Today I came back from Helsinki where I was for
four days to see my brother. I had already packed my bag the day earlier I
left because I tend to forget things when I’m in a hurry...
Arranging my beauty box was another thing... I
had not touched it for months! Lara was more than willing to help me sort out
everything in it.
On Friday I left with a bus to Helsinki and the
bus was officially full! But luckily I had taken my tablet with me from which I
watched a movie during the trip so it went by fast.
When the bus came to its destination, I waited
at the inner city for my brother who was meeting me there, because to this day,
I have never learned to travel inside Helsinki with all the endless busses,
trollies, subway and trains... And I had way too many bags to carry on my own.
We went to my brother’s home – I loved how much effort my brother had put into
this, for he had cleaned his whole home from floor to ceiling. So, we are
twins and have always been close and I always feel we continue our things just
where we left them when we have seen each other last time. Of course we call almost every
day and chat with each other but that is not nearly the same thing than seeing
each other in person.
During the weekend we played a lot! We played
mostly a game “Beyond Two Souls” and a bit of “GTA V” and “Portal 2” – I let my
brother to play the last one all by himself because I can’t just figure that game out no
matter how hard I try! We tend to play well past the midnight every night...
We went to a grocery store in the middle of the
night because the days were spent to everything else but going there. And we
made food even later. And stood up even later – gaming and gourmandizing, of
course!
The mornings were the best; we slept late and
usually my brother got up before I did to start of the day with his playlist of
music while I was laying on the bed.
Then the day started off with coffee and a “healthy
breakfast” which could be almost anything from sweet to savory. My brother had
bought me vegan strawberry cheesecake flavored cookies and as much as he makes
fun of my diet (always with humor!) I appreciated that so much for I thought it
was so thoughtful thing of him to do.
On Saturday we took a day off from making food
ourselves and went out to a restaurant to eat. I loved to get myself ready for
the night. My brother is also very pedantic about how he
looks, even though it still takes him less time to get himself ready than me.
We ordered burgers – I ordered an ultimate
veggie burger with so many fillings the burger was separated in half. The food
came after the last call signal and I was starving but it was more than enough
to fill the void. Ha!
When we got back to my brother home, we continued gaming. We got in the middle
of “Beyond Two Souls” but the days went by so fast, we didn’t have time to
finish the game to even see one of its 24 possible endings! So we decided to
continue the game next time we would see each other... Yes, we already thought
about the next time we would meet.
I was supposed to go there for only for the weekend but because we had such an
amazing time, I decided to stay there for one more day. We also had time to
watch some movies – deciding a movie which would suite for both of us is always
a struggle because our preferences about movie genres are so, so different!
On this morning and our last morning, we were both tired because we had played
so late. I had to wake up before my brother did, so I could pack everything ready.
We left to the bus stop early so I would not be late, so we were there half an hour
early and we had time to talk some more before the bus came. I had promised to
myself that I would not have cried but tears came into my eyes when we hugged
and said goodbye (until the next time).
I always love to see my brother, because it’s
not too often we got to see each other even though he is not that far away. I
also love to see his cat, Mr. Morrison, which I’m as fond of as to my own cats... He was so
full of energy right from the start I arrived that he wore out and slept the
whole day today.
Then I went on the bus, which was not nearly
as full as the one which I went to Helsinki. I killed the time by calling
people and watching the rest of the movie I started to watch when I first left
towards Helsinki... The trip back home went much faster than the trip to Helsinki!
I arrived home at 9 p.m. and as always when I’m coming home from somewhere, I
unpack my things immediately. I can’t leave the bag laying around still
packed... It’s kind of my coming-home-ritual.
To be honest, I have never gone to Helsinki alone so I was very nervous to go
there. But if I would have given up to my own fears I would have never gone to
Helsinki in the first place and I would have been missing all the greatest time
with my brother. So I was beyond overjoyed that I went there!
