Helsinki's 5 Euro travel bargain - Suomenlinna Sea Fortress by public ferry

Take the Suomenlinna ferry for Helsinki's 5 Euro travel bargain. Allow at least 2 hours to explore the historic sea fortress and township spread six islands. A free map is available at the ferry terminal ticket office. This means you can take a self-guided tour at your leisure.

The return ticket has a 12 hour travel period

Departs from ferry terminal on Market Square 

Suomenlinna - 18th century sea fortress

10 euros bargain - Ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn

Book on Eckero Line website. 10 euros one -way for 9:00 a.m. departure. Return trip is cheaper!
Print out ticket - no queuing at terminal, just register barcode at turnstile.

A tram (No 7) drops you off at the terminal door.
The morning ferry seemed to be full of 55+ year olds ready to shop, party and buy cheap booze. Nice crowd, though. There was a convivial atmosphere onboard.

Tourist tip: wait near the gates pre-boarding, when ferry is docked (you enter on Level 6), dash upstairs, head for the huge bar area at the bow (Level 8) so you can relax in a comfortable booth (enough room under table for luggage). Free entertainment.

Eckero Line's "Finlandia"

Live band and dancing . Note: the seating booths have plenty of room for you and your luggage.

TV style game show with host celebrity

The bar opens straight after departure (9.00 am.). Cheap booze.

Tourist tips for avoiding the queues at State Heritage Museum, St Petersburg - self-guided

There are a bank of tickets machines (marked with red "T" on map) on the left and right after you pass through the archways into the main courtyard from Palace Square. The machines are in English and Russian. Admission: 700 roubles, change given.
We went both in the morning and afternoon (early May) and the wait at the machines was only a few minutes. You can then proceed straight to main entrance - we choose the left side, avoiding the long, slow-moving queues. The long queues are for Russian citizens who can claim ticket concessions. At the front of the gate there is a sign saying entry for pre-bought tickets.
Buying tickets from the museum website is much more expensive, plus you will still have to queue to show your printed-out ticket (at a separate entrance on Millionnaya Street).
Don't forget to visit the General Staff Building (across Palace Square). Entry is covered by your ticket. Priceless 19th century masterpieces on the 4th floor - Monet, Manet, Degas, Gauguin, Picasso, Van Gogh, Lautrec, Cezanne, Renoir - self-guided, allow 1-2 hours.

Other tips:

• After you enter, use the free cloakrooms - for coats, umbrellas, backpacks - or you will have to queue up twice when you are sent back.
• Wednesdays and Fridays hours are extended to 21:00. 
• Arrive in the afternoons (after 16:00 if you want to avoid more crowds), this allows you 5 hours of viewing if you visit on those 2 days.
• The first Thursday in each month is free, if you don't mind the queues. On free-Thursday there are 3 other Hermitage Museums that offer free entry. We found no queues for these: Winter Palace of Peter I, Menshikov Palace and the Museum of Imperial Porcelain.
• Frees are available near turnstiles, make a note of the number of the room show above doorways (from 11 to 400), mark off with a pen so you don't miss a room - the place is a maze.
• The Middle Floor will take the longest amount of time.
• This is crucial if you have a 60 year old bladder....there only 2 toilets inside the museum (both hidden on the Ground Level). The other toilets are near Cloakrooms but you will have to exit, so this is a problem.
• Closed on Mondays.
• The Summer period is the busiest.

Tallinn Airport, Estonia Best little airport in Europe?

Tallinn Airport was a pleasant surprise.  Can you name another domestic and international airport that is 3 km from the centre of a capital city? Pay 2 euros to travel on a modern tram that takes you from the CBD right to the terminal door.

The airport bag security area is smoothly run; thanks to a nifty system where carry-on luggage/laptops/coats, etc. are placed in trays that are a magically returned (by underground conveyor system) to the front of the queue for next passenger.

Many terminal gates are sponsored by a particular company. One gate has comfy sofas, book shelves, armchairs as it is sponsored by a book store. Another gate has gym equipment and machines as it is sponsored by a fitness company. You are never bored or idle while waiting for your flight. Fast free wifi also.

Imagine a mini-Changi. 

Gate 1 - a relaxing library

Tram link, direct to terminal

"Chicago" A new novel by David Mamet (2018)

I nearly gave up - the first 40 odd pages are interminable Mamet-babble. However, verbal virtuosity becomes more meaty story-telling by Chapter 5. Chicago in the mid 1920's - the bustling newsroom of the Chicago Tribune, florists, funerals, gun-running, speakeasies, bordellos and nightclubs - is evocatively captured. Mamet co-wrote the screenplay for De Palma's "The Untouchables".

