A Captain's Log

 Today is our last day in Riga, so we just had a mooch around, the guided tour yesterday was good, but you didn't get chance to stop at anything, if it looked like it might have been worth some extra exploration. So after breakfast to toddled of to the central market to have a look around, and to say it is huge is an understatement, there are five halls, one for meat, one for fish, 2 for general groceries and the like, and one which was out of use because the roof was being repaired, then outside  was clothing and fruit and veg, which might move indoor when the roof has been finished. To my suprise Perdita had left it to our last day in Riga to pick up the shot glass an post card (I will take her temperature when we get home, she may be coming down with something). From there we went to the house of the Blackheads, which since it was destroyed in world war 2 (along with the rest of the square it forms one side of) has been completely rebuilt, and is now a very opulent banqueti...

 Patch had decided to take day off university, to spend some time with us, for which we are grateful. We decided to literally push the boat out and catch a ferry over to Tallinn in Estonia, which is just a 2 hour crossing, and cost just £25 per person return. Our outward crossing was at 10.30am which gave both Patch and Perdita the chance to have a cheeky little lie in. A 20 minute tram ride to the ferry terminal saw us arrive in good time to go get a coffee and pastries for breakfast before we boarded the ferry, which was certainly in a lot better condition than the Irish Ferries I used to go to Ireland on whilst going on fishing holidays, many moons ago. Everything was very clean and manicured, in  fact I felt like I was the scruffiest thing on the ship. On arriving at Tallinn, it was only a short time until we disembarked and started the 20 minute walk up to Vera Gate, which was our closest entrance point to the Old Town. As soon as we entered the Old Town Perdita's eyes li...

 We left a balmy Blighty (8 degrees) at 6pm heading over to sea our daughter Patch in Helsinki, where she is doing a 10 week placement at the university. When we stepped off the plane it was -3 degrees, and had 4-5 inches of snow covering the ground, which had been cleared from the runway for us to land. A 35 minute train ride saw us meeting Patch at the train station, where we had to arranged to meet her, then across the road for a 10 minutes bus ride to where we were stopping with her in the Töölö district. By the time we arrived it was gone midnight, so off to bed ready for an early start on Sunday. We set off pretty early considering we were so late in the night (well after Perdita's bedtime). First stop was Sibelius Park where the monument to the composer Jean Sibelius is located. Sibelius is widely considered to be Finland's greatest Composer having helped Finland to develop it's national identity after gaining independence from Russia. From there we made our way to C...