Day 2: Helsinki sightseeing

My Flight out of Helsinki was at 17.25 so I took the opportunity to take a look around the city after a late breakfast. 

Banksy has been in the news for “arting up” (I didn’t want to call it graffiti) a phone box just a few streets from where I live so I went in search of Helsinki’s Banksi and found....

I only had 2 and a half hours before I needed to get the 615 back to HEL and was underwhelmed by Helsinki. It was a grey day and it started raining which did not help things. Like any European city there were lots of trams, are we missing a trick in the UK or are they just terrible day to day? I didn't get one on this occasion as I needed the exercise so off I went ground pounding.

I found a coal fired power station just a few minutes stroll from the city centre on the water which made me chuckle with all the smog that’s been around in urban parts of the UK recently.

 The picture was taken from a little island which was home to a 'dog playground' where owners take their dogs into a fenced area and there are all sorts of tunnels and chopped down trees for them to play with. It was well used even on a cold day.

I found the Finnish people very calm, very polite and calm.

Apart from a few interesting bits of architecture including the train station (above) I didn't really get to grips with what it has to offer - 2 hours is really not enough to get to grips with a place.

Most of the cars had studded tyres although there was no snow to be seen.

Back to the hotel to collect my bags and catch the bus to the airport at which point it was exactly 24 hours since my first flight took off. Lots of enthusiasm remaining.

There isn’t much flying for my first 2 days, I’m not sure if it’s better to have time between the flights or not. I’ll soon find out as from Tuesday morning I’ll complete LCY-JFK-LAX-HNL-LAX-MCO-MIA-STT in 63 hours.