It had to be a short trip from Estonia to Finland, to be with my friend on her birthday. I wanted to see her. It sounds wonderful - two hours by ferry from Tallinn, and you are in Finland. If only I lived in Tallinn! But the problem is that I live in about three hours distance by bus from Tallinn, and my friend's house is in 2 hours from Helsinki, so the way was quite long and it took me half a day to reach the destination. Anyway, I had to take this trip for my friend.
The sea part of my trip was wonderful. The day was dull but light enough to let me enjoy the picturesque entry to Helsinki. It is not usual in winter in our northern countries,
Photographs taken on the ferry through the windows did not look beautiful.
It was cold, about -10 C, but I decided to go outside to take pictures.
There are lots of small islands in the sea which make the approching Helsinki very interesting to watch.
The old fortress on one of the islands was seen perfectly from the distance.
Here is the map of Helsinki on the wall of the port terminal.
I walked the way from the port terminal to the train station, but it will be another story for the post about my Wednesday Walk. The building of the train station of Helsinki is beautiful and has a big and nice square in front of it.
The train station of Helsinki, my train, and then two hours of comfortable trip to my friend's town.
Some reflections for my Reflection Hunters contest on arrival. I am going to use one of them for my top picture in it.
My friend's family met me at the station and we had a short walk along the streets of the town of Kouvola. I placed a pin on my 
[//]:# (!pinmapple 60.87750 lat 26.70538 long d3scr)
The remains of this retro car were a visual surprise. A funny way to advertise a store, isn't it?
The house where my friend Nadja lives with her husband and son.
Nadja cooked lots of delishes dishes for her birthday, and we had wonderful time at the table eating and talking about everything.
I spent only one day more with my friends, and that was time for my way back home. TNadja's son Aleksanderi was also leaving for Tampere that day and their pretty doggy wanted go with him :).
My friends drove me to the station, and I started my way back.
The other terminal of Helsinki port still had Christmas decoration, pretty and sometimes funny.
Two more hours - and I was back in Tallinn...
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