We had a bit of a lie in today and didn’t go down to breakfast until about 09:15. We enjoyed a decent breakfast and I even tried the in-house rooibos tea that is produced especially for the hotel.

We then went back to the room and I tried out the private sauna for about twenty minutes, which was really lovely and relaxing.

Our checkout time was 12:00 so there was no massive rush. Once I’d done with the sauna I showered, dressed and packed. It was then down to reception so we could checkout and get our bags stored so we could go out for our final walk round Helsinki.

It was now minus eight so I made sure that I was well wrapped up. It was nice to actually see blue sky too, as it’s been overcast quite a bit whilst being in Finland and Estonia.

We were careful because of the compacted ice as we walked down to the Uspenski Cathedral, the Orthodox Church that we had seen on the first day that we arrived in Helsinki. It looked a little different with the blue sky too backdrop and snow on the domes. It looked lovely.

We then decided to head to Senate Square and ended up going a different way. We passed the Presidential Guard, at the Main Guard Post, who must have been freezing stood outside in the snow. His picture is at the top.

Senate Square was being cleared of snow by a snow plough when we got there. We decided to be ultra cautious and not to climb the steps up to Helsinki Cathedral, but instead just take some snaps from the bottom.

We walked back towards the hotel through Esplanade Park, had a quick ten minutes at the hotel before we picked up our bags. An Uber taxi picked us up in no time.

It takes nearly 45 minutes to get to the airport so this needs to be factored in if you ever venture to Helsinki. The airport security was very organised and we got through with ease.

We decided to get some rather nice Finnish gin from the duty free before going to the Finnair lounge where we had a spot of lunch.

Our takeoff was delayed slightly due to waiting for some passengers who had been to Lapland. Nevertheless it was a comfortable flight and wouldn’t hesitate to fly Finnair again.