12.58 In through the door here at the restaurant Maestro Pizza and Kebab someone just carried a kid with a ladybug painted on one cheek. Now it's lunch before we go out to the capital's port area.

15.11 After seeing a bit more of the capital we went to the café Dagny´s at Stockholm Central Station for a cup of coffee. Right now, we hear "Oh Holy Night" from the speakers. From outside we just heard the signal, Important notice. It was just practice, we believe and hope.

16.23 We drank our coffee and went to get our backpacks. As we went up in the escalator to the City terminal, I met some former pupils on the way down. There was a short hello. We fetched our belongings and went to catch a bus. We had failed to buy tickets in advance and actually got to ride for free. We got off at the stop Värtavägen and had to walk for a short while. Once at the ferry terminal we checked in ourselves electronically and now we are in cabin 2020 on the ferry Silja Symphony. We go with Silja Line who now works together with the shipping company Tallink (http://www.tallinksilja.com). 11 years ago we went on a round trip cruise to Helsinki. This time it is just one way.

17.49 We have been on a stroll to find the spa area with bath and sauna here on the ferry. We have also been on the sundeck/moon promenade. We will soon be looking for more to do.

It is time to leave Sweden for a while.

Peter defy the cold temperature on deck.

A ferry meeting in Stockholm archipelago.

19.54 We've got a semla in the ferry's café. A semla is a bun filled with whipped cream and almond paste, It is always great to have one but these were pretty dry and we wonder how many ferry trips they have made. The ice is scraping the hull. We are now heading towards the spa Sunflower Oasis.

21.21 Warm whirlpool, Turkish bath with the scent of toothpaste and classic sauna was just what we needed. It's really nice to relax in this environment. Now we need something to eat.

23.07 The prices of food on board are on a different level than we are used to. We had a pizza slice and later a beer each. Everything else was prohibitively expensive. Now we will go to bed.

Tuesday 6th of March

CHANGING TIME ZONE

09.10 We have awoken here in our cabin and have set the watches to Finnish time. We will arrive in about an hour and a half.

10.04 The café which we had planned to have breakfast from had closed/not opened. Instead we had breakfast at the restaurant Mundo on promenade deck. During the purchase of breakfast we passed the ancient fortress of Suomenlinna outside Helsinki. It is on UNESCO's world heritage list. Unfortunately we did not have time to take photos of it.

10.22 We have stood on deck and watched our ferry arrive at the Helsinki icy harbour. Here, it is much more winter than in Stockholm.

FINLAND

10.56 We left the ferry and had a short bench break on the bench where our friend John was waiting for us. John actually lives in Gothenburg, but now he is working in Helsinki on a research position. He is stationed at the marine research laboratory, working with water samples from the Baltic. Now we ride the tram to Eläintarha. The tram´s next stop will be at Neitsypolku. Helsinki is bilingual, but it is impossible to know who understands and speaks Swedish or not. The use of English is a better. Some who can speak Swedish are the Swedish pensioners who have spread out along the entire tram and anxiously ask around about where the Swedish Theatre is located.

11.20 We got off the tram and soon switched to another one on line four towards Munkkiniemi. We just passed the equestrian statue of Mannerheim.

12.23 We have come home to John who lives on the street Paciussvängen. The front door to the apartment where he rents a room has door handle on the outside. There's nothing wrong with the door, it is supposed to be so. We sit in the kitchen, planning the day and remember old events from the past. The three of us studied at the university in Umeå in the nineties. Now it's coffee time.

Our ferry has arrived in Helsinki.

Silja Symphony's passengers are on their way out.

Peter and John in central Helsinki.

Old memories in a sunny kitchen.

John´s home street, Paciussvängen (Paciuksenkaari).

13.09 John has told us some anecdotes from Gothenburg and from his time here in Finland. We have learned a lot about bureaucracy around to come as a foreigner to Finland. This, plus the language might explain the modest immigration to this country.

