Scandinavia was beginning to bore me?! Good lord, whatever next.

Well, it seems that the drizzle in one Baltic country is the same as the drizzle in any other Baltic country. The drenching I got in Oslo seems to think that it’s funny to follow me through Sweden, Finland and now even to Estonia, where the sky remains resolutely grey and morose.

But enough of that – I’m in Estonia! This is delightful for two reasons: firstly, Scandinavia was starting to bore me, I felt like I was getting bogged down, and wanted a change of scenery, ex-Soviet style; and secondly, I can get an all-you-can-eat lunch here for roughly one pound twenty. Hoorah, I can once more afford to eat!

So, what happened after my last email… I spent a couple of extra days in Stockholm, a city which I’ve decided to marry if ever it becomes legal to join oneself in holy matrimony to a metropolitan sprawl. I didn’t do much else, to be honest – took a couple of photos that had been previously denied to me when my last batch of films ran out, ate with people I met at the hostel, and generally relaxed and recuperated. On the evening of the second day I caught the ferry to Helsinki.

Now, I’m not a fan of boats at the best of times. Hell, truth be told, I have a peculiar aversion to most forms of long distance travel, but there’s something about boats, especially those massive ocean-going liners, that really strikes the dread into me. And this ship was BIG, let me tell you, rising as high as nine or ten stories out of the water, which itself was a reason for worry; I’m no marine architect, but I’m pretty sure that when something’s height exceeds its width by such a vast amount, its stability can basically go bye-bye, and even if that ISN’T the case, then surely it would need a bigger draw under the water to compensate? And how deep is the harbour, anyway? So it couldn’t have been THAT much… these, friends, were the thoughts that were going through my head as I boarded this monstrosity. They left as soon as I was on board, though. From the moment I got on board until the moment I left, I was thinking only about how I would escape in the event of a disaster, how much time I would have, and whether it was sensible to go to sleep or not. It was a 16 hour overnight journey, so the answer was definately “yes,” but in the event it was academic. My cabin (free, “thanks” to Interrail) was on Deck 2, the bottom deck – and, coincidentally, the deck on the exact level of the waterline against the prow of the ship. And, as my cabin was against the hull at the front, I heard every wave – and when a November wave in the Baltic Sea it’s the prow of a ship, it does not do so with a gentle little ‘swoosh,’ oh no. It goes: BANG, BANG, BANG, I WANT TO GET IN THERE AND MAKE YOU DROWNDED, BANG! So needless to say, sleep was not an issue for me that night, and very glad I was to see Helsinki the following morning as well.

Helsinki is a nice place. It reminds me a lot of Copenhagen – it’s slightly bigger, not quite as pretty, but probably more interesting at night. It does have a very interesting set of island fortresses protecting the harbour, built back in the day to protect against the oncoming Russians, but which are now marine training facilities and UNESCO listed Heritage sites. It also had some amazing buildings, displaying the range of its influences to the fullest extent. While there was an obvious degree of Soviet intervention in many of the buildings, there was also an interesting mix of modern Scandinavian and classical Slavic construction on display as well, and all arranged in a fashion that was quite unique. Interestingly, the city seemed to have grown around its docks, rather than its train station. Those with longer memories will remembered how upset I was that Brussels didn’t seem to have a river; cities, in my experience, tend to all observe certain rules, regardless of location and political affiliation, and one of them is that they are always built on water. Another, more modern one, is that the train station is always the oldest, and usually the poorest, part of town; it is here that you will find most of the people, but also the kebab shops, the sex shows, the slums. Not so Helsinki – this was a city defined by its docks, and the area around the train station was actually quite gentrified. While it was a nice place with a lot of charm and character, it didn’t have much by way of diversions, so I stayed there for a few nights then moved on.

As if to prove that I am a man who seeks to face down and conquer his fears, I took the boat from Helsinki to Tallinn, and while I did indeed fret for a lot of the way, the worst thing that happened to me was that I lost my lunch due to the choppy seas. Tallinn seems like a lot of fun, if slightly odd. In many respects, it feels like a mediterranian city – Spanish, maybe – and of all the cities I’ve seen, it most embraces its medieval, fortress past, while lurching brakeneck into the globalised, capitalist future. This is just a first impression, though. I shall see how it looks again in daylight.

Sister Sash tells me that the Ice Hotel is a no-goer, as it’s all booked up like whoa. This is a blow, for two reasons – firstly, for its own sake, as I was really looking forward to it; and secondly, because it means I miss out on Northern Scandinavia, which I had intended to do seperately when I came back. But such is life – I intent to return to Norway on a hiking excursion anyway, so I’ll get my opportunity, I’m sure. Now I just need to find something else to cash in my birthday credit for. Decisions decisions!

Right, gotta go eat. Keep well, and let me know your news!