Tue 20/07/10 08:22

I took off this morning on a hike that I really didn’t know the destination… I knew that there were some things that I had read about in the Lonely Planet, like the Esplanade, but that was about it. If you know me, you know that I love pretty much everything about the water, the color, the smell, and the idea of it taking you far away, there really isn’t too much bad to say about the water, so I wanted to see that too. It didn’t take me too long to find both.

The Esplanade is best described as a market place with vendors selling everything from fish to t-shirts, and is situated in front of a dock that has sightseeing boats leaving to other cities and the zoo. Although it still wasn’t at the level as some of the other marketplaces that I’ve been to, like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, there was a nice, quiet feel to it. I didn’t buy anything except a postcard, but I think I’ll head back tomorrow and look for a shirt as a little souvenir. I also want to go on a boat tour of some of the islands, and that is where they leave from. So tomorrow I’ll be back.

I also walked along a portion of the waterfront eventually ending at a small coffee shop for a latte and a view of the boats coming in and out. Very peaceful.

On my way back to the hostel I stopped to get my boat ticket to Stockholm. I don’t know why, but back when I was in Russia I priced tickets and it was very expensive to travel from Helsinki to Stockholm, but it really isn’t. It’s not cheap, but it’s nowhere close to as expensive as I remember. So, Thursday night I leave for Stockholm on a 12-hour ferry ride. It should be fun.

I still haven’t made up my mind yet about Helsinki, there is something that is really nice about it, but it doesn’t seem to have very much liveliness to it. The women are beautiful though, and that’s always a plus. J Maybe tonight if I can stay up longer than 9pm (sad isn’t it?) I can go out and see some of Helsinki’s nightlife, One of the things that I really like though is that when you go to a store, or pretty much anywhere you’re greeted with “hey” At first I thought that it was the same as our “hey” but so many people did it, that it may be something other that that, maybe it’s the Finnish way of saying, “yes” or something… when I have internet, I’ll look it up.

It’s only about noon right now, and I’m trying to decide whether I should have a beer now or head out for some more sightseeing. The Fins take their beer seriously too, so maybe to show my support for their culture, I should have at least one before I head out again…