What a weekend!

Well, it's the end of the weekend and Stephanie has flown home. Saying goodbye at the airport was hard, but it won't be long until we see each other again. I think it has surprised both of us just how much closer we have become since I started this new role.

We have fitted in a lot of things since she arrived at 23:45 on Friday evening. Quickest is to list the major highlights:

• Visited the new apartment and measured up.
• Spent 5 hours at Ikea in Vantaa, buying the major furniture and furnishing items.
• Lost my new Nokia N95 at Ikea (the first time I have ever lost a phone; I'm devastated) and so no pictures on the blog for a while.
• Arranged the delivery of our Ikea purchases. We chose to carry around 5Kg of goods, which got the total under 500Kg and so reduced the delivery charge to 79 Euros. For nearly half a metric tonne of shopping!
• Had a romantic dinner, eating (and drinking!) the Helsinki Menu at Nokka, overlooking the harbour, a short walk from our new apartment.
• Walked from Nokka to Esplanadi, where we had an Irish coffee at Kappeli, then ice creams from the kiosk. Stephanie had lemon and licorice, which she loved, I had my favourite, rum and raisin.
• Caught a cab home, had a walk around the area and then a sauna
• Got up this morning, caught the 65A bus from the company apartment to the new one
• Walked into town, had coffee, went to Stockmann, bought glasses and mugs, which we took back to the apartment.

After that, I took Stephanie for her flight and then returned to the apartment to wait in for the delivery. It arrived around 21:00 and then I caught the Metro back, my first trip on the underground in Helsinki and, as with all the public transport here, I'm really impressed.

It was a great weekend, but I can't wait to see Stephanie and the girls again. I'm next due back in England in mid-July.