Mike Hodge is the guilt-ridden, Great War-obsessed central character; Parlow, the cynical friend and fellow-reporter. Peekaboo is the wise madam and confidante to Mike. There is a fascinating account of aviator Bessie Colman. Colourful minor characters - con artists, burglars, police officers - give the story more substance.
About two-thirds in, it loses pace again.
If you are expecting mob violence and gangland machinations a la "Boardwalk Empire", you will be sorely disappointed. Much like the New York reporter's long-winded anecdote about adultery and a hunting rifle - the resolution, when it finally comes, is a bit of a fizzer.
Though interesting, I was perplexed by the insertion of a lengthy anecdote concerning Darrow and the Leopold & Loeb court case in the final chapter.

"A Game of Ghosts" John Connolly (2017) Charlie Parker #15

Even though "A Game of Ghosts" is the fifteenth Charlie Parker novel, Connolly's thriller is as compelling and intriguing as ever. It even surpasses his last, "A Time of Torment".
Who knew Family Guy's Providence, R.I. was a hotbed of secrets and corruption? So many fascinating characters; both old (the Collector and Eldritch, his ailing father; loquacious lawyer Moxie Castin; Charlie's daughter Sam - possessing untapped powers, communing with her half sister, Jennifer -  and of course, Angel & Louis) and new (the grotesque Mother and her insane son Philip; the Brethren, another arcane religious community - supported by the "Baptist" Bruckers; likeable nosy neighbour David Ferrier; psychic and discount furniture king Tobey Thayer). Thayer talks about exploring "...a crawl space between worlds."
Connolly's rich, atmospheric prose is sprinkled with punchy banter like:
" 'Vincent Garronne is dead.' said Mother.
'Ah,' said Louis. 'Was it sudden?'
'It was when he hit the ground,' said Philip."

I enjoyed Charlie's theory about why he preferred McCarthy over Lennon.

Saying this book is about just a ghost story is like saying "The Godfather" is just about Italian immigrants.
Parker talks about "darkness, and the creatures that move(d) through the honeycomb world."
In this world, Charlie's dead daughter, Jennifer sits on a rock "...as the departed flow past, an endless river of souls flowing into the waiting sea."
I get the feeling that the next book will deal more with Sam's powers. Are Charlie Parker's cases drawing to a close?  If so, he's going out on a high.
So much to savour in this book.

 As a side note, midway in the book Connolly talks about Boston gangster Whitey Bulger. This links with disgraced FBI agent John (Joseph) Connolly (Jr).

"The Terror" AMC Episode 10, final episode - series review

The North West Passage

This ambitious undertaking is definitely worth nearly 10 hours of your time. A slow burn in parts, the production was more BBC than AMC.
More a historical drama and a tale of conflicting (and conflicted) characters facing unbearable hardship than a horror epic. One critic has said it's "Alien" in the Arctic - referring to Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi. (Scott was one of the executive producers, along with Dan Simmons, author of the 2007 novel).
While there are some genuinely horrific scenes - the diver's visions while inspecting the hull in Episode 1, the creature's attack on Blanky in Episode 5, Hickey's cannibalism, the frozen heads on the ice, the Tuunbaq's final confrontation in Episode 10 - it's the setting (computer generated or not) and the quality of the acting that makes you stick with this mini-series.
Jared Harris (so good as King George VI in "The Crown") is riveting as Crozier, Captain of "The Terror". Richard Harris is his dad, by the way.
The bleak rocky expanse was actually Pag (an island in Croatia).
The final mystical scene, with Crozier's heroic pose on the ice, was a totally satisfying way concluding the series.

"Plebs" Season 4 Vale Stylax

A block of marble, a dopey builder and Stylax is written out of Season 4.
After Joel Fry's appearances in "Game of Thrones" and BBC/Netflix's "Requiem", he has bigger fish to ... fry...I'll move on.
It was a bit sad seeing only 2 plebs romping around the pillars in the opening credits.

Stylax's replacement, Jason (Jonathan Pointing) looks straight out of TOWIE, a bit colourless in the opening episode, but he might grow on me.
Aurelius/Water boy... er man (co-writer Tom Basden) is going to have more to do in this season.
Robert Lindsay has fun as a dodgy property developer (Cassius) with a soft spot for his pet turtle.

Opening a new pub in a former "latrina" should ensure more potty humour.
In coming episodes, looking forward to seeing the versatile Aisling Bea (Mineva, the observational comedian) and the return of Maureen Lipman (Landlady). Anybody remember ITV's wonderful "Agony" (1979-1981)?