Wednesday, September 12, 2007

golden!


DSCF1838
Originally uploaded by MhairiT
I've loaded all my photos from St Petersburg onto Flickr, but haven't had a chance to update the blog properly yet. But have a squizz at the photos - beware, lots of gold!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Finland / Russia Day One

Verrrry early start this morning with the cab picking Mum and I up at 4.15 am! The early start did mean that we had time for a nice breakfast at Giraffe at Terminal One before boarding our flight to Helsinki. The flight was pretty uneventful, apart from me leaving my hair clip on my food tray and it getting put in the rubbish. Oh well.

When we landed at Helsinki it was pouring with rain, but we got a cab ok and arrived at our hotel, the Helka. There's a charming photo on the ceiling of a wood scene to keep us entertained if we can't sleep. This is the same hotel I stayed in last time I was in Helsinki - it's nice and central, although we got lost quite a few times today!

After lunch, I popped into the office to say hello to some of my colleagues - nice to see them and the offices. Also got our train tickets for the trip to Russia tomorrow morning.

WEnt and met Mum and Fiona at the Design Museum where there were a couple of good exhibitions on Finnish fashion amd ceramics by Rut Bryk which were gorgeous. We also went and spent some money inthe Marimekko flagship store (gorgeous but not any cheaper in Finland!) and the Moomin store.

On my colleague Tuula's recommendation, we went and had a drink at Torni, a 12 storey hotel with a roof bar with gorgeous views over the city. Very spectacular - we could see all the little islands surrounding the city.

Had dinner at a traditional Finnish restaurant, Aino. I had some lovely reindeer fillets and Fiona had herring. Very traditional!