So now we are in Stockholm and it's cold and wet. We got the ferry across from Turku. We are having a day off here and will be heading west tomorrow.
Finland continued to be a very comfortable and delightful place. Towards the end though we felt there was a touch of Pleasantville about it. Mind you we didn't get to Helsinki, where Sarah assures me I would have been able to feed my desire for graffiti. Despite the wonders of Stockholm the only internet Caff we could find doesn't support pics but we will try another later.
My love affair with the Finns nearly took a jolt at an unfortunate hotel we were obliged to stay at a few nights ago. Dinner was an eat as much as you want buffet affair. and after we were seated for a while a couple arrived with their child and sat unnecessarily close to us. They proceeded to pile plates with enormous amounts of food, and as soon as each plate was half eaten dart off and bring back a new one. I was delighted to discover that they were Russians, (and they cheated on the bill.)
Don't get me wrong (we are still going on about Russia). We had a great time on the train out of St Petersburg. We took an outgoing suburban train at 08:10 and got on in good time, parking our bikes, one in the vestibule and one in the half empty 120 seater carriage. After a few stops the carriage was swamped and then had a about 240 people jammed in, much like the Northern Line on a bad Monday morning. There was not a single moan from anyone as we juggled the bikes around to let people on and off. People were tripping over the bikes, getting their bags caught in the handlebars, which everyone thought was very funny. Perhaps all those years of communism has given the people a capacity to suffer with good humour.
Da di da, dida, dida (for those Archers fans ...)
If you are on the edge of your seat for the latest news on Nordic haystacks - there were none in Russia but much to our delight they reappeared in Finland. Sadly we can't upload a picture but they are like miniature sugar loafs built up round a central stake. We left a rather disconcerted Finnish farmer with a strange impression of mad English people when we came across our first field and screeched to a halt and got the camera out.
Ted thinks Finnish towns were like Pleasantville - I got the distinct impression at times we were in the Truman Show and that we would be turned back at the city limits.
We were extremely lucky with the weather - beautiful clear skies and warm sunshine. However rain returned yesterday on the way over to Sweden. The morning newspaper here had headline news about the "Skyfallen" in England. That sounds a bit turky lurky but there were pictures of Tewkesbury under feet of water. The ferry trip was brilliant. 11 hours through the Aland island and the Swedish archipelago - quite exciting as we had a grandstand view from seats in the caff right at the front of the boat. The channel at times was incredibly narrow and the ferry only just fitted between the channel marker buoys - woe betide any little yacht that wasn't keeping a good look out behind them (and there were several). If you should ever want to got to Stockholm, and are not in a hurry, go to Turku and get the boat over. It only cost us 51 Euros and that included the bikes. It was a great day out.
Ted has just bought me a Guardian so I'm off for a read.
