Getting home: Ferry, Zoo, Ferry (now with pictures!)

(Next morning AM edit: when you are the first one up, you can use all the bandwidth!)

After a night in my tiny hotel room, I had a 7:30am ferry departure for Helsinki. I have ridden on these Baltic ferries before, both with a car and without, but I was unsure how the bike was going to work. To be safe, I got to the terminal extra early. When I asked at the check in desk, she told me I had to go to car check in and wait with all the other vehicles (cars, motorcycles, RVs, etc.) There were actually quite a few other cyclists on this trip.

I had prepaid for the breakfast buffet, since I missed breakfast at the hotel and I was there when it opened. The buffet was not organized very well, which is bad news when all the hungry passengers swoop in like a swarm of locusts. While most people went to the hot buffet line, I instead made myself a salad.

After a two hour trip, it was time to disembark. I talked to another American who was completing his cycle touring trip of the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). He was actually camping, so he was pretty loaded down. We commiserated on the extremely windy conditions and it was nice to know it wasn't just in my head.

After riding off the ferry and following my map, my route took me through the main tourist area of Helsinki. I stopped to take a few pictures, as well as take a breather from dealing with all the people. Almost my entire 20km/12mi trip was on bike paths, but they become less useful when they are littered with people not paying attention or runaway small children.

Once I was out of the main tourist area, things got a lot better. On a few occasions, I rode through a construction zone where the bike path had been inexplicably closed and I was forced onto the road. To be fair, there were plenty of signs warning me, but they were only in Finnish.

Since I had a little bit of time before I had to be at my next ferry on the other side of town, I decided that I would make a brief stop at the zoo. (If you are wondering why I have not been doing much sightseeing before, it is because a) I was tired, and b) I've already been to Riga, Tallinn, and Helsinki.) But the zoo was a novelty, so I decided to check it out.

The zoo is actually on an island, accessible by a pedestrian bridge. I budgeted myself an hour, since I still had a ways to ride to the next ferry terminal. So I did not see everything at the zoo, but I did see some interesting things.

They also had very creative bike racks!

These geese were everywhere on the island and they had just hatched their chicks, so there were goose families roaming everywhere. I noticed a sign about what to do if a goose is protecting its nest, but I didn't actually read it.

One of the best exhibits was the walk-thru kangaroo enclosure. The young kangaroos could move from their shack to the yard through little dog doors, and the pathway went right through the yard. So visitors can get reasonably close to them.

Look at the claws!

Immediately after this were the peacocks, who were very tame and no problem walking up to people.

This creature is demonstrating a bizarre ritual called “taking a selfie.” The other is a peacock.

I loved this image of the peacock going in the “staff only” area. Clearly, it does not read any of the four languages the sign uses.

The snow leopard just got lunch, so it was entertaining to watch it gnaw on the meat on a rope. The menu was pig faces. Seriously.

After quickly seeing most of the exhibits, it was back to my bike and moving eastward. This time the bike paths took me around various inlets and through wooded areas. It was very serene, especially compared to the chaos from earlier.

I stopped at Mickey D's and then the supermarket to buy my provisions for the 28 hour ferry ride to Germany, like water and snacks. I don't really feel like paying 34EUR for dinner.

I made it to the terminal and got checked in and then put in a lane with the other cars. I think I was the only cyclist this time, but there were lots (20+) of motorcycles, mostly sports bikes that looked like they were going touring.

Also, there was a fire truck and a van from the Berlin Fire Department. At one point, a family came up and got pictures in front of the truck and wearing the helmets.

After standing around for 40 minutes or so, it was now time to load the ferry, so I followed the line of cars onto the boat. I had to pedal a little faster, but it was not that fast. As we got to the ramp, I was doing OK with the incline, when suddenly the line of cars stopped. There was also some very strong gusts coming off the water and I nearly got blown over. I decided immediately to dismount and walk it. Good call.

With my bike in the car park, I grabbed my bags and found my room.

The couch on the right folds into a bed for me.

My roommate is an older Finnish lady who lives in Spain and doesn't really speak English. We have done some rudimentary communication, and I'm pretty confident she won't steal all my stuff or attack me in my sleep. (Next AM edit: She didn't!)

So, that's where I am...on the ferry. We get to Travemunde, in northwest Germany, at 9:30pm on Sunday. Not sure what I am going to do until then, but I'll figure out something. If I write a 20 page manifesto blog post tomorrow, you'll know why.