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Tuesday, May 24, 2022
I had actually been to Helsinki airport before, but my time there was so limited that I had no memory of it. This time I would remember it much better.
I arrived in the late morning, and overall the airport was pretty quiet. I walked around and what I saw was just a really clean and modern airport, with convenient lounge chairs to relax in and catch some sunlight if it was the right time of day and season. Plus, there were so many cool stores, for those who like to shop. They have seating in many places and a fun 360-degree display that somewhat immerses you in nature. It's not a bad place to be.
But I had access to the business class lounge, so that was my destination. And it's exquisite in there. I don't even know where to begin. There's a round bar that looks like it's out of a fancy movie set with a bartender in the middle, and there are chairs everywhere of all different kinds. There's lots and lots of food – and it was very delicious food. All drinks are free and there's even a self-serve bar that serves IPA. There are private showers you can use (so obviously private bathrooms as well). There's a children's area and even some pods that look like they're out of a Woody Allen futuristic movie. To make things easier on tourists there are storage lockers. Overall, it's perhaps the best lounge I've ever been to (and that includes the Concord lounge at Heathrow).
I stayed in there as long as I could, but then had to get to my flight. It was business class, but not nearly as nice. In fact, I think the only difference between this and a regular economy flight was that they didn't sell the middle seat, so yeah, you had a little more room, but overall the comfort level was basically economy. It didn't matter that much. I would only be in the air a couple hours. Next thing I knew I was in London. I took the train into London from Heathrow Airport.
My hotel was in Holborn, and it was the perfect location for staying an entire week. It had a kitchenette so that included refrigerator, microwave – and well a mini kitchen. I had a show to see over near tower bridge, so I promptly headed that way. Over at the tower bridge I was able to take pictures of it during the daytime, and soon, it was turning in at night so I got nighttime photos as well. Sort of like two birds with one stone.
The show I saw was “Straight Line Crazy,” which featured Ralph Fiennes, and it was pretty good. One incident was I couldn't find my glasses after intermission, so I spent quite some time worrying about them, and wondering if I left them at a bar. You see, I had gone to a bar earlier to get a drink before the show because I figured the drinks in the theater would be more expensive – and it turned out they actually weren't, though that's a very unusual thing. But I ekpt thinking maybe I should run to the bar.
Anyway, after the show, I searched on the seat area for a quite some time, and eventually I did find them. They had fallen down the seat, and we're just kind of hidden at the very end of the road. I was happy to have my glasses once again, even though I did have a back up pair, but not nearly as nice.
After the show, I headed over to take photos of Tower Bridge at night, since I was very close to that site. I also got photos of the Tower of London at night – at least from the outside.
I then walked over to Leadenhall, which I hadn’t been to since 2002. For the longest time, I couldn't even remember what that place was called, but after some deep internet searches, I discovered the name of it. I had just been really impressed with it many years back, and I wanted to return. Finally, I was able to and it was still very impressive and super photogenic. Plus, I now had a better camera to take photos with. When that was done, I that I headed back to my flat to rest for the night.