Today was another slowish start. However something made Kaoru look at the train tickets and she noticed they were for tomorrow instead of today! So panic set in.

We went to the R kiosk downstairs and explained the situation. Luckily the person spoke and understood english so it wasn’t hard to get the problem rectified.

We didn’t have anything on until 11, so went to a cafe next to the R kiosk for breakfast, reorganized our bags, and headed off about 10.30. We caught the train to the city and goton a Panorama tour. It was still (just) with the 48 hours (by 17 minutes). So we got the same seats as we had used yesterday and enjoyed a different route of Helsinki. This included a stop at the rock cathedral – a cathedral built into the granite rock. It was a nice place but very touristy, and the staff were constantly shushing everybody. Unfortunately we were there 10 minutes afterour Helsinki card had run out so we had to pay the €3 to get in.

The tour finished late and we already had a tight schedule. So we hurried through the city and got to the train station with just enough time to get a sandwich for lunch, andthen got on our intercity train.

Strangely enough the seats on our ticket hadus sitting on either side of the aisle; so we summized the train was going to be full. But there was nobody next to, in front of, or behind me. Kaoru had somebody next to andin front of her. Strange.

On the journey we were watching as the scheduled time to get to each station, and the current time, were getting further and further apart. We knew there was a 6 minute transfer time, and by 2 stops before, we werealready over 20 minutes late. We waited withbaited breath on what would happen.

Luckily it all worked out. There was a train waiting on the platform but the screen only mentioned the train we were getting off. We saw somebody getting on the other train andasked them, and they confirmed it is going toSavonlinna. So another hour of traveling and we were there. We could see the castle as wearrived in town from the train window; it certainly stood out!

We got our bearings and walked to the hotel. It was only about 10 minutes and luckily wasn’t raining as we had hit some bad weather on the way. So we checked in to our room. This hotel wasn’t designed for couples; there were no double rooms. Our heads were at opposite ends of the bed with a big gap between! So we did some rearranging.

We were both pretty hungry so decided to treat ourselves to a proper meal. We found a restaurant with a view of the castle and shared a ceasar salad to start, with a whisky sour (it included an egg white so i had to give it a go as it was something i hadn’t seenbefore-really nice). I had lamb with lindumberries and veggies and gravy (and a beer). Kaoru had tortellini with pesto (so she didn’t have to share with me 😠). Then for dessert we had blueberry pie, with a cider dessert wine. €100 all up, so by far our most expensive meal, but it was worth every penny!

We walked closer to the castle to get some photos while nobody else was around. The castle was closed though for final rehersals. We went to the supermarket across the road and bought a few drinks (still before 9). We then went back to our room and watched tv for a couple of hours (we hadn’t done this before and needed a lazy evening).