Lee and Clare, The road home

Estonia - After The Ferry Ride.

23^rd September 2003

Hello there all!

We are now in Tallinn in Estonia and keeping pretty busy. Tonight we head over to Russia on the night train - a bit scary, but it should be an adventure.

Last E-mail we were a bit damp and tired in Vasteras. The next day Yvonne kindly dropped as at the bus station and we went into Stockholm. Nice to walk around Gamla Stan (the Old Town) for the third time, even though it was raining. They were having a memorial that day for Anna Lindh the foreign minister who had been stabbed to death a week or so before in a big department store. We checked out this store and there was a huge flower tribute outside and people queueing to sign the book of condolence. Quite poignant and sad.

Neil had rang to find us the best deal on the ferry over to Helsinki. Unfortunately this was a bit more than we expected as it was a Friday night. It was cheaper to buy a "cruise", ie there and back than just one way. So we wasted the return bit. It was a massive boat. We were expecting it to be a bit of a party boat, but there seemed to be a lot of older people on it. The dance floor was filled with middle aged couples and it had funny neon 80s types lights on it. We opted to have a sauna and spa to relax, but this didn't turn out as 3 very drunk tossers from Norway got in the spa with us as soon as we got in. Arghhh!! They just talked a load of bollocks at us all at the same time; we couldn't even think!

Our cabin was the cheapest possible, right down under the car decks and as close to the engine room as you could get. It was okay though, except maybe when the boat was coming into Helsinki Harbour in the morning and the engine was making a lot of noise!!

The hostel in Helsinki was a two minute walk from the boat which was great because our packs weigh about 19kgs each. We were so tired mentally and physically when we were in Helsinki, just everything catching up with us from the past few weeks we think. Luckily there wasn't really that much to see there from a tourist perspective. We did like the market where they sold all sorts furry things. Whole reindeer skins, hats made out of whole fox fur, with the head of the fox on the front and the tail at the back which you could wrap around your neck for its warmth. Saw lots of minks furs, very soft! We bought some lingonberries which we found were very yummy with yoghurt and on our breakfast cereal!

We did a good bit of stuffing around, having lunch, walking around town. It was nice to get back to our hostel early and chill out for a while, reading a book, sorting out papers. We needed a bit of normality we think, and an early night!!

And a sleep in, which we got as we didn't have to check out of our hostel till 12, and our next boat didn't leave till 12.30. It was 3 hours over to Tallinn. We had a nice walk into the old town with our packs on to our hostel. We now believe there is a pain barrier when it comes to carrying our packs. Once you go over the threshold, everything's just numb and you can just keep walking.

Nice hostel right in town. Had a few drinks with a kiwi guy. Lee of course sampled the local beer - Saku, and Clare discovered a new drink - Vanilla Vodka with apple juice, yum yum.

Today we've done a fair bit of walking around the Old Town and got on a tram a bit out of the centre to have a look at some of the suburbs - discovered 100 or more year old wooden houses and the summer palace of Peter the Great.

We're going to look a bit more arond the Old Town this evening and find somewhere nice to spend our Estonian Krone on dinner. Our train to St Petersburg leaves at 11pm, we were happy that we managed to buy the tickets from someone who spoke no English, it bodes well for Russia (we hope).

So next email from Russia (with love).

Clare and Lee