From one extreme to another - In search of the lights

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mhen

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Left Australia a week ago when the temperature was in the 30’s, now sitting in Helsinki at 0 degrees and tomorrow heading north to Ivalo in Finnish Lapland where today it was – 33 degrees.

Background
Travel has been a bit restricted these last couple of years as I have very willingly helped with child care of my beloved grandchildren. But with one grandchild starting school and another’s mother deciding to extend her maternity leave by a month, there suddenly was an opportunity to travel somewhere, anywhere! Lots of places were considered, Africa, South America, but I couldn’t find award flights at short notice. Initially I thought Europe in February would be too cold and dark but realised that maybe I could capitalise on that and chase the Northern lights. My long-suffering travel companion (TC) agreed to come and with less than 4 weeks to go I set about piecing together an itinerary with the greatest chance of seeing the Lights.

The first date we could leave was Sunday 27 January and we have to be back exactly 4 weeks later. We needed to get to Helsinki but as we have previously been there, we wanted to spend some time getting over jet-lag in any northern European city we had not previously visited. Checking out various options Lifemiles threw up an itinerary of SYD-PEK-FRA-TLL (Tallinn in Estonia).

Jan 27 20:40 CA174 Sydney (SYD) – Beijing (PEK) First Class
Strange flight as we were the only ones in an 8 person first class cabin, we did not see another passenger for 11 hours. We were nearly 2 hours late leaving SYD due to storms, so dinner was served about midnight by which time I just wanted to sleep. The seats were roomy but the mattress pad very thin and the seats were firm. I found that adding the blanket/duvet folded over to the mattress pad made it easier to lie on. The seat belt sign was on for the entire flight which with the no smoking sign made very bright yellow spots on the plane ceiling all night. The pyjamas looked nice but seemed to be made of a synthetic material which was a little abrasive.

Jan 28 11:20 LH721 Beijing (PEK) – Frankfurt (FRA) Business Class
Nice cabin but being business class, the lie flat seats had more restricted foot space. Although this was a long flight (10 hours) there were no pyjamas! The food was better than the previous flight, but the toilet floors were absolutely disgusting, thank heavens for the provided slippers which I could leave behind. I can only assume there was no toilet cleaning during turn around in Beijing.

Jan 28 20:40 LH884 Frankfurt (FRA) – Tallinn (TLL)
Typical European business class, economy seats with middle seat free. Arrived exactly on time 23:59 with temperature showing -7 degrees.
Long wait for luggage, taxi to hotel and collapsed into bed vowing not to do 3 flights in a row again!
 
33D for me.Because this is the only way I will do long haul Y.
 
I'm on board as well
 
Sorry haven't done a trip report before so still working out how to post photos. It's a bit trial and error.
This is the Air China First class seat.


 
If you need help feel free to ask - there's lots of people willing to help to see photos :)
 
The 5 days in Tallinn was great, enough time to get the internal clock reset and a beautiful and interesting city to explore. Also the opportunity to eat some good food. I did say this was a trip from one extreme to the other - 5 star hotel and great dining this week and self catering cabin in the wilds of Northern Lapland the next!

Hotel Telegraaf, Tallinn
Combination of jetlag, old age crabbiness, hotel renovations meaning no lobby lounge, and failure on part of Marriott call centre (I cannot bring myself to say service centre) to pass on a crucial room request, meant that when there was confusion re whether we had a rate that included breakfast and then the wrong breakfast order was delivered I was ready to move hotels. However the service recovery was good and we were offered a suite for the stay which we accepted.
The Telegraaf is the old post office and in the old town meaning we could go out for a wander, pop back for a rest and then head out again.

Here is our suite - sorry for bad photosP1000338a.JPG P1000339a.JPG
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View from our roomP1000356a.JPG

Snow clearing in the early morning
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Icicle clearing later that day
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The snow wasn't too bad and with very few cars allowed in the old town it was easy to walk on the roads to avoid icy footpaths and the occassional shower of snow from rooftops. It was a change from the heat in Australia. I was surprised that everyone we spoke too who heard we were from Australia commented on the recent high temperatures there.
 
I always like to read, in English, something originally in the language of the countries I am going to visit but it was not until I got to Estonia that i found a crime story about Tallinn set in 1419. It has been fascinating to read a story set in an area where some buildings still stand from that time. "Apothecary Melchoir and the ghost of Rataskaevu Street" by Indrek Hargla.
 
Apart from exploring Tallinn, we went to the ballet at the National Opera House and to KUMU the Art Museum of Estonia.

The ballet, Modigliani - the Cursed Artist, was totally Estonian, choreographed by Thomas Edur, music by Tauno Aints, and performed by the Estonian National Ballet with the Estonian National Opera Orchestra. It told the story of Modigliani's last years, his idiosyncratic art, his bohemian life and the love of his life Jeanne Hebuterne. Although a historical setting the staging was very effective and it was a very enjoyable evening.
The opera house has an interesting ceiling - we were seated directly below this.P1000387a.JPG
 
KUMU The main building of the Art Museum is located outside of the Old Town (9 euro taxi fare). Its an interesting building in itself.
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As well as the general collection there were two main exhibitions, Wild Souls: Symbolism in the Art of the Baltic States, and, Konrad Magi, were both worth seeing.

Wild Souls was initially on display last year in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and shows late 19th and early 20th century Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian artists. Works by Konrad Magi featured in Wild Souls and in his personal exhibition. I have always liked his amazing use of colour in landscapes so was delighted to see so many of his works together.
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Landscape with a Red Cloud 1913-1914

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