Finnish zombies

So I've abandoned the Dili ship to go and nerd it up with some theatre types for a fortnight (more on that later). Which is how I found myself walking through Helsinki on a Sunday morning thinking of zombies. 

Catch ya laters Dili

Having recently been forced to sit through Zombieland (once Bill Murray’s cameo started, I admit I got into it), my experience of walking through Helsinki early on a Sunday morning was somewhat eerie.

Lovely buildings. Beautiful cobblestones. Lots of bicycles waiting patiently for their owners. There was just one thing missing: human beings. At one point, walking through a beautiful 19^th century square, with only the sound of my own feet echoing on the cobblestones to keep me company, I started to expect a blood-crazed Finn to peek out from behind the cathedral and start coming for me.

Nice square... where are the people?

The only other people I encountered for the first few hours were a couple of bewildered tourists and some Finns on a boat who decided that no-one could possibly want to be left alone to read a book in the sun in peace – ‘Why do you want to read a book? You can get a much better tan over here!’

Eventually, at about 9am, more people started to surface, which I was grateful for so I could buy a coffee and croissant and watch them parade by in all of their Scandinavian style. 

I got so excited by pastry on a paper plate I had to take a photo of it

I don’t think I was doing a very good job of pretending to be a bonafide European, especially after I bought a litre of strawberries and started giggling to myself at how wonderful they were (disclaimer: as a child I was put on a strawberry Nesquik ban. There does seem to be a direct link between strawberries and the ‘crazy’ switch in my brain).

One of my very cold feet, one litre of strawberries and one bag from Baucau

 Next stop: Stockholm.