This was a bad day. Only got four hours of sleep and had developed a cold, with a nasty, hacking cough. Got my stuff together and ate the hotel's big, free breakfast. It was wonderful again. It sprinkled as I waited at bus stop shelter for the ride from Espoo to Helsinki. There was a child and a couple of women also waiting to get on the bus.
Was on the freeway when we were hit by a truck going at most 5 m.p.h. trying to enter from a dead stop. The truck hit exactly where I was sitting. Might have been hurt if I had been sitting on the window seat, but I was on the aisle seat. The window showered safety glass on me, but I was unhurt except for a few scratches.
Got up and started taking photos. Bus driver didn’t even bother to ask me if I was hurt. There were elderly folks and mothers with small children he needed to check on, although none of the windows except for mine were shattered. Thought that I would be delayed for hours and might miss my train, but they do things differently in Finland-- no investigation teams, no fake neck injuries, no ambulance chasing lawyers.
Ten minutes later, another bus happened to come by also heading for the bus station, so all of the passengers just got on (thoroughly packing that bus) and took off. Interesting note about signs in Finland is that they are often bilingual-- in Finnish and Swedish. Sweden used to own Finland. [The Swedes do not return the favor.]
Got to Turku on the train with no trouble and six hours before the ferry would depart. Got off knowing not where I was-- got a map but had no way to orient myself without a working compass on an overcast day-- cold, but not raining. Secondly, there were two train stations in Turku and I didn't realize I came into the auxiliary station, so when I inevitably had to ask someone for help, she had to point out where I was.
Took a bus into city center for 2.50 euros-- seemed expensive for a relatively short ride. Looked around, found a department store and bought a compass. After that, and having inquired at the tourist center where there was a "reasonably priced" restaurant with "Finnish Food", they said most real Finnish food was expensive, but gave me two possibilities. Chose the one which was part of a brewery and the prices indeed were high, but I was determined to eat a decent sitdown dinner.
Chose an odd concoction with "leaf steak" and veggies. Not bad, but to my surprise the rest of the plate was piled high with french fries! I would have preferred any other type of potato! With bread and a beer, meal was filling. Even so, I was still running on fumes, felt lousy.
Waitress was very helpful and funny. She showed me where to get the bus to the ferry station, was very meticulous about directions, so I had no problems. Distance to ferry station was still too long to walk, especially with how I was feeling. So, for another 2.50 euros I was there two hours before departure time. I should have waited, because we didn't start boarding for another 1.5 hours.
Boarding area for the ferry was filled to the rafters with people. Boarding was quite an ordeal with those masses of people snaking up narrow gangplanks. Finally got on and couldn't make my electronic card open my room. Was desperate to get in and lie down! Assumed it was like a credit card-- you put it in and remove it QUICKLY, but after 10 tries in various orientations, I finally decided to remove it SLOWLY and that did the trick.
Wasn't at all sure what I was going to find inside-- I assumed several people, but no-- there was one bunk bed (a REAL bed by hostel standards) and NOBODY ELSE. By luck, I had a private room! There was a lot of night life on the ferry, which is one reason many Finns were on, starting off a vacation in Sweden. Unfortunately, I was feeling so bad that I went straight to bed. Still expected to be awakened by some of the very noisy teenagers nearby at wee hours of the morning, but it never happened.
--END 11 JULY--
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