Took a sleeper from Moscaw to Helsinki. The ticket, prebooked, was delivered to my carriage on the Trans Mongolian. The train was similar but more modern than the previous one. Arrived in Helsinki to light rain and snow. There were puddles everywhere but no wind so I tried to cycle to Espoo managed 7km before I decided the deep slush was too much and returned to Helsinki main station. Got the 2.03 train tio Turku and arrived there at 4.00pm. I had to find an internet cafe, I'd forgotten to copy down the access code for the hotel. Eventually reached the (unmanned) hotel at 6.30 in light snow with the temperature well below freezing all the roads were either covered in hard packed snow or sheet ice. The room was two, with a spiral stair to a bedroom from a lobby with a bathroom and living area, very nice and cheaper than any of the other places around.
Left at 7.00am and cycled 4km to the ferry terminal, easy cycling over hard packed snow mostly on bike paths. Took the earlier ferry, the Silja Galaxy, from where I am writing this to the thumping of pack ice as the ship ploughs through it towards Stockholm. The weather is windy, cold and snowy, not nice. The ice keeps the sea calm, except in the brief stretches of open water, but it does look very cold and singularly uninviting.
See this for details of ice problems
http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/03/ice_still_hampering_baltic_ferry_traffic_1509929.html
