Helsinki; Thursday, 21 July, 2005

With my alarm going off at silly o'clock which only felt like a couple of hours after I had gone to bed (because it was!) I got up and got ready for my taxi. I had booked with 90 minutes to get to Heathrow, in the end the cab got me there in a little over 30, by which point Heathrow was still effectively shut, with only a Costas coffee shop open, not even the checkin counters or self service machines were working.

At a little after 5 the checkin desks were open, though the security desks weren't, so I still had to wait for longer to get through to the departures lounge!

Eventually, in stages I got through Heathrow and onto the flight. Bizarrely the plane had cameras on its wheels and nose and the cabin screens showed live pictures of both take off and landing.

From Helsinki airport I caught a Finnair bus into the city centre and then the metro and tram out to the hotel to checkin

After spending a little time having a shower and changing I went back out. First stop was the Olympic stadium and it's tower for the views over the city. From there I caught the tram into the town centre and had a wander round before catching a late afternoon sightseeing cruise round the islands of Helsinki.

After the cruise I continued wandering around for a while before grabbing a bite to eat and heading back to the hotel early to catch up on my missing sleep.