Last full day in Helsinki

Saturday

7 September 

Day 69

27 to go

We enjoyed a lazy start to our day. We were up at 8.30am enjoying our morning breakfast and taking it slow. We managed to video call with Jaden, while he and Rayah were at our home, which was lovely. It won’t be long now and our second grand daughter will arrive. 

With the call complete, we gathered our things together, ready for a walk around the city, and were out the door at 10am. A late start for us, but seems it was still early for the Finnish people, as the streets were unusually quiet. 

We walked across the front of the train station and then passed over a main road, heading for the Moss Children. Yesterday, we saw one on the roof of a building, but it turns out there were three more to be found in the courtyard space behind. We wandered between them and the jigsaw puzzle covered lumps that are actually skylights for the metro below. Being earlyish, we had the place almost to ourselves and were free to climb the mounds and take in the elevated views. 

Satisfied with our start, we then continued our walk through the city buildings in search of the Bad Bad Boy sculpture that we had seen on our arrival. It was a little bit of a hike and the distance was extended when we went in the wrong direction, but we got there in the end. 

The sculpture is of a very tall, pink, naked boy who is busy taking a sneaky pee in the street. When we saw him on Tuesday, there was a steady stream of water, but today it was just a dribble. 

Happy with our morning exercise, we returned to the room, via the most direct root and after stopping at a supermarket for lunch bits.We were back for midday, glad to have a chance to sit and eat for a while.

At 1pm, we ventured out again, this time to wander through the park lands behind us and to then walk around a small harbour, surrounded by grass land. The park behind is undergoing maintenance, so we couldn’t walk through as planned, but eventually we located the water and we were able to walk the circumference, along with many other locals, who were out enjoying the glorious sunshine. 

We were back at the room by 1.45pm and happy to sit in front of the TV and watch some of the NBL blitz. The basketball is back! Tomppa messaged with our meetup location and when the game was done, we made our way to SalamaNation brewery, somewhere we had passed in our travels this morning. 

It was busy hosting the Mikkeller Running Club, but we were able to locate a free table inside and then wait for Tomppa and Mia to join us. We didn’t have to wait long and then we spent the next couple of hours drinking and chatting. Tomppa let us know that he could take us to the boat tomorrow, which we were very grateful for. No trams or cobbles to negotiate. 

After drinks, we moved on to Pizza and Bubbles for dinner. We all ordered our own meals and struggled to finish them, when the large pizzas arrived. Satisfied with our lovely afternoon, we said goodbye and made our way back home for our last evening. Sauna and bed.