Viking | Insight

It’s back on the train heading to Helsinki.

I had not reserved a seat. The train conductor pointed out that the train was going to get very full. She found a seat with a cancelled booking for me.

Some of the trees are heavily laden with snow.

Some pretty houses on the way.

Its then on to a tram to go to the ferry.

It’s warmed up in Helsinki do the snow is getting slightly slushy.

We get sightings of the different waterways from the tram.

Some interesting buildings on the way.

The tram arrives at the ferry terminal

Checking in and going through passport control is fast and straightforward.

Off to find my cabin which is on the fifth deck, the level we entered on.

The sun is setting as we leave Helsinki giving some magical views.

How close !

A wander round the boat, some food, then to bed. There is live music on board and a massive dinner buffet. However I got up for the breakfast buffet. Again with a view.

Then it’s a trip with a bus and underground to the Central Station.

Temperatures have risen since my previous visit.

A little walk to the central station.

The snow is reducing.

I changed to a regional train at Lund. No pictures as I spotted a train leaving before my planned connection so did a rapid change. Now I was 35 minutes ahead of schedule.

The sky is grey with very low cloud.

Malmo sky

Disappointingly the crossing on the bridge from Sweden to Denmark is very foggy.

The bridge crossing.

Modern buildings not far from Copenhagen Airport

I switched to a ferry for the journey to Helsinki.

An issue with not knowing the city and the language is an over reliance on apps. Using the Viking Line app I located what I thought was the terminal by pressing a link, but I was directed to the wrong terminal. I realised just in time to be able to dash to the correct terminal arriving 20 minutes before departure. The app said arrive no later than 20 minutes before departure. That was a close call.

Getting on the boat I was well looked after, sent to a lift where I descended into the depths of the boat. However the cabin was nice and I had it all to myself.