Wanderung 31

We had booked a bicycle tour of Helsinki, but the bikes were located on the older, closer-to-town part of the port complex, so we had to take a shuttle bus around the end of the docking bay and across to the other side where we picked up our bikes. They were very simple, 1-speed city bikes with small 24-inch wheels, "ape hanger" handlebars, and coaster brakes, and unfortunately not that well maintained.

My bike was missing the warning bell although the mount for it was still on the handlebars. I could adjust the seat height but the guy setting up the bikes refused to use the hex key to change my seat angle or the angle for the handlebars, so I was squished uncomfortably onto the bike. Next time I'll bring my own hex key tool!

But my problems paled in comparison with Jerry's bike. He had noticed right away that his rear tire was flat and asked the guy to pump it up before the trip. Although it was pumped up enough for him to get going, it must have still been leaking air rather quickly because it went flat a few blocks later, and then Jerry had to ride on the rim of the rear wheel for a good half an hour before our guide finally agreed to have a truck come with a replacement bike for him. Even that concession seemed to only occur at the prompting of the Costa ship representative who was taking the tour with us. Those flaws in the bicycles were really a shame because although we had problems with our bicycles, I think the basic idea of seeing Helsinki by bicycle is very sound.

Our guide had planned out good stopping points at the major landmarks and gave interesting information at each one. At one stop he discussed Finland's neutrality after the war with Russia. He said their army used 1/3 American weapons, 1/3 Russian weapons, and 1/3 weapons from other countries. Militarily, that sounded like a logistical nightmare, but upon reflection that strategy also made it possible to fight even if the US or Russia decided to deny Finland spare parts for their weapons.

Unfortunately, several of the stops were so noisy with car and trolley car traffic that I could not hear our guide's commentary. That problem could have been helped with a portable amplifier and speaker such as the one our guide in Russia had used, but he didn't have anything like that.

We stopped at the Church in the Rock, but could not go in as it was Sunday and they were holding a service right then. While we waited for Jerry's replacement bike to be delivered, we went souvenir shopping and Monika bought a Finnish girl doll in a gift store that had a stuffed reindeer standing outside. Reinderr look like cute, cuddly, innocuous-looking animals, and maybe they are, except when a herd of them stampedes at you and tries to run you down!

Along the way, our guide pointed out the architecture of notable buildings, including a lot of 1920s-era Art Deco buildings which turn out to be fairly common in Helsinki.

We did see the Congress building, where the Finnish unicaramel legislature meets, and the central square with the Helsinki cathedral, but they were setting up the stages for what looked like a rock concert. Consequently, big trucks and sound stages littered the central square, making photography difficult. And by the time we reached the Helsinki Cathedral we were too late to get to see the interior of that church either, which was ather disappointing. We wished we had time to stop at the flea market by the old harbor on our way back, but we had to keep on going as it was alreaady getting late.

In fact, our ship was scheduled to leave at 1:00 p.m., but we didn't get back to our starting point until nearly 1:00, and then we had to wait 20 minutes or so for a shuttle bus to show up. So we were the very last ones on board, but thankfully it was an official Costa tour because he ship did, indeed, wait to depart until we were back on board. Phew! In retrospect, I wish we had a whole day to bicycle around Helsinki, because we could have stopped and actually visited more of the places we just had a quick look at.

We hit the buffet to get a quick lunch. After that, Linda and Monika decided to try out the waterslide and talked Jerry into joining them. They all got their bathing suits on, and we headed up to the uppermost deck where the slide was located. But the slide was closed (which might have been just as well as it was quite cool with the wind up on the top deck!).

Oh well, so they all ditched the towels and changed back into their normal clothes, and we then we all sat down in a lounge just to chat and relax. But suddenly we were drafted into participating in a special trivia quiz they were having on Finland! It was all in good fun and the 4 of us joined in and made up "Team Chicago". Despite being unsure of our answers, we ended up getting 8 out of 10 questions correct, which tied us for first place! Yay Team Chicago!

That evening we had our second Formal Night, called Gala Night on Costa. We were all dressed nicely, but our entrees were surprisingly mediocre in quality. Very disappointing. However, since we were dressed up so nicely I convinced everyone to stop off for a formal portrait against a white background . Then we watched a potpourri of songs and dances put on by the ship's entertainment troupe and retired for the evening.