Day 24: Last day in Helsinki
We have learned so much from these days in this capital city and are now ready to move on to fresh adventures. We discovered the markets straight across the road from our hotel which are used by the locals so although there were some tourist souvenir traps on offer, mainly there was a vast array of produce. Does NZ have such an enticing  selection ? I think not. All just so colorful. One section was an acreage of flowers the like of which we have not seen before. I suppose they will all be sold by the end of the day. Surprising - there aren't that many people in Finland let alone this area of Helsinki.

At 3pm we climbed into a taxi and drove into the Silja Line ferry terminal which was packed by travellers looking forward to their night of cruising, feasting, gambling and boozing which seems to be what everybody else enjoys. Obviously they are all very experienced and swarmed on board taking control of their leisure time pursuits. INCREDIBLE! Way beyond our experience even though we have done several overnight crossings. Nobody seemed to be terribly interested in the spectacular sights sailing from Helsinki. It was great for us to be able to pick out numbers of areas we had visited from this bird's eye perspective on the 12th deck at the bow.

We had paid a ridiculous amount to enjoy the luxury of a deluxe cabin and we were not disappointed. There was plenty of room for us and our luggage and a large window. Of course once we had sailed into the Baltic there was nothing to see but but the sea, however as I'm writing this we're sailing through the Archipelago Sea into Sweden. I was woken at 4.30am on Friday 13th by my Albany Toyota dealer asking if my car was going alright. I had not bothered to turn my phone off last night so paid the price. Imagine my response. "I don't really know. I haven't  driven it for a month. I'm sailed between Helsinki and Stockholm and sincerely trust my Toyota isn't going at all." Poor man. However, I was grateful to him because I managed to capture the very first tip of the Archipelago at 4.45am. I would have missed that without him.

Now as I'm writing this I am sitting drinking in the most wonderful scenery unspoiled by humans. The world is my oyster. I'll end here and continue taking endless photos until breakfast is served. We seem to have bought a de luxe breakfast as well with our tickets. Peter hopes that includes toast and marmalade. Speaking of food, I forgot to mention our phenomenal meal last night. We stumbled upon a restaurant which offered an array of breads as starters. The waiter was impressed by the 5 breads on offer, but then of course I got cheeky and asked if there was any gluten free bread. Certainly Madame, and back he came with 2 breads which were so far beyond my taste experience. Italian. The gf bread selection throughout Scandinavia has been extremely poor, but I discovered the ultimate gf bread produced by our Italian chef. Bellisimo. I could have made a whole meal of that and not bothered with the delicacies that followed.

Now I'll stop and soak in the view.

Day 25: Friday 13 July - Stockholm
We were extremely relieved to see Peter's friend standing waiting for us as we disembarked from the ferry along with 2,000 other passengers. He whisked us into his wagon and proceeded to drive us around showing us more amazing sights that we certainly had not seen during our first visit. We stopped at the Kaknas Tower , the communications tower built to intercept Russian cold war. It is still in use today although not for military purposes. The temperature had risen to 29C and from the Tower we could look out to Russia. Awesome.

He then took us to the  huge IKEA warehouse where all the flatpack furniture is stored. We were delighted that Lawrence could join us for lunch there. He had a half-day as his factory is now closed down for the three week summer break. What perfect timing! We were fascinated to stroll around floor after floor of this warehouse looking at the wide range of IKEA products all arranged in showrooms giving customers ideas for furnishing their own apartments.  Peter was fascinated by all the possibilities for his "shed" that he bought earlier this year.

We then needed to go to a bag shop to replace the case that the Oslo customs had cut into during their 2 hour investigation of our coach and contents. Lawrence located a perfect store for us and we now have three cases to use for our flight home next week.

It was such a relief to arrive at the house in the burbs where we will be staying for a couple of nights before moving down to the summerhouse in the Archipelago with all the family. There is no wifi connection down there so the blog and fb photos are coming to an end, but our holiday continues.