the city well.

Once we had checked in and went up to our dorm we met an Australian called Campbell who wanted to join us in our trip to Estonia.

We went down to the port and booked our ferry tickets for tomorrow.  After this we went on a trek all over the city seeing the sights without getting lost due to Jasmine’s local knowledge.  We went to a modern art place called the ‘Cable Factory Museum’ and then an open air concert to celebrate Helsinki’s 452^nd birthday.

We all eventually crawled into bed, after I’d cooked us all a tremendous cheap chicken curry, at midnight.  By this stage I’d had no sleep for 62 hours and had to get up at 05:30 for our ferry!  Needless to say, I went out like a light.

Thursday 13^th June – Day 11

Having had just five hours sleep we dragged ourselves out of our beds and set off for our ferry.  Having gone through customs we got ourselves some good seats on the boat so that we could take a few last snapshots of Helsinki.

The ferry crossing went quickly and before we knew it we were moored up in the Estonian docks.  After going through customs we set about finding a cash point to get some Kroons and our hostel.  We did both with surprising ease.

The hostel itself was just like an old-fashioned B&B and the lady at reception greeted us with “give me your passports and your money!”  Welcome to Estonia!

Once we had checked in Campbell, Sean and myself started trekking around the medieval part of the city.  To say it was beautiful would be an understatement!  Before we knew it we had trekked for six hours!  We felt it was time to eat so we went out for some peppered steaks which came to only £4!  We ate like kings.  Afterwards we went out for some beers and found a pub called ‘Hell Hunt’ which played great live music.  Including our meal, entry fee and beers we only spent £10!  We left the pub at 02:00 and went in search of a cash machine to book another night in Tallinn.  We found one and got 500 Kroons each except for Campbell who got 5000 Kroons (about £200).  Oops!  After that we headed off to our beds.

One thing I forgot to mention was our bus adventure.  We tried to go from the central bus station back to our hostel but ended up in a small village outside of Tallinn.  The deprivation was a real eye opener and in a way I’m glad we saw it.  As soon as we could though we got the first bus back to Tallinn because the locals were taking an interest in us and we didn’t feel safe.

Overall though, I would say today had been our best since our trip started.

Friday 14^th June – Day 12

Our partying went on into the small hours and it was no surprise that no one woke up until midday.

Once we were all up Campbell and I decided that we should explore the city.  Sean decided to go back to bed!  I have to say that Sean really missed out because we made incredible finds at almost every turn.  During the afternoon we were walking along on the main road when we heard Police sirens.  Before long Police bikes had sped round the bend and moved all the traffic out of the way.  Shortly afterwards we saw a convoy of official looking cars with bulletproof glass.  In one of these cars was Vladimir Putin the Russian Presidant.  What was he doing in Estonia?

After that excitement we decided to head up to the quiet surroundings of Tallinn castle.  We spent the rest of the day in the vicinity of the castle.

We got back to the hostel at almost 19:00 to find Sean still asleep!  Poor boy, he’d only had 18 hours sleep today.  We woke Sean up (no mean feat) and headed off for another inexpensive grilled steak.

Again we decided to go to Hell Hunt where an Estonian blues band were playing.  It was a great atmosphere and a great night was had by all – especially Campbell.  A charming Estonian girl called Evilly chatted Campbell up and gave him her phone number!  It was obviously something to do with his pink shirt that he was wearing.  When the concert finished at 02:00, we crawled back home and fell asleep before our heads touched our pillows.

Saturday 15^th June – Day 13

Having woken up early and had a large breakfast I set out to find a laundrette, hairdressers and someone who sold nail clippers.  After three hours of trekking around I managed to get my laundry done but failed with my other two tasks.  Never mind, I returned to the hostel to find the other two just getting up.  Once they had readied themselves we went out for some lunch and then tagged onto the back of a guided tour and saw the sights of the city.

We decided that if we could we would get a bus to Tartu tomorrow and so planned on having an early night.

We went to a rather fetching pub and I had Russian meat soup and grilled chicken with cheese sauce (Russian style apparently) with a Diet Coke for £4.28!  I could get used to this!  We wanted to get an early start the next day if possible so we went to bed at 22:30.

Sunday 16^th June – Day 14

We woke up early this morning and spent all our time with two Finnish girls called Inkeri and Heini who were telling us where to go in the Baltics.

Having had breakfast with the girls we wished them and Tallinn farewell as it was time to move on to Tartu.  Campbell was still disappointed that he didn’t get to speak to his Evilly but it was time for us all to move on.

The bus journey itself was cheap (£2) and covered 190kms in only two hours and fifteen minutes.  Having got off the bus we decided to book into the hostel across the road and then trek around the town.  Tartu is known for its university and student lifestyle (like home!) and so we took a look at all the university buildings.  We found a student bar that offered Argentinean grilled pork and a pint of Saku for 49 Kroons (£1.96) so needless to say that’s what we had for tea!

With our bus bound for Riga departing at 06:45 we went to bed at 21:00 in preparation for our early start.

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