On the last Tuesday earlier on this week we took
off and left to Estonia, Tallinn to spend some time and to see Robbie Williams
live. We had packed the day earlier and we went to sleep for we needed to wake
up 6 a.m. in the Tuesday morning to catch the bus to Helsinki. I went to sleep
too late and was dead tired on the following morning. Eventually we missed the
bus so we had to take a train to Helsinki where I tried to snooze. We took a
taxi from the train station and arrived to the terminal about ten o’clock. We
waited for the rest of the work group from my mom’s work place so we could get
our ticket. Then we went aboard.
We went in and took our luggage to a closet. The
trip went a little bit restless but we made it to the Estonia okay. We went to
our hotel and checked in (the line was huge). We were at the 14th floor and our
room was at the end of the corridor. When we stepped inside we were so
surprised; the “room” was a business suite with an ocean view.
There was a sparkling wine on ice, a box of
chocolate and a mystery envelope waiting us on the table.
The mystery envelope contained two tickets to
the Robbie Williams live concert (and also two tickets to the night buffet
later and two tickets for free drinks downstairs whenever on that day or the
next).
We had a ocean view from our room to the sea:
We left our luggage to the hotel room and left
downstairs and to the Viru center where we looked up the stores quickly and saw
this exciting sign:
Then we started to walk around the streets
trying to decide where to go to eat before the concert. We found a random
restaurant nearby and decided to go and see did they have anything for us. We
sat down and the waiter brought the menus. I ordered a mushroom risotto without
the ham.
The food was a little disappointment for there
were hardly any mushrooms and it was way too salty – but it was good enough to
eat, for we had to eat before the show. We went back to our hotel room and my
mom left to take care of business while I tried to take back the tiredness
which had haunted me all day. Later when my mom got back she told that there
will be going a bus to the Song Festival Grounds at 7 p.m. where the show would
be so I snoozed a little before I started to get myself ready. I decided the
clothes and put on my make-up. I was a little disappointed to hear that
photographing on Robbie’s gig was forbidden.
We made it to the bus and went to the Song Festival Grounds and soon we heard
Olly Murs started to play so we went to take our place. We got at the back of
the biggest crowd down below the hill and left to listen. Olly Murs was great
warm-up for Robbie. We heard the good familiar songs from him “Dear Darlin’”,
“Troublemaker” and “Heart Skips a Beat” among the others. Then there was about
a half an hour wait and we sat on the grass to wait the main star. I didn’t
mind the mass of people but I was a little annoyed about the commercials that
were playing on the screens – I had heard earlier from the news that Estonia had
bought a commercial space from Robbie Williams’ concert which I think is wrong,
we see enough commercials on the TV. I was disappointed that cameras were not
allowed to the show so I left both of mine to the hotel (although I first
though of sneaking one in).ban of foods and drinks didn’t care me at all.
Finally Robbie Williams came on stage on 9 p.m. And he came from above of the
stage with a thick cloud of pink smoke with a song “Hey Wow Yeah Yeah”. And
when he reached the stage he started to sign “Let Me Entertain You”. I was SO
excited! I had wondered the face on the back of the stage but it came obvious
during “Me and My Monkey” that it was meant to be a very big part of the show.
They projected Robbie’s face on it and then it transformed into a monkey’s. The
face was up a lot after that with a lot of different elements and shapes and
colors. It was really cool. Like every woman on this earth, everyone would be
jealous for Robbie took one of his fans from the audience to the stage, complimenting
her boobs and let her sat on his lap. I really liked the version of “Kids” he
sang with Olly Murs but what he had originally sang with Kylie Minogue – One of
my favorite songs. Even the cameras were forbidden I tried to take pictures
with my mother’s cellphone camera.
He sang his songs from "Strong", "Millennium" and
"Rock DJ" and left from stage. Everyone knew that he would be back
for an encore and stood still – no one left. Soon he came back and sang still "Feel"
(which my mother had waited for), "She's the One" and ended the
concert with a song "Angels" which was so perfect.
