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We spent four enjoyable days in Helsinki, either watching and photographing the Tall Ships, or doing the normal tourist thing. Much of Helsinki was destroyed by fire in 1808. This appears to be a recurring theme in Finland (see blog on Oulu), so if you have any Finnish friends by all means be hospitable, but I suggest you confiscate the matches. Helsinki was made the capital of Finland whilst the country was ruled by Czar Alexander 1 of Russia, until then Turku had been the capital. The Royal Academy of Turku, now the modern University of Helsinki, was moved in 1827 following, guess what, the Great Fire of Turku! Finland fought a civil war during 1917 and 1918 with the White Guards clashing with the Red Guards, not dissimilar to the Russian revolution. The war from 1941 to 1944 is not referred to as the Second World War but as the War of Continuation. No matter what it was called I bet there...

From Oulu we travelled south to Jyvaskyla in central Finland. Bridget is running very smoothly. The town of Jyvaskyla is not really a tourist centre and although pleasant enough I couldn’t in all honesty recommend it as a place to visit. The following morning we continued south to Helsinki, the Capital City of Finland. As Capital Cities go Helsinki is definitely one of the better ones, with cleaner air than usual, wide boulevards and relatively little traffic. The architecture, on first glance, looks interesting. Bridget and I arrived to a tumultuous welcome, but unfortunately it was not for us, but for the participants of the Tall Ships Racing. Helsinki is 2013 host for this annual event which is organised by the Sail Training International. As we have several days in Helsinki, I have decided to give Bridget a good rest. As we arrived I couldn’t help noticing the oil pressure was fairly low. So much so that I checked that we hadn’t lost...

From Rovaneimi we made our way down to Oulu, the capital city of Northern Ostrobothnia region. The new City of Oulu was only formed this year, 2013. It is the unification of five far older towns Haukipudas, Kiiminki, Oulo, Oulunsalo and Yli-li. In my humble opinion it is justified just to avoid trying to pronounce the old names. Oulo is a strange mix of old and new, and most of the old is made of wood, typical of the Nordic countries. However, because a building is constructed of wood does not mean it cannot be very old, which was the way my mind tended to think. For example, Oulu Cathedral was built in 1777 of wood on stone walls. Much of the original city was destroyed in a fire in 1822. What impressed me most about the cathedral, was the two church organs, both of which I thought sttod out from the usual instruments, one because it was apparently a modern design and...