HELSINKI PICS AND STUFF

We've made it back from the streets of Helsinki to London. And oh what a breeze of a journey that was in comparison to the London - Helsinki leg of it. First I had a nice surprise when checking in; I was allowed to take my buggy all the way to the gate. To those of you who've never flown from Helsinki airport with young children: it is the only one out of all the airports I've ever travelled from that doesn't allow a buggy all the way to the gate. I thought this was a generic Helsinki Airport rule but today I was informed it didn't apply to me this time as I flew BA, not Finnair! (Maybe this has changed recently?) I know the airport provides push chairs, which is fine with one child but not so with two plus if the queue through security is long you do need a buggy before you even reach the other side where these push chairs can be found. The only thing I took on board with me today was my back bag. Trunki was checked in and Little M stood on a buggy board, which made it very easy. On flight nobody was sick and everyone (myself included) slept. All good, no hassle, piece of cake. More of these ones please! ;-)

As you can probably tell though these pictures are still from Helsinki, not London. (By the way how happy do my girls look in this one, ha! Think they were in a middle of a sisterly disagreement.) On this particular day I met a friend for lunch in a restaurant called La Famiglia, which is located right opposite Stockmann (Helsinki's main department store) on Keskuskatu. It was purely chosen because I wanted somewhere where it didn't matter how noisy we'd be. It's far from hip or glamorous or any of those kinda things but it turned out to be the perfect spot for the occasion. We found a table right next to a little play corner they have and that guaranteed a very pleasant lunch during which I was actually able to catch up with my friend! Bliss! The food wasn't bad either, I chose a goat's cheese salad, which I'd happily have again and they had a good kids menu too. So for an easy, very centrally located, child friendly lunch I'd recommend this place for sure.

Minna x