After four days in an isolation ward, Susan was finally released from the Turku University Hostpital with a functioning digestive system and a box full of antibiotics. (We are not any lighter in the wallet, though; they will send a bill to our home address in the US.) We immediately drove the 100 miles to Helsinki, got stopped in an hour-long traffic back up, and easily found the campground.
This is quite a nice place with large sites separated by flowering hedges. We immediately did two loads of laundry ($6 to wash, $6 to dry = $24). This was the first time we had been able to fully plug in the electricals since the power problem on the ferry, and we were relieved to find everything working properly.
In our limited touring of the city today, we had one really lovely moment. We had arrived at the Helsiniki (Lutheran) Cathedral just as a short English prayer service was ending. The fifty or so people there, some seated, others milling (quietly) about, still others standing still, received the blessing; and then the pastor invited us to sing together “Now Thank We All Our God.” We may have been the only ones who sang with her, and Susan was certainly the only one who knew all three verses (David almost did). That was the song we sang at our wedding some 45 years ago.
Tomorrow we leave for four nights on a side trip, by ferry, to St. Petersburg, Russia. Rover and the computer will not be accompanying us, so we want our fans--among whom you, dear reader, are chief--to be aware that we will not be posting for a few days.