Day 22: Helsinki
Today was Peter's huge adventure involving a taxi, two trains and a bus to get to the military aviation museum. And back again. I have had a couple of texts to say it's all happened in as planned but have not actually seen him since last night. My huge adventure was getting to Marks  and Spencers. And back again.  I won't bore you with the details.  Suffice it to say I am now safely back in the hotel with a bargain,having thiroughlyenjoyed another proscetto to wash down my meatballs

What I thought you may be interested in is firstly the women here who are heavy smokers and even more heavily tattooed. To add to this, many of them dye their hair in the most garish colours. They don't seem to bother about matching their clothing accordingly. I find the whole image extremely aggressive. Many of them wear heavy working boots even though it is mid-summer. I guess it is the heavy metal influence but it is exceedingly unattractive. I have spent the day snooping around the summer sales but the clothes are very unappealing to me. Good. Saves temptation.

The other bit you may be interested in is our hotel which is the only one in our trip that we have complained about. We could not stay in the room they'd given us as it was entirely impractical. So they have now put us in the Super plus room which is another €100 per night. Peter negotiated them down to €25 per night thank goodness. We have paid for all 5 nights but could not cope in the tiny black cupboard they call an economy room.

The story goes that this Siltasaari are was established in the 1830s and some of those stone buidings are still in use today. A wallpaper factory was built originally on this site, but in 1885 it was forced to close and move to St Petersburg.  The building was then converted to a huge circus building seating 2,000 spectators. But then when circus animals were banned the building was demolished and a hotel built on the site. This has been recently redesigned celebrating the stars of the Siltasari circus including the six cycling lions and dancing horses. The reception  area and lobby are playfully decorated in circus style patterns. It all sounds such a good concept but all the walls, ceiling and floor are black.  560 black rooms. Incredible! There have been so many complaints that management have started on the top floor in the superior plus suites and painted the ceilings cream and put wallpaper on a couple of feature walls. But even the wallpaper has either broad black stripes or solid black circus figures of lions, bears. Truly extraordinary.

Peter has just walked in after his 16 hour adventure so I'll sign off and we'll disappear to the bar.