15.11 An invigorating walk past the beautiful wooden houses and along Seurasaari bay to the city brought out the hunger. We are now in the area Kampin and will eat lunch buffet at Turkish-owned restaurant Kampin Pippuri (http://www.kampinpippuri.fi). We are offered; grilled chicken, kebabs, pasta and other goodies.

17.12 After the late lunch, there has been a city tour. We’ve looked up a bar that John visited at night but did not really know where it was, we have since seen the cathedral, the statue of Marshal Mannerheim and the railway station. We have also looked into a large bookstore.

Bilingual signs in the Finnish capital.

The capital's name appears below the cathedral.

View of Senate square (Senaatintori).

Mannerheim, Finnish hero.

19.16 We kept on walking before we bought gifts for our friend Tobias, who has invited us for his 40th birthday party in Stockholm this Saturday. Finally we bought a one day public transport pass each and we went back to John.

21.48 We are playing music, drinking a lot of beers and talk about this and that with John and his flat mate Erkka. John has tipped us about the upcoming Finnish blockbuster film Iron Sky. It should be about the Nazis that in 1945 established a base on the moon and now they are preparing for a comeback.

22.35 We are heading out into the Finnish evening/night. We will do a pub visit and are now waiting for tram number 4.

Wednesday 7th of March

00.55 We are home after eating supper and drinking great beer in the Czech pub Pivnici Helsinki. Now we gear up for my first night in Finland for over 20 years and Christer's premiere night in this country. He has just travelled through the country or visited it during the day but never spent a night.

10.03 We've rested, feel fresh from the shower and have had breakfast in the apartment. Now a few hours remain before we will sail home.

12.01 We have been sitting in the kitchen and talked about shared memories and friends. Now we are about to gather our belongings and move away from here.

12.42 A tram is about to take us towards John's job at the marine research laboratory. There are many people on the move. Loppuunmyynti is written on a yellow poster in a shoe shop. I think it means sale.

Helsinki marine research laboratory can be found here.

John tries to explain about his job.

Christer in front of a map of the Finnish capital.

13.10 We got off the tram at the stop Arabia and then went a short walk. Now we finally arrived at John’s workplace, Helsinki marine research laboratory in the district Kumpula. We are in the room that John shares with a colleague. He explains to us what he and his colleagues do. It involves analyzes of water samples from the Baltic sea. John is among other things responsible for the sensors which are used. We have also looked at their three-dimensional printer. A bottle opener has been printed. Christer and I each have a visitor’s badge. We got them at the entrance.

14.19 After the tour we needed food. We ate lunch, Karelian stew, before we said goodbye to John. Now a tram will take us back to the center.

14.46 The tram dropped us off at the train station and now we are by an outdoor icerink where people skate around. The sun is shining and it's quite pleasant. At New Year, we saw an ice rink and now another one. The Finnish skaters are more skilled than the Greeks we saw.

Ice skating rink near the railway station.

Uspenski Cathedral, a memory from the time when Finland was Russian.

Our ferry is waiting for us.

15.55 We have walked ever so slowly towards the ferry. On the way, we stopped for taking photos of the Russian orthodox Uspenski Cathedral and Finnish soldiers guarding the presidential palace. Now we are on the ferry Silja Serenade and cabin 2003. This boat is more or less an exact copy of Symphony which we came here with.

18.28 We've been wandering around on the ferry. During the walk we have seen on TV that Helena Ekholm won a bronze medal in the Biathlon World Championships, we immortalized the sun and moon from deck and had a confirmation that we can visit the Ministry of the Environment tomorrow. This was announced by Chief of Staff there.

21.23 We have finally had time for a little snack, a quick visit in duty free shop and a relaxing time in the relaxation area. We treated ourselves some whirlpool and Turkish bath. We can as we are back at the cabin feel that the ferry is swaying.

22.51 We have dined at the restaurant Mundo. We had a pizza slice and a kebab roll. Now we're back in our cabin to sleep.

The moon and a ferry on the way to Tallinn.

Christer is enjoying the cold winds.

Our ferry leaves a track in the ice.

Sunset in the Gulf of Finland.