Our 5th day off of the tour, and we find ourselves in the beautiful city of Helsinki.  A few of us hit the hotel gym which was great. The temperature drop was a little shocking as Mark, Danny, Glenn and I go for a wander in search of a fish lunch.



Just down the road from the hotel is the South harbour and the old 'Kauppatori' a famous fish market building where we develop our appetites further looking at the beautiful produce.









The lunch of choice was found at 'Sundmans Krog' directly across the road from the market and kicked off with a fantastic Herring buffet followed swiftly by what you see on the menu below.

 

One of my Shangri-La tea cups that travels with me fell victim to a housekeeping accident. I was upset for about 2 nanoseconds. The note was sweet. (can't believe I put a photo of my broken mug in the diary)

On to the show day, the final Scandinavian show and a familiar arena, the Hartwall is one of the nicer arenas we visit.





Paul amuses himself whilst we discuss the evolution of the meet and greets in catering.





Note our internet booster in the bottom right of this pic of Matt in the backstage hallway.



The meet and greet tonight reached new heights of extravagance and debonnaire. The challenge was laid down by Mark; during Danny's bongo-roll-intro to caravan, I was to juggle,.....but what? Luckily, as chance would have it, Paul Crockford was at hand with a plastic bag of ONIONS hanging from his belt. With one hand operating the camera (for only the second time the meet and greet has ever been filmed to my knowledge) Paul produced the necessary items for everyone's entertainment.



The good news is that it was caught on the new video camcorder. I want to do a little tidying but it will appear in this diary later...something I've had a mind to do for ages since most people won't get the opportunity to experience what is now a bit of an extravaganza.

here it is.







It's Peter Mackay's 50th birthday today. "Happy Birthday Pete".