London 8/9 December 2007

Owing to the possibility of engineering works delaying our journey, we caught the 6am train to London and, in consequence, arrived very early. Even after a second breakfast at Paddington, we arrived at the O2 Centre an hour before Mary and Tim could be expected to emerge. When they finally arrived they looked decidedly worse for wear having been drinking cocktails in the Savoy the night before.

Tutanhkamun exhibition was interesting. http://www.superbreak.com/go/RH089/tutankhamun-exhibition/about.htm People queued appallingly badly but we managed to get round without needing embalming.

After lunch we tried to get into The Ritz but failed on account of our being unsuitably dressed. And the Royal Academy on account of the Friends Room being closed for refurbishment. So we gave up and went to the hotel.

Dinner with Mary and Tim at Smollensky's on The Strand.

A late start on Sunday, so late in fact that Mary and Tim beat us to The British Museum, a feat unparalleled in living memory.

The Terracotta Warriors exhibition was fascinating, housed in the old library. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/the_first_emperor.aspx Like the Tutanhkamun exhibition it was dramatically lit in a darkened space and the queuing again left much to be desired.

A whistlestop tour failed to justice to the museum (Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles only).

Then off to the Masters tennis at the Albert Hall. http://www.theblackrockmasters.com/ Highlight the mens' doubles final, won by Mansour Bahrami and Henri Leconte. We didn't buy the DVD!

We were booked on the 8.07pm train back but it was cancelled. Fortunately we were early and so got the late-running 7.27pm train and changed onto a bus service at Swindon which actually got us home at more or less the expected time.

Tallin 18 November 2007

Later start on Sunday morning. Tallinn old town is very compact and much prettier than Helsinki. It isn't as cold either though we still took every opportunity to get inside to warm ourselves up.

The City Museum had an excellent display on how the Communist propaganda obscured the truth about the occupation of Estonia. The curator, who had lived through the Second World War, explained how the Red Army conscripted men at the start of the war and how the occupying Nazi forces conscripted men later so that brothers could end up fighting on opposite sides.




Made our way up the Toompea Hill for excellent views over the city. The Toomkirk has a bizarre private chapel like a railway carriage set half way up one wall overlooking the pulpit.


Went into the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral while an orthodox service was taking place. It was so informal. The congregation was either crowding round the priests at the front or else sat chatting around the perimeter of the church.

Lunch was a mediaeval banquet using traditional foods (at last something vaguely local even if it was actually Hanseatic League German tradition).

Ridiculously early for the flight home but switching to the preceding flight would cost £200 which is a bit excessive when the original cost was less than £60. So we didn't bother.

Helsinki 17 November 2007

Got up ridiculously early after our late arrival and got a taxi to the Nordic Jet Line ferry terminal to catch the early morning ferry to Helsinki. http://www-eng.njl.fi/

Jennifer Susan slept most of the hour and 40 minute crossing of the Gulf of Finland, which was flat as the proverbial millpond.

Entered Helsinki's narrow harbour shortly after dawn as the weak winter sun filtered through the clouds. Cold and snow greeted us, but very few people.


Visited the orthodox Uspenski Cathedral first, glad to get into the warm. Then made our way across the practically deserted Senate Square to the Lutheran Tuomiokirkko, which in contrast to the gilt dripping icons of the orthodox church was a simple pale blue interior (though still warm).

Having taken in the Stockmann department store (largest in Europe) we finally found somewhere open for an early lunch - Iguanas, Mexican cooking...

By the time we had looked around the Finnish National Museum and found the City Museum it was already getting dark in the premature nightfall so far north.

We ate dinner (Spanish...) and got the ferry back to Tallin.

Had to try the Ice Bar at the hotel for the vodka shots in glasses made of ice.

Estonia 16 November 2007

Flew to Tallin with Estonian Air http://www.estonian-air.ee/index.php?lang=ENG. The evening flight from Gatwick was delayed while they re-configured the plane but got there ok, shortly before midnight. Taxi took us to The Merchants House http://www.merchantshousehotel.com/, a small boutique hotel in the middle of the old town.