Day 17 - Saturday May 6, 2017 - Stockholm

We leave Helsinki this evening on the 5.30 pm Viking Line ferry to Stockholm, so have until mid-afternoon to amuse ourselves. No rush and no alarms this morning, so we’re able to have a lie-in before venturing out.

We didn’t wake up that early and so by the time we had lazed about, finally got up and washed and dressed and I’d finished updating yesterday’s diary, it was almost 11 o’clock. We head down a few blocks to Karl Fazer Cafe for a coffee and a sticky bun. If you are offered a chocolate in Finland (on the plane, with your coffee etc.) chances are it’ll be Karl Fazer (and very good they are). After coffee, we headed back to the Stockmann department store for a look round and then headed over to the Kamppi Chapel of Silence for a few minutes of quiet contemplation. Run by the churches in Helsinki, it is made entirely of wood. We’ve been there before and it is certainly a unique building. No services, as such, are held there and it is just intended for people to visit for a few minutes of peace and quiet, particularly as it is next door to the Kamppi shopping centre.

Having checked out the tram timetables, we concluded we needed to get a tram from the same stop we used yesterday, albeit this time a # 5 and going in the opposite direction, as the ferry terminal we need this afternoon is on the eastern side of town, and not on the western side from where the Tallinn ferries leave. Looking at the tram timetable, it appears that it only runs in the 2 hours or so before the ferry leaves (or arrives) – it runs for a couple of hours (every 8 – 10 minutes or so) then takes a break for a couple of hours before running again for a couple of hours before taking a break again etc.