Helsinki by foot

Some of you know what I mean by that title. Perhaps it should be Helsinki by forced march. Anyway, we did have a great day today. It started out a little rocky, at least for me. We got up at 6 am, having gone to bed at 1 am. I slept fitfully some of that time. It didn't get darkish until after 1, and by 3 it was already quite light.

Breakfast at the hotel began at 6:30, and we were at the gate before it opened. What a fantastic spread - there was everything you could imagine for breakfast and then some - porridge, with butter and cream, scrambled eggs, bacon, two other kinds of cooked meat, little rice pies that looked like small, oval quiches, served with "egg butter" which was sort of like egg salad, then there were cold deli meats, 3 kinds of fish - the picked silt, herring in mustard sauce, and a smoked, peppered mackeral, there were 2 fruit soups, with plan yoghurt and strawberry yoghurt, and there was fruit salad, and green salad. Then there were the breads - everything from small, delicate looking croissants to coarse farmstyle rye bread, and cardamon buns; of course there were cheeses, jams, marmalade, and juices, and coffee and tea. It was truly a feast.

Too bad it was so early on the first morning, because after eating I felt both exhausted and kind of sickish. Jet lag hits me that way sometimes, so then we went out and walked along the lake in front of our hotel for about 30 minutes. I thought I would feel better, but I didn't, I actually felt worse. So we were going back to the hotel anyway to get ready to go out for the day, so I decided to try to sleep a little more, and when I woke up 20 minutes later I felt much, much better.

Peter was champing at the bit to get going, so off we went. I think we really did walk just about all over Helsinki. First we walked about 3/4 of a mile to the railway station to try to buy a map, (we had several, but Peter wanted a different one). They don't sell maps at the rrs, but we did buy a newspaper and some postcards. So then we walked to the University Botanical Garden, just a few blocks away. The architecture in Helsinki is absolutely astounding, especially on a day like today. More later, I think I'll go sauna.