Robbie William’s threw an awesome show indeed. The whole show finished off with
fireworks. I was so glad I was watching it with my mom – she had won a ticket
at the first place and didn’t had to take me with her but she said that she
insisted that I would come with her to see the show and enjoy the experience.
I’m glad I did.
After the show the bus took us back to the hotel. It occurred to us that we had
the tickets to the night buffet so we went there. I was so glad there was also
something for me (cheesy pasta, grilled paprika with feta cheese, cherry
tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil, cucumber-olive salad, exotic salad
with lemon vinaigrette and a small bun with poppy seeds on it). I ordered a
cold dry apple cider with the food and we went to our hotel room to eat. The food
came just to the right spot.
We had waited just now to pop the sparkling wine
and we drank a glass of it. I was dead tired so after eating I just fell onto
the bed even I was going to take a shower before it. I woke up at night and
went to the shower and took a few photos of the Estonian night before I wrapped
myself inside the white hotel linens.
I woke up a couple of times during the night but
fell back to sleep again. We woke up at 10 a.m. and went to breakfast. I was
also pleased that from there I could find a plateful to eat with a cup of black
coffee and juice.
After breakfast we went back into our room and
back to bed. I couldn’t went back to sleep but I enjoyed the rest we had
granted till 2 p.m. (thanks to my mom who called to the reception and asked for
it). I packed everything well ahead and went to chill into the bed before I
changed my clothes. We left the room just before 2 p.m. and went downstairs. We
still had the drink coupons so we took our luggage to the storage and went to
have a drink outside – a big cup of frozen strawberry margaritas in the sunshine.
After our drinks we went to the Viru Center to
look around the shops.
I was pulled in one of the shoe shops and caught
my eye to a ballerina’s with black spikes on them. I asked for a smaller size
and tried them on and they fit me like a glove. I immediately bought them and I
was so happy. Here’s my new babies:
After that we went to a bag shops and another
shoe shops and then to a grocery store to see what’s different there than in a
Finnish grocery stores. To me it was much more clear and nicer than the grocery
stores I have seen in Finland. There I could actually shop!
After that we got our things onto the bus which was going inside the ship we
were going to get it in just two hours before the actual ship left. We went to
the near shops and we went in to see was there anything but they were just full
of the same bunch of stuff with high prices. I went to buy apple liqueur I had
last tasted in my “Class Meeting / Birthday Party / Housewarming Party” and it
was ridiculously cheap (not every alcohol were although). My mom decided to buy
them for me as a souvenir and I was surprised. After that we didn’t get to go
to the city center again and there was nothing left to shop in the near shops
so we decided to go to the terminal. Before that I saw a big anchor in front of
the terminal and decided to ask my mom to take a picture.
We went to the terminal and to the ship. This
time we had a cabin where we took our staff and rested for a while. Soon we
felt that the ship was moving and we were on our way. We left to the Tax Free
but were disappointed for the prices. While we were walking down the corridors
I looked outside and saw the sea.
Soon the trip has almost gone by so we decided
to get something to eat for the bus trip back home. There were only meaty foods
like hot dogs on the floor 7 so they suggested to go a floor above to get
something vegetarian. We went to the Deli above floor and I ordered a basic baguette
with vegetables and cheese.
We went back in our cabin to get our staff
before the ship would come to the harbor back to Helsinki.
We got everything and left from the ship and went to the busses. Some of our
luggage had already transferred to the other bus and we took the rest to it.
Then we went to sit to in the front of the bus. The bus left at 9 p.m. and I tried
to snooze during the journey which felt like going by very fast even I didn’t
get any sleep. We were at Tampere after 11 p.m. and everyone who were getting
out of that stop got their things out of the bus. We were home almost 12 p.m.
First I changed my clothes and unpacked my bag. Then I went to a shower and to
a computer and then to sleep. I had an amazing trip to Estonia and I would do
it again anytime!
