MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
DATE: JUNE 30, 2008
PLACE: MOLLY MALONE’S, HELSINKI, FINLAND
I had never been on a boat before, so we hopped a ferry from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland to spend an afternoon before flying from Helsinki back to Herzogenaurach, Germany. The ride was very comfortable and the view wasn’t too bad, either.
View from Tallinn to Helsinki Ferry
Once we disembarked, we wandered the residential neighborhood a little bit in search of a place to eat. Not finding much, we walked in the opposite direction and found a big street fair right on the waterfront where I bought some gifts and we ate reindeer.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Hotdog
Torikeidas: Home of Edible Reindeer
The Molly Malone’s in Estonia happened to have a sister bar in Helsinki, so we slowly wandered our way through the city and made our way towards it. We happened to pass an English-language bookstore, and stopped in to find some new reading material for the upcoming flight from Germany back to Seattle. I ended up getting Don Quixote, but I was amused to find a Sweet Valley High book:
Sweet Valley High
Aside from the fact the city generally smelled like sewage (others claim it does not usually smell this way, so maybe we were there on sewer-cleaning day), walking around was very pleasant. There were lots to see, including choreographed dance performances and dancing boogers:
Dancing Children
Dancing Booger
The weather was excellent, which didn’t hurt. We finally walked to Molly Malone’s and slid into a booth for a couple of cold pints of Guinness. Yum!
Molly Malone's in Helsinki
Guinness at Molly Malone's in Helsinki
Me at Molly Malone's
At the end of the afternoon, we hopped in a cab and headed for the airport, which had a significant amount of shopping and, more importantly, a Moomin!
Damon with a Moomin
All in all, Helsinki was a fun afternoon.
As always, thanks to Damon for photographing the trip. Make sure to check out all his photos from Helsinki.
