Wednesday: Hanko, Fiskars and Helsinki

Why do I think of Hancocks Half Hour?  Hanko is the sunniest part of Finland – and the most southerly point – beautiful town.  It is where the important Russians built really elegant villas for their girlfriends in the early 1900s.  They are named after the girls – Villa Eva, Villa Katrina, etc. etc.  We parked overnight – on a marina…  They did not tell us that the Finnish Navy fired huge salvos from the port out to sea – towards Russia – every morning ! The ground shook – the earth moved at each round !  A good visit though…. on to…..

 

Fiskars and Fiagra!

Fiscars town, home of the Orange handled scissors – would youze believe it!  Ironworks, crafty things ? A bit overdone and not enough explanations about how it all worked.  A bit of an excuse for another set of craft shops.

But we are increasingly aware of strange signs on the Finnish roads….. How about this one –

Eternal Erection!  Now I dont know what they are advertising, but if it’s for sale – say no more….

 

Drive onto Helsinki

A good drive into central Helsinki during rush hour – very busy – Satnav could have taken us on the ring road but no – we do it the hard way…  Very good campsite – we have to actually fork out some spondulix!

 

Day 40: Thursday and a Jamescalator!

Up early next morning and off we went on our bikes to meet our greeter Irmeli ! Now how do you get a bicycle up from the Metro platform to street level ? Ask James – you don’t use the lift – too easy that way… You put the bike on the up escalator and step on to follow – then you suddenly let go the bike – bike follows the gravitational pull – good old Isaac Newton and his apple….  James cartwheels down the escalator and gravity ends with James wearing the bike around his kneck! He has applied to join the Finnish State Circus ! A few scratches, bike and pride punctured…..