waiting, waiting for things to upload blah blah blah...
A good day Wednesday the 21st... little late up and out about noon but i made good use of the transit pass for about 8 tram and metro rides to city center and down to the harbor and cruise area's... saw the Allas sauna and outdoor pool where yes people were acting like it was a summer day tho it was about low 50s. Walked quite a bit saw senate square and the statue of Aleksander the Great and the tourist information office right across the street from there. Stopped in there got good maps and information about ferry options to Tallinn, i had thought i would take the Tallink Silja line but the info lady kept saying Viking Viking... so i looked online and yes they were cheaper have no idea what it will be like but Viking also advertises cargo the pic shows tractor trailers loading onto the ship there's room for 2500 people and 300 cars if you can believe that so one little guy with a suitcase is not a big deal for them... anyway i booked my trip later for about $40 saturday morning 10:30-1:30 or so... i know that's 3 hours it's a 2 hour cruise supposedly but we will see they say boarding opens 90 minutes prior and i'm about 30 minutes tops from there since i have tram line in front of the apartment and they run every 12 minutes or so just one transfer from the 6 or 7 to the 4 or 5 to get to the Viking point of departure.
lots of pics today it's a really pretty city busy people walking, biking, outdoors everywhere it's unusually warm for this time of year, expected to last another day or two. Not one, i mean ONE spec of trash or litter anywhere on the streets in 2 days of walking around. it is so clean everyone is so well mannered and polite, have not heard a raised voice or seen any distress anywhere, well a few sorry looking immigrant and homeless types mooching money around the train station and metro stops but only 2 or 3 in total since i got here.
The City Center is quite nice you can see it's compact, the University of Helsinki sits right there next to Senate square a few blocks away from the harbor and the City Center shopping center is next to that, and the central train station blocks from there, the massive Oodi library and central gathering plaza with the performing arts center nearby as well.
Did some shopping at the city center mall it's a regular mall upstairs with a bunch of food places around at ground level and down below is a whole nother level of shopping and food places, bargain stores and the metro so it's quite a busy place. Saw only 2 police in uniform all day by the metro station entry but everyone seems to be so well behaved Well at the end of the day after dark i guess i was out til about 10 or so and the young people were out drinkiing everywhere lots of outdoor cafes and bars and i guess it's normal even tho chilly they youngsters i guess college age and up had these wierd jagermeister pants on with all kinds of designs and patchwork? i didn't get too close enough to check them out but i must have seen 50 or more people here there and everywhere out on maybe it's wednesday night drinking night ? or they get a discount i don't know but they were all hanging out with these pants on... a guy was on the tram going home when i went back up to Kallio, that's the part of town i'm staying in, he looked to be 30 something with a beard and all, but other than the large Jagermeister stripe down his leg i couldn't read any of the other things on there...
I came back for dinner and rested a bit then went back out to see the Oodi library before it closed at 9 and it was unlike any library you ever saw, 3 levels it's shaped like a snowdrift i guess some of the floors and ceilings are angled really sharp and there's a double helix circular stairway in the center, a restaurant on the ground floor and another cafe on the 3rd floor, about 20 chess tables in the main lobby and lots of soft comfy chairs and sofas everywhere on each level. There was a gaming area and workshops where they have sewing machines and large format printers and there were a lot of people in there even past 830. I browsed around and there were many english language books around in the stacks, i went through a music area where there were shelves of sheet music like "rock songs for cello" etc... and i saw a dvd of Jeff Beck live in Tokyo recorded in 2014 which would be a good one to watch i didn't see if they have a place for that but I would have checked that out if i could.
Well enjoy the pics and email or text if you have any questions, it's a beautiful city with all the water and the trees are all turning lots of golden yellow mixed with the evergreens that one park looked kinda plain til you got in there close and see the winter plants in the planters, never saw anything like that before but they look very pretty and durable ! ... I stayed up til 215am part of the plan to get back on normal routine and i slept til 915 so a little late to start the day now but it's only my 3rd day here and already i'm starting to get into the rhythm, tho my ai bot says i will get tired of packing and unpacking in a few stops so far so good and looking forward to Tallinn can't decide i thought i would do Hyatt place since they have a deal and i get extra points for a free night in the future, and it's $58 a night last time i saw and they have a laundry but also i saw about 7 nice Air bnb's which it's nice to have the extra space and kitchen and live like a local, one near old town in a old limestone building has my eye but it's ono the fifth floor gotta make sure there's an elevator but more on that later tonight, now i am gonna get ready and go find a rental bike the info center had a map of bike routes the rental was $12 for a week and only one hour rides, but you can go up to 5 hours for an extra 1€ per hour after that... just don't go over 5 hrs or it's 80€ fine! Oh didn't mention bike paths and lanes are everywhere, separated from traffic and pedestrian sidewalks most of the time, the routes they show if you look on a map of helsinki go along the water coast lines which should be scenic and good fresh air! may even see a big ship sail !
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