Helsinki; Monday, 03 June, 2024

I had long since lost track of what day of the week it was, so it was thankful that there had been a reminder in the lift the night before that breakfast started at 06:30 rather than 08:30 as it was a Monday, so we were up relatively early to grab breakfast before heading back down to the Market Square again, to join another cruise tour, though this time heading West along the water front of Downtown Helsinki and out to the spectacular Löyly Sauna and Restaurant.

From there the boat turned east and followed the channel back towards Suomenlinna, taking in the inner harbour before another passage through the impressive Kings Gate Strait and then heading back into the city centre.

We had a bit of a wander through the centre of Helsinki, ending up at the spectacular central station where I left mum in the waiting room before heading back to the hotel to grab our suitcases, check out and then head back to the station.

We then hopped on the next train out to the airport to catch the penultimate leg of our trip and a flight to Hamburg.

The journey through Helsinki airport was OK, even though assistance just dropped us straight at the gate with 90 minutes to wait, despite having lounge access, but their excuse was that they were short staffed and had different staff operating at the gates rather than walking through from Checkin.

Eventually, another member of staff came round and wheeled mum out to a lift truck and we rode out to the plane which was parked out on the apron, and straight up to the rear door to be able to walk directly onto the flight, being seated a good 10 minutes before the rest of the passengers joined for a smooth and pain free journey through to Hamburg.